The updated FAFSA will award Pell Grants for a wider range of students in need. Photo source: FAFSA website.
Long, strenuous hours hunched over a computer screen searching for an IRS tax form from two years past isn’t an ideal situation, but until this year, it was necessary for all seniors planning their college transition. FAFSA, otherwise known as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is the most fundamental aid for rising and current college students. Fortunately, the 2024-25 form will offer slight changes to the application process to ensure a more straightforward, less time-consuming process for students.
These new updates will involve many helpful features for students and parents or guardians. The downside of these changes is that the usual October 1st release date for FAFSA was pushed back approximately three months, causing uncertainty for college applicants and their families upon decision.
“The whole process has been pretty frustrating. Just yesterday I had been filling it out and it shut us out so we couldn’t keep working on it,” said Alex Testori, senior. “After I received my college acceptance letters, I’ve been in this waiting game of whether or not I’ll be able to afford college.”
Josie James, a career and academic resource counselor has been handling the vast majority of students' concerns regarding FAFSA. She is, for the most part, pleased with the changes made but would have appreciated a more forgiving timeframe, as FAFSA can take several days to complete.
“The biggest downfall this year to federal student aid and how they rolled out the new form is how late they did it,” said James. “FAFSA funding in grants are ‘first come, first serve.’ You want to apply for them as soon as possible just because there is a finite amount of money available.”
In addition to the late release of the FAFSA form, FAFSA has recently announced that it will take longer than expected to communicate students’ financial information to schools, with universities expecting it around March and being forced to postpone their offering of financial packages accordingly. However, there are many advantages to this revised FAFSA, particularly in terms of efficiency in completing the form.
“It was basically cut down by three-fourths in questions, so it's a lot quicker, which is really nice for being able to collaborate with your parents or guardians as you go through it,” said James.
This year, all tax information will be imported directly from the IRS, allowing for a quick download and submission. Parents and students will also be introduced to a FSA ID, the account system developed for filing FAFSA information. Both the student and the contributor, otherwise known as the parent or guardian, will have to create a FSA ID account, and they will receive an ID number and the login information necessary to begin work on the application. This will ultimately work in favor of the applicants who will already have an established account for the next school year and may only need to revise a few key details such as tax information and any income shifts.
Additionally, FAFSA will now require that all student applicants provide a social security number and that they include the financial information of their highest-earning parent or guardian, regardless of custodial status.
“There are a few changes to the income questions—but that is going to be a little bit more of a concern for parents or guardians—where it asks about tax information, business ownership, and farm ownership, which is a big one around here,” said James. “There are a few changes with which parents or guardians will need to create accounts or take part in FAFSA completion and that can be based on marital status or tax filing status.”
Shannon Burroughs, Watauga’s Graduation Coach addressed another common concern stemming from the system’s updates in regards to the expenses of a sibling’s college tuition.
Previously, there had been some consideration of other siblings who were also in college, much like a “sibling discount.” This has since been eliminated following the new FAFSA system policies but may still be recognized at the college level. Thankfully, to the advantage of the students, there will be more money available this year to better align with the rising prices of college tuition.
Despite the rather tedious process, FAFSA serves as a great opportunity for college applicants to receive additional assistance throughout their academic career. Students at the high school are also encouraged to reach out to Ms. James or Ms. Burroughs if they have any further questions.
“Everyone should [complete the FAFSA], even if they don’t think they will qualify for grants. A lot of students will say ‘my family probably doesn’t make under this amount, so I’m probably not going to be offered anything,’” said James. “If they want to qualify for merit-based scholarships or scholarships you get for being involved in a certain field or having great grades, a lot of times those ones will require FAFSA completion anyway, so it's definitely worth it to anyone.”
Σχόλια