If you are preparing to submit the 2024-2025 FAFSA form, the U.S. Department of Education recently released new information about changes made to the FAFSA application and the application process.
There was a delay to the originally scheduled launch of the 2024-2025 FAFSA, due to “student and families limited availability and glitches,” according to the Associated Press. The planned Oct. 1 launch was instead released unprecedentedly in December and stated that changes were made to the FAFSA application.
Sacred Heart’s Financial Assistance office is located at Curtis Hall. The office is there to help students and families navigate the changes to FASFA.
Photo by Tracy Deer-Mirek, Sacred Heart University
The FAFSA itself, according to the Associated Press, “is a free government application that uses financial information from you and your family to determine whether you can get financial aid from the federal government to pay for college.”
It can also help determine qualifications for other federal grants, work-study programs, federal/state student loans, and other merit-based scholarships.
The new changes to the application are designed to make it easier for colleges to process records while ensuring an easier application process for students.
According to the Department of Education, “The Better FAFSA is simplified, redesigned, and streamlined. It is faster and easier to fill out, with most students and families completing it in less than 15 minutes.”
Here is what to know about the recent changes:
“It is a new form with fewer questions and there is direct data exchange with the IRS so when students sign up, it is question by question application that also sends information to a parent or someone who supports the student, now known as a contributor,” said Julie Savino, Associate Vice President of Student Financial Assistance.
The new FAFSA uses the Student Aid Index formula, so students can find out how much federal student aid they may be eligible for.
“With the new FAFSA, the federal government is expanding eligibility for Pell Grants by calculating differently by tying the Pell Grant to family size and the federal poverty level,” said Savino.
The new FAFSA can now also be found in the 11 most common languages, according to the Federal Student Aid website.
According to the Associated Press, “Since the process has been delayed this year, students will begin to receive their offers later than usual.”
However, it is recommended that students fill out the FAFSA sooner than later, while they still can.
“The national deadline for incoming students to submit the FAFSA is May 1 and the returning student’s deadline is typically March 15 but is very flexible and the Office of Financial Assistance will still take a FAFSA any time after that,” said the Director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance, Mathew Magliocco.
“It is important to make sure that your forms are filed and your FAFSA is completed. Do not worry about getting other information, just make sure your applications are filed and in the pipeline, so your FAFSA information is not delayed even more,” said Savino.
Sophomore Charles Pritcher said, “Applying for the FAFSA in the past has been difficult so hopefully with these new changes, it will make things easier.”
A Feb. 16 email to the SHU community from the Office of Student Financial Assistance addressed concerns regarding the delay and offered advice for the next steps in the FAFSA application process.
“Obviously, every family is different, and each situation is different. This new process can be tricky when determining who’s a contributor or other instances, but we will work with them to make sure they have the information and resources to succeed,” said Magliocco.
