In 2020, the FAFSA Simplification Act was enacted into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. The FAFSA Simplification Act represents a significant overhaul of federal student aid, including the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, need analysis, and many policies and procedures for schools that participate in the Title IV programs.
The FAFSA application for the 2025-2026 school year is now open!
Don’t wait—apply early to maximize your opportunities for financial assistance.
Changes to the FAFSA:
- The number of questions on the FAFSA has decreased from over 100 to less than 50.
- The EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) is now the Student Aid Index (SAI).
- Students can list up to 20 schools on their FAFSA via the online application.
- Applicants will be asked to report their sex, race, and ethnicity on the FAFSA itself, but students will be offered a choice of “Prefer Not to Answer”. Schools and states won’t see responses to these questions on the FAFSA.
- The Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) has been renamed the Federal Taxpayer Information (FTI)
- The Custodial Parent on your FAFSA will be the parent who provides you with the most financial support and will no longer be the parent with who you lived with the most over the past 12 months.
- Students, spouses, parents, and stepparents will now need to provide their consent in the new Consent to Retrieve and Disclose Federal Tax Information section of the FAFSA for federal student aid eligibility.
- This consent will allow the IRS to share FTI.
- If any party to the FAFSA form does not provide consent, submission of the form will still be allowed. However, a Student Aid Index (SAI) will not be calculated.
Changes to Calculating Your Aid Eligibility:
Students and families will see a different measure of their ability to pay for college, and they will experience a change in the methodology used to determine aid.
- The new need analysis formula:
- removes the number of family members in college from the calculation
- allows a minimum SAI of -$1,500
- implements separate eligibility determination criteria for Federal Pell Grant.
- Child support received will be included in assets and not as untaxed income.
- Families who own a small business/farm that also serves as primary residence will now have assets of that business/farm considered in their need analysis calculation.
Resources
For additional information about FAFSA Simplification and the enhancements to the 2024-2025 FAFSA, please review the Department of Education FAFSA Updates webpage.