"There’s one form prospective and current college students must submit in order to receive federal financial aid, and it looks a lot different than in prior years," CNN reports.

..."There are two reasons the updated FAFSA is easier to fill out.

First, some information is now directly taken from a filer’s tax return. This means that an applicant won’t have to go hunting for the right information on his or her tax return to input into the FAFSA.

In past years, the IRS Data Retrieval Tool helped filers pull information from their tax return into the FAFSA, but the new process will be automatic and available to everyone, said Jill Desjean, a senior policy analyst at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. The old tool excluded certain tax filing statuses. For example, parents who were married but filed taxes separately could not use the tool.

Additionally, a handful of questions have been eliminated entirely. For example, drug convictions no longer preclude someone from receiving financial aid. And as of the 2021-22 award year, male students are no longer required to register for the Selective Service in order to be eligible for financial aid, so that question has been removed from the new FASFA as well.

More students will qualify for Pell grants

The Pell grant program is a key way the federal government helps students from low-income families go to college by providing eligible students with money they don’t have to pay back.

Nearly 6.1 million students received a Pell grant during the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest data available from the Department of Education.

The Pell grant is worth up to $7,395 during the current school year – though not every recipient qualifies for the maximum amount as it depends on financial need.

Due to changes to the FAFSA calculation, more applicants are expected to qualify for a Pell grant going forward.

In fact, the Department of Education estimates that 610,000 more students will qualify on an annual basis. And an estimated 1.5 million more students will be eligible for the maximum amount, which typically changes each year.

Students from the lowest-income families already get the maximum Pell grant. But those whose family income is in the range of $40,000 to $70,000 and who have no siblings in college are expected to see an increase in their Pell grant amount, according to a Brookings Institution report that Desjean co-authored.

The updated FAFSA created a completely new and simpler way to determine Pell grant eligibility that’s based on fewer factors, Desjean said."

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: 1/3/2024