Applications for federal student aid have opened about three months later than usual. That’s because the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA has undergone an overhaul to make it simpler.
Some students may have had trouble logging in when the application first launched around the new year.
Read on for what to know as the rollout continues.
AIMING FOR A SIMPLER FAFSA FORM
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For the 2024-25 academic year, the FAFSA form has fewer questions and a new formula to calculate student financial aid. We’ve told you about parents who remember spending hours on the old FAFSA.
“It was very tedious, and it took a long time,” recalled parent Kristin Roan of the process. “I finally got it back and then we got no money.”
The Education Department says the 2024-25 FAFSA allows applicants to skip as many as 26 questions, depending on their individual circumstances. It also allows applicants to import tax information directly from the IRS, eliminating the need for students to manually type in tax return answers. The Education Department said applicants would spend, on average, an hour on the form. Though some applicants may only have to answer as few as 18 questions and could finish the FAFSA in less than 10 minutes.
The Education Department also announced, this week, the FAFSA application would be live online 24/7. When the portal first opened around the new year, the site was open for short periods of time during a “soft launch."
“The soft launch definitely was rockier than we had expected to see in those early days,” said Jill Desjean, senior policy analyst with the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. “I am encouraged to see that the Department of Education seems to be having the application open for more hours every day. It seems as though more people can get in there.”
As of Monday, the Education Department said more than one million applicants successfully submitted their FAFSA.
FINANCIAL AID DEADLINES
Completing the FAFSA is a key step for students to access federal money like grants and work-study to help pay for school. States and colleges may use your FAFSA eligibility information to award their financial aid.
“For incoming students, you might be applying to many different schools. They may all have their own different dates. Some states have programs that are on a first-come, first-serve basis. Some institutions might as well,” said Desjean.
Texas’ priority deadline for state aid is March 15 this year. Private universities and trade schools in the state may have a different deadline.
Some public colleges recommend completing the FAFSA sooner to be considered for all forms of aid.
The University of North Texas recommends completing the FAFSA by February 15 for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Paul Quinn College recommends Texas residents submit the FAFSA by March 15, 2024, for the fall.
Southern Methodist University, a private university in North Texas, lists February 15 as the priority deadline for FAFSA submission. This website has up-to-date deadlines.
Here’s what you can do: Contact the financial aid office for each school you’re applying to and ask about its FAFSA deadline. If it’s coming up, confirm what they mean by “deadline." Is that the date the feds process your FAFSA or the date the school receives it?
Desjean said students can ask about how financial aid is awarded, “If it's just simply everyone who applies by this deadline qualifies equally or we've got this deadline, but also it's first come, first serve.”
“Just read carefully, be very aware, make a phone call if you have to,” Desjean added.
The Department of Education has said students wouldn’t have to rush to fill out the FAFSA when it opened. It would not share FAFSA eligibility information with schools, scholarship organizations and states until later this month.
“That really just compresses that time frame, especially for incoming students who want to have a comparison of all their different aid offers together and decide what works best for their family,” said Desjean. “Instead of having months, they might have weeks now.”
Another change to know about the new FAFSA this year: Everyone who contributes information to a FAFSA form has to have their own FSA ID. A contributor may be a student, parent or spouse. You can find out more about that process here.
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