2024-25 FAFSA Changes

The FAFSA Simplification Act external website incorporated some key changes to both the FAFSA and how student aid eligibility is determined.

Overview of Changes

In prior years, the FAFSA has been available beginning October 1st each year. Due to these significant changes to the FAFSA application and processing system, the Department of Education announced students will be able to complete their 2024-25 FAFSA by December 31st and schools will begin receiving FAFSA data by mid/late March. If a student needs to make corrections to their 2024-2025 FAFSA after submission, this feature will not be accessible until April.

Students who plan to be enrolled at Wilkes during the fall 2024 and/or spring 2025 semester(s) should complete the FAFSA beginning January 1, 2024 and add Wilkes (school code: 003394) to their list of schools so we receive the information mid/late March. If Wilkes is not listed on your FAFSA, we will be unable to determine your financial aid eligibility.

• New Incoming Students: We plan to begin sending aid offers to incoming fall 2024 admitted first year and transfer students in April.
• Returning students: Returning students will be able to view their fall 2024 aid eligibility in their Wilkes Student Portal by June.

Additional details on FAFSA updates and enhancements can be found on the Federal Student Aid webpage external website.

Some of the notable changes include, but are not limited to:

Changes to the FAFSA Form

• The FAFSA will reduce the maximum number of questions from 108 to 46. This streamlined format will simplify the application process and make it less daunting for students and their families.
• Students may now list up to 20 colleges and universities on their FAFSA; previously, the FAFSA only allowed students to list up to 10 colleges and universities.
• A student will not be asked their housing plans for each school. Students will need to share that information with their enrolled school directly each year.
• The Student Aid Index (SAI) replaced the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) which is calculated based on the FAFSA submission and used to determine aid eligibility.
• The student and required contributor(s) must provide consent and approval on the FAFSA in the Consent to Retrieve and Disclose Federal Tax Information section (regardless of manually entered tax information). This will allow the access of the IRS Direct Data Exchange to share Financial Taxpayer information (FTI). If consent and approval is not given by the student and/or contributor(s), the student will be ineligible for federal student aid. This change to the FAFSA will make it easier to complete the FAFSA and reduces the number of questions to be answered.
• There are separate FAFSA sections for students and their contributor(s). Students will not be able to access the contributor section of the student's FAFSA and, likewise, contributors will not be able to access the student section. Each person will log in with their personal FSA ID to complete their section.
• In the instance of parental divorce or separation (dependent students), the parent responsible for contributing to the FAFSA has changed. The parent who provided the most financial support to the student will be the contributor and required to provide their financial information. It will not be the parent in which the student had lived with the most in the last 12 months (as in previous years).
• The FAFSA will be available in more languages. The current FAFSA is only available in English and Spanish. The 2024-25 application will be expanded to include the 11 most common languages spoken by English learner students and their parents.

Changes to calculating student aid eligibility

• The new need analysis formula removes the number of family members in college from the calculation and expands Federal Pell Grant eligibility external website to more students.
• The application will still ask how many household members are enrolled in college, but your answer will not be used in the calculation of the SAI. As such, undergraduate Wilkes University students with siblings in college may see a change in their federal aid eligibility.
• Families with an adjusted gross income of $60,000 and higher will be required to answer questions about their assets. This is more favorable to families than the previous income threshold of $50,000.
• Child support received will need to be included in assets and not as untaxed income.
• Family farms and small businesses that also serves as a family's primary residence will now need to report their assets. If the family farm includes the principal place of residence, applicants should determine the total net value of all farm assets and subtract the net value of their principal residence to determine the final value of their farm assets.

Updates to the 2024-25 FAFSA processing experience for students

The Department of Education's anticipated 2024-25 FAFSA processing timeline changes are as follows (as of Feb. 6, 2024):

• By mid-March, students will receive an email informing them that their FAFSA form has been fully processed and their FAFSA information has been sent to the schools they listed on their form.
• Students who applied using the online FAFSA form will receive an email that they can access their FAFSA Submission Summary by logging in to StudentAid.gov external website using their account username and password.
• The Department will send an email reminder to previous FAFSA applicants who have not yet submitted a 2024-25 FAFSA form.

• Students will be able to make corrections to their FAFSA once their eligibility has been calculated and ISIR generated. Students may view their eligibility calculation by logging back into their Studentaid.gov account.

• The Department will fully process paper applications in the weeks following.