The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will undergo changes to make the form simple and efficient for families and students.
Previously, the Department of Education released the FAFSA form on Oct. 1 each year. Now, the 2024-2025 form will be released this December and will look significantly different due to the FAFSA Simplification Act passed in December 2020.
“This simplification is meant to do exactly that–simplify the FAFSA. So, the questions have been greatly reduced. Over time, they took the questions down from 108 to 64, and depending on how the student answers the questions, they may not even have to fill out all 64,” Jennifer Harpham, the Director of Financial Aid at The University of Akron, said.
Not only does the act reduce the number of questions seen on the financial aid form, but it also modifies many factors that were once included in the form such as Expected Family Contribution (EFC), consideration of siblings in college, mandatory use of the International Revenue Service (IRS) Data Retrieval and aid eligibility.
The Student Aid Index (SAI) will replace students’ EFC, meaning the measure of a student’s ability to finance college will exclude consideration of how many household members attend college.
Additionally, the SAI will separate the financial eligibility of each college student within one household.
“In the past, if a family had two or three children in college it was considered as part of the methodology, and they got a bit of a break. Now, that question is still on the FAFSA, they will still ask it, but parents who have multiple students in college will no longer see that benefit on the FAFSA for their eligibility,” said Harpham.
Harpham explained that eligibility for financial aid will expand. Lower-income students’ eligibility for larger Federal Pell Grants will increase while middle to higher-income students may receive reduced Federal Pell Grants if not total ineligibility.
The Office of Student Financial Aid continues to prepare for changes and the potential impact on students at The University of Akron. As the 2024-2025 FAFSA will be calculated using 2022 tax returns, student and family circumstances could have changed drastically in the last two years.
“We are absolutely taking steps to assist those families so that the impact is as minimal as it can be. We do have absolute ways that we can help students, to make them feel comfortable coming to us and talking about that. Parents, as well, can come and see us. We always take walk-ins any time between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.,” Harpham said.
The financial aid department will continue to award scholarships and create financial aid packages for new and incoming students.
“Our goal is to limit the impact on students as much as we can through supplemental institutional scholarships and other aid. We are ready to help students with those unusual circumstances so that we are accurately reflecting what is happening in their families,” Harpham added.
On Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, the Office of Student Financial Aid will host an event on campus from noon to 4 p.m. At the event, students and families can receive help filling out the FAFSA and ask any questions they may have regarding the form. The office is located at Simmons Hall, Suite 202.
For more information on the Office of Student Financial Aid, please visit https://uakron.edu/finaid/
