Important Changes to the FAFSA for 2024-2025

The government released instructions on how to fill out the FAFSA if your contributor doesn't have an SSN. The instructions also include some FAQs about this issue students have been having submitting the FAFSA.

Many students have been confused by this question on the FAFSA. Make sure if you are a dependent student that you mark "No," if you want to be considered for Pell Grant and Federal Direct Subsidized Loans. By marking "Yes," you indicate that your parents refuse to provide their information on the FAFSA and you will only be eligible to receive Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan funds.

Are you having issues being able to submit the FAFSA? The federal government has identified a list of known issues and is working to resolve them so students can submit the application.

The total number of questions on the FAFSA has been reduced from 108 to 46. Since it is a dynamic application, you may not be presented with all 46 questions. This is intended to make the application easier and more intuitive for you and your family to complete.

The Student Aid Index (SAI) will replace the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Previously, the EFC was used to calculate the estimated amount a family could afford to contribute to a student's education. It was commonly misunderstood as an amount of money required for the family to contribute to a student's education before the student could receive federal financial aid. The change to the SAI more accurately describes it as an index number used to determine federal aid eligibility, based on the information reported on your taxes such as your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and taxes paid, as well as your family size and the federal poverty level.

Unlike the EFC, which only went down to 0, the SAI can be negative down to -1500 for those with the most financial need.

Pell Grant eligibility will be expanded to more students and will link more directly to the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) on the taxes, as well as family size and the federal poverty level. Each year, the federal government publishes the maximum and minimum Pell Grant award amounts allowed for an academic year. For 2024-2025, the maximum Pell Grant award amount is $7,395. The minimum Pell Grant award amount is $740.

Pell Grant eligibility was previously calculated based on whether your EFC fell within a certain range. Now, Pell Grant eligibility will be determined in three ways:

1. Maximum Pell: If your SAI is between -1500 and 0, you may qualify for the Maximum Pell Grant. Eligibility is based on your family's AGI, tax filing status, and annual U.S. poverty guidelines for family size and state of residency.
2. Minimum Pell: You may qualify for a Minimum Pell Grant if your SAI is greater than the maximum Pell Grant award for the academic year. Eligibility is based on your AGI, tax filing status, and the annual U.S. poverty guidelines for family size and state of residence.
3. SAI Calculated Pell: If you do not qualify for a Maximum Pell Grant, you may still qualify if your SAI is less than the maximum Pell Grant award allowed for the academic year. Your full-time Pell amount would be equal to the maximum Pell Grant amount minus your SAI.

Note: If your SAI-Calculated Pell is lower than the Minimum Pell threshold ($740), you would not qualify for a Pell Grant. Also, if your FAFSA is not flagged by the government as eligible for a Pell Grant, you would not qualify for the award.

You can use the Federal Student Aid Estimator to estimate your SAI and Pell Grant eligibility.

Pell Grants will be awarded based on each credit hour you enroll in. Previously, the Pell Grant amount was determined based on your enrollment status (full-time, 3/4 time, half-time, or less than half-time). Now, the Pell Grant will be adjusted based on your actual credit hours, up to 12 credits (or full-time).

"Contributor" is a new term referring to every individual required to provide tax information and a signature on the FAFSA. Contributors can include you, your spouse, your parent(s), or your stepparent. Contributors are determined by your dependency status, tax filing status, and marital status. Those individuals determined to be your contributors will receive an email notifying them that they need to provide their information. Each contributor must create their own FSA ID and consent to having their information provided on the FAFSA.

Being a contributor does not mean they are responsible for paying your education costs, but it does mean their information is required to determine your financial aid eligibility. Without their information the FAFSA will be incomplete, and you will not be eligible to receive aid.

Review this graphic for additional information about contributors.

If you mark on the FAFSA that you are unable to provide parent information on the FAFSA, you will receive a provisionally independent status and an SAI. Then, you will need to provide supporting documentation of your circumstance to the Financial Aid Office. If the documentation is approved, your independent status will carry over for as long as you attend BYU and your circumstances don’t change.

If your documentation is not sufficient to show that you’re independent, you will be considered dependent and will need to submit your parent information on the FAFSA. If you’re awarded a scholarship or Cougar Pell Promise based on a Provisional Independent status, the award may be cancelled if your eligibility changes based on your dependency status.

Previously, the FAFSA allowed students and parents to elect to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to request to have their tax data uploaded from the IRS. Now, all contributors to the FAFSA will consent to have their tax information transferred directly from the IRS. This should result in an easier and smoother process for your tax information to be uploaded to your FAFSA.

Also, because tax information will be directly uploaded from the IRS, you and your spouse or parents will no longer need to request verification from the IRS that you did not file taxes.

For students whose parents are divorced or separated, the parent listed on the FAFSA will be the parent who provides the most financial support, rather than the parent with whom you lived the most over the past 12 months. If both parents provide equal financial support, you will report the parent with the highest income on the FAFSA.

Review this graphic for additional information about contributors.

In the past, parents without a Social Security Number (SSN) could not create an FSA ID and instead had to sign and mail in a paper FAFSA. Now, contributors who do not have an SSN can create an FSA ID to sign and submit their information on your FAFSA electronically.

The FAFSA will continue to ask how many of your household members are in college, but that will not factor into calculating the SAI. As a result, students with siblings in college at the same time may see a reduction or loss in Pell Grant eligibility.

The FAFSA will use your family size (previously called household size) from the number of exemptions listed on your tax information if you’re independent, or your parent(s) tax return if you are considered dependent. However, if your family size has changed since filing the tax return, you can manually enter the updated family size.

Also, unborn children will no longer be included in your family size. Previously, students could include an unborn child if the child was due by June 30^th of the academic year. This is no longer the case.

Previously, if you received 100% of your Pell Grant eligibility during fall and winter, you could receive additional Pell Grant funds if you attended at least half-time between spring and summer. However, beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year, you will not be required to enroll at least half-time. You can receive a Pell Grant even if you enroll less than half-time.

• If you start a FAFSA, the form will expire after 45 days if not completed. You will then need to re-start a new application if you want to receive aid.
• You will now be able to list up to 20 schools on FAFSA.
• Questions about sex, race, and ethnicity have been added to the FAFSA, but these questions have no effect on your federal student aid eligibility.
• In some cases, you may not be able to have your tax information transferred to your FAFSA using the Direct Data Exchange (DDX). In those cases, you would need to manually enter your information into the FAFSA.