FAFSA Simplification: How New Rules Will Change the Price of College

"Families of college students applying for financial aid for the 2024-2025 academic year will have a significantly different experience than those applying in the past — and potentially obtain an unexpected outcome," EconoFact reports.

..."Estimates of affordability using the new FAFSA generally will be lower than current estimates except for families with more than one child enrolled in college. The attached figure illustrates the relationship between the amount families are expected to pay for a child in college under the EFC and SAI for dependent students. It is based on simulated data licensed to me from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA). These data show that this relationship strongly depends on the number of siblings a student has in college. Each point in the graph represents the amount a family is expected to pay for a child in college under the current EFC system (the value along the horizontal axis) versus the amount under the new SAI system (the value along the vertical axis). The black 45-degree line shows when there would be no difference between the amounts families are expected to pay. Values above this line indicate that families will be expected to pay more under the new system and below the line they will be expected to pay less. For students with no concurrently enrolled siblings, SAI is more generous than EFC (i.e. under the new formula the student is determined to be able to afford less). A best fitting line between the two shows that SAI is always lower and the gap becomes slightly larger at higher EFC values. For students with one sibling enrolled in college, though, SAI is considerably less generous than EFC."

NASFAA's "Notable Headlines" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Articles included under the notable headlines section are not written by NASFAA, but rather by external sources. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented.

 

Publication Date: 4/18/2023

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