Highlights of 2024-25 FAFSA Changes
- Shorter Form: The FAFSA is now about 36 questions, way down from 108. Plus, they're making the questions clearer.
- EFC → SAI : Instead of Expected Family Contribution (EFC), we'll now hear about the Student Aid Index (SAI). It’s just a new name to better indicate that this is only a guideline for determining how much a student could afford, not what they’re expected to pay. In addition, the Student Aid Report (SAR) that contains the SAI will now be called the FAFSA Submission Summary.
- Pell Grant Changes: When determining eligibility for Pell Grant money, your adjusted gross income (AGI) will be used in addition to the SAI. Also, students can get a rough idea of their Pell Grant amount before doing the whole FAFSA.
- No More Bonus for Big Families: Before, if you had more than one kid in college, you got a kind of "discount". Not anymore. This might mean less money for some families.
- Which Parent Fills Out the Form?: If parents are divorced or separated, the one who gave more financial support two years ago fills out the FAFSA instead of the parent that the student lives with.
- Money Gifts Won’t Hurt: If a student gets money from grandparents or others for college, it won't be factored into the SAI and negatively affect ability to receive aid.
- Higher Income Protection: The FAFSA income protection allowance is an amount of parent and student income that is excluded from the financial aid eligibility formula. There’s now a bigger chunk of income (for both parents and students) that won't be looked at when deciding on financial aid.
- REPAYE → SAVE: The income driven repayment plan called REPAYE is being replaced by the SAVE plan. This new plan cuts the amount of a borrower's discretionary income that is owed from 10% down to 5% while also accelerating the timeline for loan forgiveness to 10 years instead of the old 20-25 years under REPAYE.