Draft 2023-24 FAFSA Open for Comment
By Megan Walter, NASFAA Policy & Federal Relations Staff
The Department of Education (ED) on February 24 released planned revisions to the 2023-24 FAFSA, as well as other related documents for a 60-day public comment period in the Federal Register. The most notable changes are the removal of the Selective Service and drug conviction questions from the form and the addition of more questions that will be automatically renewed from prior FAFSAs for refilers.
Selective Service and Drug Conviction
This is the first year since the passing of the Consolidated Appropriations Bill of 2021, in December 2020, that the Selective Service and drug conviction questions will no longer appear on the FAFSA form. Associated Comment Codes and messaging that indicate a resolution is required for federal Title IV eligibility will also be eliminated for the 2023-24 award year.
The FAFSA Simplification Act, part of the massive Consolidated Appropriations Bill of 2021, made significant changes to the FAFSA. Notably, it requires the Department of Education (ED) to use income data from the IRS using authority granted in the FUTURE Act, passed in 2020, for the FAFSA. This and other changes will significantly reduce the number of questions on the FAFSA. While Congress slated implementation for the 2023-24 award year, ED indicated that it needs more time to incorporate such sweeping changes and has pushed implementation to the 2024-25 year.
Pre-Filled for Renewal Applicants
The 2023-24 FAFSA had added three data elements in addition to the current demographic questions that will be pre-populated in the Renewal FAFSA if the applicant had previously completed a FAFSA. Those items are the three questions regarding homelessness, questions 52-54 on the FAFSA, which will now automatically feed over from the prior year’s FAFSA.
Public Comment
Public comments are due by April 25, 2022. NASFAA encourages schools to submit their comments through the process explained in the Federal Register notice. In addition, please submit any comments to NASFAA for consideration as NASFAA develops its public comments on behalf of its members.
Publication Date: 2/28/2022
You must be logged in to comment on this page.