The 2024–25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) includes unprecedented changes to how students and families apply for federal student
aid and how we determine eligibility, giving students a better and simpler experience
with the FAFSA form. Improvements include a direct data exchange with the IRS for
income data elements, a new “Who’s My Parent?” wizard, and a single consolidated portal
for all FAFSA help resources. The following information pertains to all students enrolling in classes for the 2024-25
academic year, including the Summer 2024 session.
Important First Steps For Students And Parents
In order to complete a FAFSA application students and parents will first need to create
a FSA ID, which is used to sign in and complete a FAFSA application. You can create
a FSA ID at anytime and our office encourages you to complete this step as soon as possible. You can create your FSA ID at studentaid.gov. An FSA ID consists of a username and password you create to gain access to the
U.S. Department of Education's online systems. An FSA ID can also serve as your legal
signature when completing electronic documents.
Please Note: If the parent and student have already completed a FAFSA in the past
you already have a FSA ID. This is in reference to new students, spouses, and parents
who don't already have FSA IDs.
FAFSA Application Dates Change
The FAFSA has been in the past available for the following school year starting in
October. However the 2024-25 FAFSA is expected to be available in December 2023.
EFC To SAI (2024-2025 AY)
Financial Need under the Student Aid Index (SAI) will be determined differently from
the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
EFC ranged from 0 to 99999, SAI can be as low as a negative 1500.
Many undergraduate students will see increase eligibility for the Pell Grant.
Roles To Be Added
Roles will include student, a parent (if student is dependent) and a spouse (if the student is independent and filed separate tax returns). Students will provide
information through the FAFSA application to contact appropriate other roles if needed.
Students, parents or spouses should request their FSA ID in advance of starting the
FAFSA application.
Students will not be able to see information provided by the other role as well as
parent or spouse will not be able to see student information provided.
Additional Changes To The FAFSA
Housing plan question will be removed from the FAFSA application when selecting school
options.
Number in college question will still be collected from the student, however this
will not be part of the new SAI calculation.
Families with farms and businesses will be considered assets in the SAI calculation.
Notification
Our office will continue to update and notify students upon information of the release
of the FAFSA application. Watch the video below for more information on what has changed.
FAFSA Processing & SBU Financial Aid
Dependent students have the option to indicate that their parents are unwilling to
provide their information and therefore want to apply for only a Direct Unsubsidized Loan. However, if a dependent student doesn’t provide parent information, their eligibility for other types of federal student aid can’t be calculated. This means they won’t be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant, Federal Work-Study, or a Direct Subsidized Loan.
If you selected "Unsubsidized Loan Only" you can follow the steps listed here to change
your answer and invite your parents to your FAFSA.
Step 1: Log into studentaid.gov and select your FAFSA submission from the "My Activity" section
of your account Dashboard. You will be able to see your status and select "Start
your Correction" from under the "Student Actions Needed" section.
Step 2: Select "Continue" on the "Correct Your FAFSA Form" Page.
Step 3: Select "Start Student Section" on the "Error Summary" Page.
Step 4: Navigate through the Personal Circumstances section until you reach the "Your Dependency
Status" page. You will see that "Yes" is selected as the answer to the "Direct Unsubsidized
Loan Only" question.
Step 5: Change your answer to "No". Then select "Continue" to navigate through the rest of
the FAFSA and invite your parent(s).
Step 6: When you reach the "Review Changes" page, confirm that your answer to the question
has been changed to "No". Then, select "Continue to sign and submit your section
of the correction.
Step 7: Review the next steps included on the "section Complete" page. To complete your form
your parent(s) must log in, complete their section, provide their consent and approval
and signature, and submit the correction.
All required contributors (you, your parent[s], your spouse) must provide a signature
on your 2024–25 FAFSA form. If your form is missing one or more required signatures,
it isn’t complete, and you won’t be eligible for federal student aid.
Once your form is processed, you and your contributor(s) can follow the steps below
to add a missing signature.
Note: The images included in these instructions show a parent’s view of the form.
However, the steps for adding a signature to the form are the same for students and
parents.
Step 1: Log in to StudentAid.gov and select the FAFSA submission from the “My Activity” section
of your account Dashboard. You’ll then see a submission details page. Under “FAFSA Form Processed,” select “Provide Signature.”
Step 2: On the “Correct Your FAFSA Form” page, select “Provide Signature.”
Step 3:
On the “Review Changes” page, select “Continue.”
Note: If a missing signature is your only error, you’ll be taken directly to this
page. If your section of the form has other errors, you’ll be taken to the first page
that needs additional information and will reach the “Review Changes” page once you’ve
fixed all issues.
Step 4: On the “Signature” page, select “Sign and Submit.”
Step 5: After selecting “Sign and Submit,” you’ll be taken to a page that confirms the FAFSA
form is complete.
Understanding that there may be many students who are experiencing difficulties completing
their FAFSA, we have pushed our priority deadline to March 15th.
Institutions, state higher ed agencies, and designated scholarship organizations will
begin receiving batches of FAFSA information (ISIRs) starting in the first half of March. The information transmitted to schools will include the updated SAI tables.
If you filed your FAFSA online using all required contributors’ FSA ID and all contributors
provided consent and signed the FAFSA, you should receive a link to your FAFSA Submission
Summary in 3 to 5 days.
In order to check the status of your FAFSA application, you can log onto Student Aid with your FSA ID and select "2024-25 FAFSA Form" on the "My Activity" page.
From this, the status of your application will be one of the following:
Draft: Your section of the FAFSA form is incomplete.
In Progress: You provided your consent, approval, and signature to your section of the FAFSA form,
but it has not been submitted yet.
In Review: Your FAFSA form was submitted but hasn't been processed yet.
Action Required: You are missing your consent and approval or signature, or the FAFSA form was processed,
but a correction is required.
Processed: Your application was processed successfully. No further action is needed.
Closed: Your FAFSA form was never submitted and can no longer be submitted because the federal
FAFSA deadline passed.
Contributors
The new FAFSA form will include a “Parent Wizard”, an interactive worksheet that helps
the applicant to determine which parent or parents they should be planning to include
on their application.
Students, spouses, parents, and stepparents (any contributors identified during the
application process) will need to provide their consent to provide their Federal Tax
Information (FTI) in the new Consent to Retrieve and Disclose Federal Tax Information
section of the FAFSA for federal student aid eligibility. Once the required contributors
are identified.
Yes, in order to create an FSA ID, a contributor without an SSN will need to :
Provide an email address that is not associated with another FSA ID account
Provide a mailing address
Answer a series of questions to verify their identity
Required FAFSA Information
The FSAID is required to complete the FAFSA online by both the student and parent.
Please review the following documents on the steps to create your FSAID How to get a FSAID without SSN
Applicants with unique circumstances (like international students or families navigating
identity fraud) will still need to provide consent for direct data exchange with the
IRS. For instances where income and tax information cannot be obtained directly from
the IRS, the applicant will be prompted to enter the necessary information into the
FAFSA manually, and that manual entry may be subject to verification
Yes. It may not feel like a transfer, but as long as they log into each child’s FAFSA
who has invited them to be a contributor, they will have their information in there
after they complete the first one.
Yes. Foreign tax filers can enter tax information manually on their student’s FAFSA.
With the 2024-25 FAFSA, the family will only need to report the value of the 529 for
the student whose FAFSA is being complete.
Yes. Married filing separately requires each person to have an FSA ID.
The new 2024-25 FAFSA now directly links with the IRS along with other federal agencies
allowing for a screamlined process. You will be asked during the FAFSA application
to allow access to IRS data. With enhanced security, financial information will be
hidden from users.
Student Aid Index (SAI)
The Student Aid Index (SAI) is the new calculated number that determines a students
aid eligiblity. This number replaces the previously used Expected Family Contribution
(EFC).
Your federal award is calculated by Need = Cost of Attendance (COA) – Student Aid Index (SAI) – Other Financial Assistance
(OFA).
The Student Aid Index (SAI) is used by financial aid offices when determining student
eligibility for need-based financial aid. The SAI can range from -1,500 to 99999.
A lower SAI (including negative SAI) indicates a higher financial need.
