FAFSA Simplification: Updates & Information
The FAFSA Simplification Act brings major changes to the FAFSA, which is expected to streamline the process for students and families. The new FAFSA will feature fewer questions, fewer requirements and retrieve tax information using a direct data exchange from the IRS. Please continue to check this page for updates.
Latest Updates
June 17, 2024: The Department of Education (DoE) has announced they are currently unable to process changes to the 2024-25 FAFSA from institutions. This delay means that Carnegie Mellon’s is unable to confirm with the DoE that any application inconsistencies or requirements needing a correction have been resolved. Further, this has delayed the certification process of Federal Grants, such as Pell Grants, and Federal Loans, such as Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans. Currently, correction processing is estimated to begin in August.
April 17, 2024: The Department of Education has announced that FAFSA corrections and updates are now available to students and families. Students may log in to their Federal Student Aid account to view if changes are required and follow these instructions to make any corrections to their FAFSA. Students will also need to invite their "contributers" to complete their portion of the FAFSA. Lastly, a list of ongoing known FAFSA issues are being continually updated and monitored by the Department of Education.
March 25, 2024: The Department of Education announced that students and families will be able to make updates and corrections to their FAFSA forms during the first half of April; details about how to make corrections is forthcoming. Additionally, Carnegie Mellon has started to receive FAFSA files from the Department of Education. However, any issues - including miscalculations due to identified FAFSA technical issues - will need to be addressed by the Department of Education before CMU is able to provide an official financial aid offer. FAFSA applications that were impacted by the technical issues will be reprocessed after student corrections are made available.
PREVIOUS Updates
FAFSA Changes for 2024-2025
- Contributor: The FAFSA is introducing the new term "contributor," which refers to anyone who is required to provide information on a student’s FAFSA form, including the student, the student’s spouse, a biological or adoptive parent, and the parent’s spouse (if the student's biological parents are married, this is the other parent). Being a contributor does not imply responsibility for the student's college costs. Please see Federal Student Aid's infographic to help determine which parent(s) to include on your FAFSA.
- Students will need the contributor’s name, date of birth, Social Security Number (SSN), and email address to invite them to complete the required portion of the FAFSA.
- Contributors will need to provide personal and financial information on their section of the FAFSA. Please note dependency status also determines which contributors are needed on the FAFSA.
- If your parents are divorced or separated, the contributing parent is the parent (and their spouse, if remarried) who provided the greater portion of your financial support during the 12 months immediately prior to filing the FAFSA. It is not automatically the parent you primarily lived with during the past 12 months.
- All contributors - student, student's spouse (if married), and student's parents (if a dependent student) - must provide consent to have tax data transferred directly from the IRS to the FAFSA. Consent is required regardless of tax filing status; if consent is not provided by all parties, the student will not be eligible for federal financial aid. In previous years, transferring IRS data was optional. It is now required.
- While the FAFSA does not use non-custodial parental information for federal aid purposes, Carnegie Mellon requests the non-custodial parent profile in situations of divorce/separation (for undergraduates only).
- Students who indicate that they have an unusual circumstance that prevents them from having a parent or guardian contribute to their FAFSA will automatically be granted provisional independent status, a provisional Student Aid Index (SAI), and an estimate of federal student aid, which will be reviewed by Carnegie Mellon. More details are available on on the Department of Education website. Students pursuing unusual circumstances will be directed to complete Carnegie Mellon's Unusual Circumstances process.
- Student Aid Index: The need analysis formula to determine financial aid, formerly known as the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), will now be referred to as the Student Aid Index (SAI). Unlike the EFC, the SAI may be a negative number.
- FAFSA Submission Summary: The Student Aid Report (SAR) will now be referred to as the FAFSA Submission Summary. This is the summary document you and Carnegie Mellon receive after you complete the FAFSA. Please note that Carnegie Mellon will not begin receiving FAFSA records until sometime in February, and thus, FAFSA Submission Summaries will not be available until February.
The adjustments to the new Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation will expand Federal Pell Grant eligibility to more students.
Instead of entering financial and tax information manually or using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, all contributors must consent to the IRS Direct Data Exchange (DDX). This allows financial data to be transferred directly from the IRS to the FAFSA. Please note that there is no opt-out for this requirement; if a contributor does not consent, the student will be ineligible for federal aid. Consent is required regardless of tax filing status.
The new FAFSA also brings changes to what is considered an asset:
Child Support Received
The annual amount of child support received should be included in the assets reported.
Small Business and Farm Assets
The net worth of any small business and/or farms (if residing on a family farm, exclude principal residence) should be included in the assets reported.
Education Savings Accounts (529 Plans)
For dependent students, these accounts are only considered assets if the account is designated for the student.
While the FAFSA will still request the number of family members currently enrolled in college, it will be excluded from federal and state financial aid calculations. Please visit the Special Financial Circumstances webpage for more information.
