How the FAFSA Simplification Can Impact Your Financial Aid

For the first time in 40 years, students are seeing a completely revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). These changes are part of the FAFSA Simplification Act and should benefit most families, but some households could see their eligible aid decrease significantly.

» MORE: New 2024-25 FAFSA: 10 key changes to expect

The FAFSA Simplification Act aims to streamline the application process, remove barriers for key student populations and expand federal aid eligibility. Notable changes to the FAFSA include:

• Replacing the Expected Family Contribution with the Student Aid Index.

• Expanding Federal Pell Grant eligibility.

• Automatically populating federal income tax data from the IRS.

• Adding details that determine a school's cost of attendance.

• Removing questions about Selective Service and drug convictions.

• Simplifying questions that determine the independent status of students in unusual circumstances, such as homeless students, orphans or former foster youth. Institutions will have more flexibility in adjusting certain factors that impact federal student aid for these students.

• Translating the application so it will be available in more languages.

The long-awaited changes soft-launched in late December and are still rolling out as the Department of Education works through technical glitches and some errors, including fixing math that could have cost students $1.8 billion in federal aid and fixing the process for students whose parents don't have Social Security Numbers to submit the FAFSA.

» MORE: How to deal with FAFSA delays and errors

How the FAFSA changes will impact your aid

Changes that will impact most students

The Department of Education is changing how a family's need-based aid is calculated. As a result, more households could receive more aid.

Before FAFSA simplification: A family's need was calculated using the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The EFC incorporated income and assets, family size and the number of children currently enrolled in college. Typically, the lower the EFC, the more aid you'd be eligible for.

After the FAFSA simplification: The EFC is being replaced by the Student Aid Index (SAI). And similar to the EFC, the lower the SAI, the more aid you’ll be eligible for. But the new formula increases the income protection allowance — allowing for more of a student's or family's income to be excluded from the calculation.

For example, using the EFC, the parent income protection allowance for a family of four for the 2023-24 academic year is $32,610. For the 2024-25 school year, the same family can exclude $35,870 — protecting an additional $3,260 from their income calculation and lowering the student's SAI.

» MORE: Applying to college early decision? 6 tips for the FAFSA

Changes that will impact low-income students

Moving away from the EFC to the SAI, it will be easier for some households to show the magnitude of their financial need.

Before FAFSA simplification: Students from a household with limited income and assets could, at the lowest limit, receive an EFC of zero. If your EFC was zero, you were automatically eligible for the maximum amount of federal student aid.

How it works:

Cost of attendance - EFC = Financial need

For example, if your school's cost of attendance is $20,000 and your EFC is zero, you would be eligible for $20,000 in need-based aid.

After FAFSA simplification: Unlike the EFC, the new SAI calculation can drop below zero. The SAI can be as low as -1,500. A family with significantly fewer financial resources could receive more aid in the 2024-25 academic year than they were eligible to receive in the 2023-24 school year.

How it works:

Cost of attendance - SAI = Financial need

Using the example above, having a $20,000 cost of attendance and an SAI of -1,500, you could be eligible for $21,500 in need-based aid — an increase of $1,500.

The SAI calculation also makes it easier to qualify for the Pell Grant:

• If your SAI is between 0 and -1,500, you qualify for the maximum Pell Grant.

• If your SAI is greater than 0 but less than the maximum Pell Grant award ($7,395), you could qualify for the maximum Pell Grant — minus your SAI.

• If your SAI is greater than the maximum Pell Grant award, you could still qualify for a Pell Grant depending on your family size, adjusted gross income and poverty guidelines.

» MORE: How much financial aid can I get?

» MORE: FAFSA renewal: 3 steps to a pain-free application

Changes that will impact students with siblings in college

Families with more than one child in college at the same time will no longer receive a sibling discount.

Before FAFSA simplification: The contribution for parents with multiple children in college was divided by the number of children enrolled. This was based on the idea that a parent's ability to pay for college doesn't increase as they have more children enrolled, according to the Department of Education.

Using an example from the Department of Education, a parent with one dependent in college full time could have an EFC of $10,000. When their second child enrolls, that child's EFC would be $5,000. If they have three children enrolled, the third child would have an EFC of $3,333, and so on.

After FAFSA simplification: The SAI does not consider the number of children enrolled in college when determining the parent's contribution.

For some families, particularly those with incomes and assets between $75,000 and $200,000, the impact of removing the sibling discount could be large. Their eligibility for financial aid could be cut by thousands of dollars, explained Phillip Levine, an economics professor at Wellesley College.

All changes to the FAFSA should be in place for the 2024-25 academic year, but you don't have to wait to take action. Use the federal student aid estimator to see what you'll be eligible to receive.