Details about Key FAFSA Changes

Here you will find details about key changes on the new FAFSA application. You can see a full list of the changes for the 2024-2025 award year here.

• Where Can I Get Assistance with my FAFSA?

  Have questions? California Student Aid Commission has answers during their free Statewide Cash for College webinars!

  Cash for College webinars are designed to answer common questions about applying for financial aid. During these webinars, financial aid experts are available to answer questions for students and families. All students, families and guardians are welcome!

  CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

  Need help completing your FAFSA? FREE Cash for College Workshops are available across California for students and families.

  CLICK HERE TO FIND A WORKSHOP

• Student Aid Index (SAI)

  The Student Aid Index (SAI) replaces the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) starting in the 2024-2025 year.

  • The SAI is a number that is used to determine eligibility for need-based aid. It is calculated using information that the student (and contributors, if required) provides on the FAFSA form.
  • A student's SAI can be a negative number down to -1500.

  To calculate your financial need, the SAI and any other financial assistance (such as scholarships, grants, loans, work programs and stipends) are subtracted from the overall cost of attending UCR.

  

• Changes to the SAI (formerly EFC) Calculation
  • More Federal Aid for Single Parents
  • Dependent students with just one parent
  • Independent students who are single parents
  • Greater eligibility for the maximum Federal Pell Grant
    • Single Parent: AGI < 225% of the poverty guideline
    • Not a Single Parent: < 175% of the poverty guideline
  • More student and parent income will be sheltered from the financial aid formula.
  • Elimination of an adjustment in FAFSA formula for families with multiple children in college.
  • Simplified Needs Test is now known as "Applicants Exempt from Asset Reporting"
    • If family incoming is less than $60,000, or
    • If anyone in applicant's household received certain means-tested federal benefits in the last two years
    • All assets are considered in the formula, including small business and family farm(s)
• Contributors

  A contributor is anyone who is asked to provide information on the FAFSA — Student, Student's Spouse, Parent(s), and Step-parent(s). Each contributor can only view the section of the FAFSA they are responsible for. 

  Is your parent a contributor? Click here to find out.

• Contributors Without a Social Security Number (SSN)

  Here are some resources to help you if you have a Contributor without a Social Security Number (SSN):

  • FAFSA Steps for Non-SSN Contributors
  • CA Non-SSN Contributor Follow-Up
  • Attestation Form
  • Cash for College Webinars
  • UCR Financial Aid Instagram - Steps for Creating an FSA ID for Non-SSN Contributors
  • UCR Financial Aid Workshops
    • Thursday, April 18 @ 2:30 - 4:30 pm (Tartan & Tweed Room located in the Student Services Building)
    • Tuesday, April 23 @ 1 - 3 pm (HUB 268)
    • Thursday, April 25 @ 2 - 4 pm (Tartan & Tweed Room located in the Student Services Building)
• Consent

  There is a new Consent Process for collecting tax information. 

  Federal law mandates that data received directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) be used to calculate Pell Grant eligibility and the SAI. This data exchange has been made possible by the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act (FUTURE Act), which will be implemented alongside FAFSA Simplification starting with the 2024-2025 school year.

  • Each contributor (student, student spouse, parent(s), and/or stepparent) will have 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.
  • If a student or required contributor doesn't provide consent to have their federal tax information transferred into the FAFSA form, the student will not be eligible for federal, state, or institutional student aid — even if they manually enter tax information into the FASA form. 
  • Information about how federal tax information will be used and the consequences of not providing consent will be included on the FAFSA form. 
• Which Parent Must Complete the FAFSA?
  • When parents are divorced, separated, or never married, and do not live together, only one parent must complete the FAFSA.
  • For students whose parents are divorced or separated, 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 whom you lived with the most over the past 12 months.
  • If the Custodial Parent has remarried as of the date the FASFA is filed, the stepparent's income, assets, and dependents must be reported on the FAFSA.

  Who is your parent when you fill out the FAFSA form?

  Foster, homeless, and unaccompanied youth - as well as applicants who cannot provide parental information - will be able to complete the form with a provisional independent student determination and receive a calculated SAI.

• FSA ID Requirement
  • All students and contributors must create a StudentAid.gov account to complete the FAFSA form online.
  • To long in to their accounts, students and contributors will use their FSA IDs (account username and password).
  • Even if a contributor doesn't have a Social Security Number (SSN), they can still get an FSA ID to fill out their portion of the student's FAFSA form online. Click here to see our Instagram post about how Contributors without a SSN should create an FSA ID.
  • Do you have a contributor without a Social Security Number and are experiencing issues? Cash for College is hosting a series of webinars to assist students with these issues. Click here to view upcoming webinars. 
• Definition of Family Size

  Family size is now based on:

  • Student
  • Student's parents or student's spouse (if any)
  • Depends on applicable federal income tax return
• Types of Untaxed Income No Longer Reported
  • Cash support and other money paid on student's behalf
  • Veteran's education benefits
  • Workman's Compensation
  • Gifts to students
• FAFSA Questions Regarding Gender, Race & Ethnicity

  New questions regarding gender, race and ethnicity are asked on the new FAFSA that are collected strictly for statistical purposes by the U.S. Department of Education.

  Students will be offered a choice of "Prefer Not to Answer." Schools and state agencies won't see responses to the questions on the FAFSA, and the student responses will not affect aid eligibility. 

• Federal Pell Grant Eliigibility

  Changes to the criteria for Federal Pell Grant  eligibility to allow more students to qualify for the Federal Pell Grant will be determined in 3 steps:

  • Step 1: Maximum Pell Grant - Students may qualify for a maximum Pell Grant based on family size, adjusted gross income, poverty guidelines, and tax filing status. Students qualifying for a maximum Pell Grant will have a Student Aid Index (SAI) between -1500 and 0.
  • Step 2: Student Aid Index (SAI) - Students who don't qualify for a maximum Pell Grant may still be eligible if their calculated SAI is less than the maximum Pell Grant award for the award year. The student's Pell Grant award will be equal to the maximum Pell Grant for the award year minus their SAI.
  • Step 3: Minimum Pell Grant - Students whose SAI is greater than the maximum Pell Grant award for the award year may still be eligible for a Pell Grant, based on family size, adjusted gross income, and poverty guidelines.

  Additionally, Pell Grant was awarded based on full-time (12 or more hours), three-quarter (9-11 credit hours), half-time (6-8 credit hours) or less-than-half-time (1-5 credit hours) enrollment statuses. For 2024-2025, the enrollment statuses will be replaced with a new term called "enrollment intensity." For example, full-time is 12 units and if a student is in 7 units, the intensity would be 7/12 or 58% rather than 50%.

• How Do These Changes Affect the FAFSA Timeline?

  The following timeline provides an overview of upcoming changes due to the FAFSA Simplification Act. Additional dates will be added as we learn more information.

  December 2023: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2024-2025 year opens.

  Late Spring 2024: Estimated Preliminary Financial Aid Notices begin going out to undergraduate first-year and transfer students.

  Mid Summer 2024: Financial Aid Offer Notifications begin going out to new and continuing students.

• What is NOT Changing?

  These federal aid requirements, rights and responsibilities have not changed or had minor updates:

  • The 2024-2025 FAFSA determines your financial aid eligibility for the summer 2024, fall 2024, winter 2025, spring 2025 terms.
  • The FAFSA remains required annually for federal aid consideration and is available to U.S. Citizens or Eligible Non-Citizens.
  • Questions introduced in 2023-2024 about the applicant's sex, race, and ethnicity have no effect on federal student aid eligibility and remain only for statistical purposes.
  • Dependency status questions to determine if your parents must provide their information remain the same.
  • FAFSA will still request prior-prior year tax information. Families that had significant reduction in income due to extenuating circumstances can still request a special circumstances review.
  • Federal Education Loans requirements remain the same.
  • Federal Aid Rights & Responsibilities also didn't change.
    • Withdrawing Early
    • Participation Requirements
  • Academic Requirements for Federal Aid are still required to maintain eligibility.