The Free Aid for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application for 2024 is set to open by December 31, two months later than the regular October opening. Students must complete the FAFSA to receive financial aid for college, but along with the date, there have been other changes to the application this year.
According to Mary Norwood, Leesville’s Financial Aid Advisor, the changes to the FASFA application are as follows:
The FAFSA form is used by colleges and career schools to determine grants, scholarships, work-study funds, and loans.
- The 2024-2025 FAFSA will open by December 31, 2023. It has been streamlined and shortened.
- A student must be a US citizen or an eligible non-citizen to fill out the FAFSA.
- There is a new methodology to calculate aid. Students may automatically qualify for the maximum Pell Grant
- Everyone (parent, student) must have an FSA ID to complete the FAFSA. Parents and students will be called contributors.
- All contributors must complete their part of the FAFSA as well as consent to be eligible for financial aid.
- Consent is required for tax data transfers. (taxes paid in 2022)
- Discount for multiple students has disappeared.
- The FAFSA must be completed and signed to be valid.
Since there is no longer a discount for families with multiple college students, it can create a strain on families having to pay the full price for each student.
Along with this, contributors must have their own FASFA account and give consent to the IRS sending their tax information, which can make it hard for students who won’t have their parent’s help completing the FASFA.
“I feel like it will impact other students more than me… if you’re like the youngest of like 5 then that’s a lot of money [since there is no longer a discount]. Or if your parents are not on good terms… it can be like playing messenger getting the tax information together,” said Amira Leggett, senior.
“I was worried that filling out the [FASFA] form would be confusing but since it’s shortened I think it will be better… there’s probably gonna be issues for a lot of students because of the other changes like the consent thing,” said Lucas Dunham, senior.
