Understanding the FAFSA^®

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Good afternoon. My name is Julie Shields-Rutyna, and I'm the Director of College Planning, Education, and Training at MEFA, and thank you so much for joining us today for this webinar, Understanding the FAFSA. We have a very large group today, so I think everyone's interested. Many of you probably know that this year the FAFSA received an overhaul, so there are lots of changes. Um, and with that, because of that, the FAFSA is actually delayed. And while it's usually available on October 1st, um, this year it's going to be available probably December 31st. Well they're telling us no later than December 31st.

So, um, but congratulations to all of you for being here today to learn as much as you can and get a preview of what the form will look like. So, um, you'll be, you'll be set to go. And that will be, um, you know, fun for the new year. First, first task of the new year. Complete your FAFSA. So anyway, we're very fortunate to have Amy Staffier with us. Amy is the assistant vice president at Simmons University and also the director of financial aid. Her title is, uh, more words than that, but that about covers it.

And Amy's going to do the presentation. There's a lot to get through. So, um, I'm going to move to that in a moment. But just to let you know, we also have four of us behind the scenes. Because I'm sure you have a lot of questions. So, Shawn Morrissey. Stephanie Wells, and Meredith Clement, along with myself will be behind the scenes answering any questions that you have, but I'm sure over the course of the presentation, Amy will be answering a lot of those, um, you know, with her presentation, but we want to make sure that all your all your questions are answered.

So a couple of logistics. If you want to switch the slide, Amy. And just if you have questions, please put them in the Q&A and we can see those and we can see them in the order that came in and we can we can answer those for you. If you would like close captioning, please press the live transcript button and you'll be able to see the words that we speak on the screen.

And as an added feature, you can even choose the language that you'd like to see those words in. If you need to leave the webinar, of course you may, and we will be sending you a link to the recording and the slides tomorrow. So you'll be able to have those to go back to or to share. So you don't have to take too many notes.

And I think there is another slide or two, just a few words about MEFA. MEFA has been around since 1982, and we are a state authority created to help families plan, save and pay for college, and, uh, we have low cost loan programs. We have savings programs like the U Fund and the U Plan, and we also everything else like this webinar.

We just provide a lot of guidance to families at whatever stage you are in the college process. And with that, I think I'm going to turn it right over to you, Amy. Great.

Amy Staffier: Thank you, Julie. Thanks, everyone. So as was noted, we have a lot to go through, uh, within this hour, so I'm going to jump, uh, right in. So the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, um, it is a free form. We used to really have to highlight that because there used to be a, uh, a kind of fake form out there that you, that you would, uh, have to pay, but it is a free form, uh, and it is required by all, uh, colleges and universities, uh, to determine and award any sort of federal, um, and with most state aid, uh, as well.

And then many institutions are also going to use this form, uh, to award their own institutional aid. But some schools may use additional forms, and that's important to know if you're going through this process for the first time. So as noted, this is a kind of a one-year problem where the FAFSA is opening a bit later. The Department of Education has said that it will be open by December 31st. Most all of us are assuming that is the date that it will open. Um, but, uh, you know, we, we shall see, but we're really expecting that it will be that last date, uh, in December.

It does have to be completed each year if you're continuing to apply for financial aid. Uh, and if you have multiple students in college, the FAFSA is associated with the student. Uh, and so there may need to be in a, uh, multiple children in college scenario, uh, multiple FAFSAs as they are associated with the student. Uh, and, and I already noted that, um, you know, there may be other things that you need to do for an institution.

In our world, we always say it depends, right? Every institution is a little bit different. Uh, so it's really important to know for each institution that a student's applying to, uh, what is required by them, what forms, but for all of them, they're gonna be requiring this FAFSA form, something that is new, uh, with the 24-25 FAFSA is using this word contributor, um, as each individual who is completing a part of a student's FAFSA.

So for instance, there's a student as a contributor and then a parent as a contributor. Um. Also, a little bit different is that, um, that contributor is kind of filling out that information specific to themselves. All of the income questions, um, will actually be pulled from a federal tax return. Uh, and each contributor must provide consent in order to pull that information. But not even just to pull that information, but also for the student to be eligible for federal student aid, that consent must be given. So it must be given by all contributors, not just the student, but the parents as well.

There is skip logic to bypass questions that are not applicable. You know, I think what they've said is that the FAFSA Is going from about 108 questions down to the maximum of 36, but it could even be less than that which each person is is answering. You do need to Kind of go through the form in order.

You can't bypass questions and if an answer is zero or the question does not apply that you just should enter zero, not just leave it blank This last point here, the incomplete FAFSAs are deleted after 45 days. Reminders are sent every seven days if you have not completed that FAFSA. I do know that myself because I do have an account.

We have gone in just to try to pull screenshots and things like that. And over the years I've gotten those reminders like you need to complete your FAFSA. But I will also note that they say, um, a FAFSA that has not been fully completed. So let's say the student went in and began to complete it and a parent started to complete it but didn't fully complete. In order to not have it deleted in the 45 days, like if it extended, the student or parent would need to go in, not just access their student aid account, they would actually have to access the FAFSA form itself, and they would have to get to a screen where they press save, and that would count as an action and kind of reset that 45 days.

But hopefully you're just completing it within that that one-time sit down or two between the contributors.

So what information should you have in front of you, uh, and what really is needed in order to complete the FAFSA. Uh, so the student and parent or parents, depending on the family situation, and we'll, we'll talk through that. Uh, you need the Social Security number, uh, date of birth, current bank statements and then, um, current information about, uh, asset value of any business, farm or investments.

Um, and then certain families may need, uh, 2022 federal income tax information, uh, for the student or parent. Uh, it is, there's only a couple of instances where a student or a parent might need to provide that information. Most of it is all pulled right from the IRS, but it's good just to have that on hand just in case.

This is a great screenshot to grab, uh, that shows the customer support, customer service for, um, uh, for FAFSA. Uh, so, um, you know, something that you just might want to grab a screenshot of.
The first step in being able to complete the 24-25 FAFSA and something that is in my, um, in my view, really imperative that this gets done now, prior to when the FAFSA actually opens in December, because by having this FSA ID, the student aid account, you'll be able to more seamlessly jump right in, have that FAFSA completed right away.

So the student, um, as well as, uh, every parent who's listed on the FAFSA will need an FSA ID. If a parent has an FSA ID that they've used, you know, to sign for another child or perhaps for their own loans that they might be in graduate school or something. They don't need to get a new FSA ID, but each student would need their own FSA ID.

The Department of Education with this new 24-25 FAFSA is really recommending that every single parent, um, get an FSA ID, but in the case of parents who file their taxes jointly, um, the reality is only one parent, um, actually needs the FSA ID in order to sign. And that all has to do with the ability to pull in, um, federal tax information from the IRS.

It is needed in order to start the FAFSA, which is a little bit of a difference, um, from past iterations of the FAFSA form. So again, I can't stress that enough that if, if you and your child have not already begun that process of getting that FSA ID that you do that, um, you know, as soon as possible. You must have an email address, uh, and, you know, students and parents need their own distinct email address.

And the note here, um, make sure that the student isn't using, say, you know, like one associated with their high school, someone that they're able to check and then continue and check, um, in, um, further years out, uh, as they will be communicated to by the, uh, Department of Education at that email address.

You provide some kind of personal information and set up challenge questions should you forget your password. This is also a change that parents without a Social Security number will now be able to get an FSA ID where they used to not be able to. Um, they will be answering kind of knowledge-based questions based on credit history. Uh, that process, even though we kind of have had a view into what it's going to look like is not, um, fully up and running yet, but will be once the FAFSA is ready.

So, um, you know, we're, we're into December now. So, uh, so we hope that any point in time that will, uh, that will pop open. So if you have more questions about the FSA ID, MEFA has a video on their website that you could check out. So once the FAFSA opens, we have actually seen kind of this prototype. So we've been able to grab screenshots of what the 24-25 FAFSA will look like.

Um, you are going to want to pop in and obviously start a new form, um, because, uh, it will, it will just have opened. Um, there's a bunch of kind of help text and you will find that throughout the FAFSA that there is, uh, actually a lot of good, um, help information that is provided that the, um, Department of Education has put together, uh, on the form.

But you're just gonna click that, start a new form and then, um, the student or the parent is putting in their FSA ID to log in right. If the student or the parent does not yet have their FSA ID, they can click on create an account, but they're going to have to go off and create that account, and they're going to have to wait for that verification period of the FSA ID before they can go back and then actually complete the FAFSA form.
So again, my suggestion to do that as soon as possible, create the FSA ID.

Here you're choosing whether you are the student or the parent. We're going to walk through this as the student is the one that is beginning to complete the form. There are four onboarding slides. You know, you can kind of bypass through them a bit but this is just kind of what is the FAFSA form with a little short video that the Department of Ed put together.

Next up is a little bit of information about the contributor. And so I already talked about, uh, you know who these contributors are. This talks about how to invite your contributor. One thing that I think is important because in these instances, there's the student contributor and then there's, you know, perhaps a parent contributor and perhaps maybe there's a step-parent who's a, you know, a contributor as well to the FAFSA form, but you'll, I don't know if you can see it but here under where it says parents and spouses, they have clarified that, um, they're asked to provide personal and financial information, but will not become financially responsible for your education.

So, um, that's just something that has been added in because I think that term contributor can be confusing. Now, of course, those people may be contributing toward the student's education, but, but that clarification, I think, is important. Let's move on to the last, which is kind of, you know what to expect.

Um, you know, it takes about an hour they're saying to complete the form. Um, and that important every contributor must provide consent in order for the student to be eligible for aid, and that doesn't matter if the contributor is a non-filer, or even if that contributor files, um, outside of the country, they still have to provide consent. That may not seem intuitive, but that is a requirement.

So now you're going to get to information about, you know, after you submit the form and it gives you a bit of a sense of timeline and process, although we are hearing that though the FAFSA will open by December 31st or on December 31st, you're likely not going to get this, what's called a FAFSA Submission Summary, which is a listing of all of the information that's been provided, probably until the following month, and that's when institutions are going to start to receive that information as well.

And then you're going to click on the bottom to start the FAFSA form. So since the student is the one that logged in using their FSA ID, um, their identity information is, is already on here, um, and you can see on the left side, the name, Social Security number, date of birth, uh, email address, and mobile phone. Uh, those have all been verified and, and can't be changed here on the screen, but if the student needed to, let's say they used a school email address, they could go into account settings on studentaid.gov and make any changes. Here, they are able to make an update to their permanent mailing address.

The student is going to note what their state of legal residence is. This actually is a way that states get students information and can assess if they're eligible, if it's a state like here in the state of Massachusetts, for Massachusetts state aid.

So you want to make sure that that is correct. Also note here, and this has been something that I have talked about for years, and I always like to give props, uh, when people do things well, but, um, for, for almost every single question, you're going to see that little question mark with a circle, uh, and if you click on that, you're going to have it expand and provide additional information for you.

So if there's something that you have a question about of how to answer something, or you just want further, uh, detail as far as, you know, why they're asking that question, um, they The Department of Ed has provided some really good, clear instruction by clicking on those question marks. So now we get to the consent, which does look like a really long, um, you know, set of information. Um, but by providing consent, um, you're allowing the, um, IRS or the FAFSA to pull, um, the federal tax data directly from the IRS.

And I will say that the IRS, um, is, um, you know, good stewards of their information. So a lot of this, um, is, is information that you just want to read through and understand. Um, there's a lot of security that goes into, um, this information getting to institutions and there are very strict requirements on us as far as how we hold that information and, um, you know, kind of restrictions on how we can even share that information.
So there's there's a lot, and I believe that that's really a lot of the delay in the forms really around kind of navigating and figuring out all of that, uh, that complexity.

But as I noted, every contributor must provide consent in order for the student to receive, um, any sort of need-based, um, federal aid. Uh, so just by selecting approve, um, in this scenario, the student is providing the consent, consent. They can, the parent contributor in, in a scenario with a parent, they'll have to provide consent and we'll walk through that as we get to that section. So once the student has hit, um, and I will note that if anyone in, when they get to that consent, if they, um, do not provide consent, you're going to have a box that will come right up and let the student know, um, they are not eligible for, um, uh, federal student aid, for need-based aid.

They could continue on, yeah, the application, which I find a little bit confusing because they're they're no longer eligible. They are able to continue on and enter information manually, but they are told they are ineligible for aid if they do not provide that consent. So once they move on from there, uh, it's kind of asking a little bit about, um, personal circumstances and determining really whether the student is a dependent student and needing to provide parent information or they are an independent student, um, and they're not providing, uh, parent information.

And this, um, has always been a part of the FAFSA form to determining, um, dependency. So the beginning is asking, you know, the marital status of the student. So if a student is, um, is married, uh, they actually are automatically independent. Uh, and so in this scenario where we have a student who is not married, likely, um, just coming out of high school, uh, so they've answered single. Asking about college plans because if a student is a graduate student, they are automatically, um, independent.

You want to make sure that, um, in, in the event, I'm going to make an assumption that a lot of the people on the call are, uh, students or parents where, um, this will be their, um, they're coming out of high school and they're going to be a first-year student. So you want to check that off, um, that they are a first year.

And then, um, You don't want to say because I've seen this. Um, you know, sometimes we see data come in and think, why did the student answer that that they already have a bachelor's degree and they're working on a second. And that actually disqualifies them for certain bits of aid if they already have a bachelor's degree, but hopefully the financial aid staff will pick up on something like that and reach out and and make a correction, but they want to say that they have not received a bachelor's degree already.

So other circumstances here. So these are the other factors that qualify a student as independent. So if they're older than 24, 23, if they have dependents who received support from them, um, active duty military or veteran, um, since the age of 13, orphan, foster care, or ward of the court, um, an emancipated minor, or an illegal guardianship.

So, uh, if the student answers yes to any of those, um, they'll go on a different path, but we're using an example of a student, which is probably for a good majority of students. Uh, none of these apply, uh, and so once checking that. It also asks, is the student homeless or self-supporting and at the risk of being homeless,. They are considered independent students as well.

And last, we are going to get into unusual circumstances. So, I don't, I don't know if people can read, um, the, uh, the print here on the screen, but the students asked if there are any unusual circumstances that really are going to prevent them from contacting their parents. So it could be that they are presenting as a dependent student, but, you know, you can look here, um, left home due to an abusive or threatening environment, right? So, so there, it would be dangerous for them to be in touch or, or almost even impossible to do that, um, or abandon or estranged from parents, um, been granted refugee or asylee status, uh, and, and so on. So these are really kind of unusual circumstances, uh, that may lead the student to, even though they don't present, um, as an independent student, uh, they could become an independent student based on these unusual circumstances.

So, if they answer yes, um, they can submit the FAFSA without parent information and they get this kind of provisional independent status. Uh, and then the colleges, um, will be the ones that then follow up with that student, perhaps looking for documentation, um, or additional information.

Here we're going to move on and say, no, there are no unusual circumstances and and then you receive your, your dependency status. So this student is a dependent student and they are also here saying, um, do you want to apply for a direct unsubsidized loan only? Um, so if the student's parents, if there's, it's not unusual circumstances, but let's say a student, a parent is just unwilling to provide information on the FAFSA form.
That does not qualify a student to be considered an independent student and assessed for, um, you know, like federal Pell Grants and things like that, but, um, they could be eligible for just a direct unsubsidized loan.

Um, and, you know, in most cases that, you know, particularly if a student is going to go to, you know, a private institution that might not necessarily be everything that they're going to need, but it at least allows, um, uh, some bit of access to funds.

So again, in this scenario, um, we're answering no, um, they're not going to apply for the unsubsidized loan only. They're going to have their parent provide information. And then we go into the new parent wizard. Uh, so this is a set of questions will, which will help assess, um, you know, which parent needs to report information on the FAFSA form.

So it starts by asking the question, are your parents married to each other? Um, and so in this scenario, we've answered yes. So what parents are to be included on the FAFSA? Biological or adoptive parents. And you're to include both parents, um, if the parents are married or not married, but they live together, right?

So, if both parents live together, whether or not they're married, both of their information should be included on the FAFSA form. Married parents include same-sex couples. If separated, but you're living together in the same household, you're to select married, and then in the case of divorce or separation and where they're not living together, the Department of Education has said that you're using the parent that provided more financial support in the last 12 months, and the step-parent, if that parent is remarried. So that has always been the case that for whoever the parent is on the FAFSA form, if they are remarried, you're including that step-parent information.

With this 24-25 FAFSA, they have just used some more clarifying language because often they would say other parents or parents and it could be confusing. So I know that I've done a lot of presentations at local high schools, and there's a lot of kind of question around this. If financial support was equal, you're to select the parent with the higher income or assets. If no financial support was given to the student in the past 12 months, select the parent who provided the most support in the year when the student last received support from a parent.

So as it walks through, um, the parent wizard, um, a set of questions to figure out who is then going to get, um, an invitation to be a contributor to that student's FAFSA form. So the student is going to enter personal information about parents. to send them an invite to the FAFSA. Um, the parent email address does not have to match the parent's FSA ID email address if the parent has already kind of gotten their FSA ID.

Um, but basically they're putting in, um, uh, the information, the Social Security number, email address, um, and that will send an invitation unless the parent doesn't have a Social Security number. I guess this is a good reminder that Um, well, a student in order to receive federal student aid needs to be a US citizen or permanent resident. A parent does not. So that's a scenario where you may have a parent that does not have a Social Security number. Some, um, some people are suggesting, you know, that the, the students and parents kind of all sit down together when they begin to do this, uh, so that they have that information, uh, at the ready when they are inviting, um, the parents.

Moving out of that parent, uh, wizard, we go into kind of student demographic information. These are, um, some of these are updated questions and then there are some new questions. But what I think is really important is what's noted in green. Um, and I like to point at things as if you're right here in the room with me, um, doing the presentation, but noted in green.

I'll use my cursor that answering these questions that they're not going to affect the students eligibility for a federal student aid. Um, They're not going to be used to calculate that, and they are not shared, um, with the colleges and universities. Uh, and a student has the option to answer, prefer not to answer.

Um, but first asking about, um, student's gender and whether or not the student is transgender, uh, and then asking about race and ethnicity. Um, and so again, really, really important to just highlight that this doesn't affect a student's eligibility, uh, doesn't play into the calculation to determine eligibility, and these answers are not shared with colleges and universities, and the student has the option to say, I prefer not to answer.

As I already noted, a student needs to be a U. S. citizen or eligible non-citizen. So you can see a nice listing there of different statuses that would make a student eligible for federal student aid. And so this the status, whatever the student notes, um, is going to be verified. And so, um, sometimes I have seen instances where someone notes that they're a U.S. citizen, but they're actually an eligible non-citizen. It's not, it's not necessarily an issue, but because they are verified by different agencies, uh, sometimes it comes back saying, oh, we weren't able to verify the student's citizenship status, um, and then the institution is going to have to collect documentation, uh, and, and, um, you know, uh, hold on to that for reference.

So just note, note, uh, which status, uh, the student is, we'll move on to parent education status that asks about, um, did either of the, the student's parents attend college and asks a question if a parent, um, was killed in the line of duty. Uh, and, uh, the answer to this has, um, uh, potential for, um, a, a, a grant. Uh, and so that's why you want to answer that, um, accurately. And then the student's high school completion status. So noting, you know, was it a high school diploma that they are going to receive? So, um, that's another thing I think sometimes when students are still in high school that they're, you know, well, I don't have my high school diploma yet, but it's at the start of the 24-25 year, what is it that you will have?

Whether it's a high school diploma, perhaps you have a GED or you are homeschooled, you're just noting that on this screen. And then if you select high school diploma, it's going to further, um, ask for the information for, uh, that high school and it will pre-populate, um, you know, based on the information that you put in.

So I think in the beginning when I was talking about what forms, um, do you want to kind of have on hand and what information do you need to fill out the FAFSA form, um, And I said to just have tax return information on hand in case. Uh, and so there are on the student side, uh, two additional questions here that on the 2022 federal tax return, you know, were there any grant scholarship or AmeriCorps benefit reported as income to the IRS? Um, and being someone who's worked in this field for, um, oh dear, over 26 years, um, you know, it's not typical that we're seeing, uh, information there, and particularly for a student who's coming out of high school.

Uh, no, um, sometimes when, um, uh, we see with our returning students that they are just reporting what they received for a scholarship or grant in the past year, Um, which is actually not accurate. It would only be if you had paid taxes on a scholarship that you received. It typically is going to show up on your tax return, uh, in box one and over to the left noted as SHL, uh, with an amount. And it's, uh, it's usually if you're receiving funding above and beyond tuition fees, uh, room and board if you're living on campus.

So, um, so that's not always something that's, uh, you know, would be put on here. Additionally, it asks if you had a foreign earned income exclusion, um, you know, sometimes I see that on the parent side, but, uh, or, or used to see that on the parent side years ago, but typically not on the student side, but, uh, it's asking, and again, just answer it as zero if it does not apply.

And then it's going to ask about, um, student assets. So, um, the, the balance of, um, you know, saving checking account, if the student has any sort of investments, um, as well as, uh, any business or farm. Again, not necessarily typical, uh, that the student is having that, but, you know, there are certainly cases, uh, where that is true.

This is a change, um, from past years where it used to be that a student could select, um, up to 10 schools. So now there are spots, uh, to add up to 20 schools, um, to the FAFSA that will immediately then get that information. Um, you can just, you know, uh, search by entering a state, city, or the school name. Uh, I always think about the institution I'm at right now because anytime when I'm going into the federal database to, to do anything and I put Simmons in, there's two different, uh, uh, Simmons, um, universities that come up and, you know, one is here and one has another name, you know, attached to the end of it.

But just make sure you're selecting, um, uh, the right institution in the right, uh, state. This is something that's new and that students can reorder schools that are listed if the school state requires it to be higher on the list. Now, I do know that a number of years ago, there was some concern that institutions perhaps we're using that information of how things were ordered, but they, they took away that ability for us to see that order when we get the information.

But it is true that I know in the state of Massachusetts that once kind of all is said and done, if a student is eligible for a Massachusetts state grant, it would be going to that first listed institution. So the student would want to, once they know where they're attending, reorder and have that institution listed as that top spot.

So that is the end of kind of the student, uh, entering information. And so they're going to land on this student review page. So they can expand all or they can search by section, um, but it is going through all of the information, um, you know, that they provided. Now, again, it's important to note that um, very different than the old FAFSA where it was a data retrieval tool where, um, you kind of exited the FAFSA itself, logged into the IRS, and then brought information in, it got X'd out, but it was brought into the FAFSA.

In this new 24-25 year, um, this direct data exchange, you're not going to see any information because it's being sent, um, securely by, through a, through a mailbox directly to the institution. So, so, um, In reviewing, you're not going to see that tax, um, information. The student is then going to see who the contributors are that have been invited. Um, and they'll see kind of a status. In this instance, an invitation was sent, um, but it has not, um, yet, you know, kind of completed that application.

And then the student is going to, um, kind of agree to the terms of, uh, the FAFSA, uh, and sign that, basically saying that everything that they've provided is true and accurate to their best of their ability, um, and that they will notify the school, um, you know, if there are any changes, uh, to anything, um,

And the FAFSA is not considered complete in our process until all sections are sent. So just because the student has completed and it's a dependent student, the FAFSA is not going to go anywhere, be sent off until it's been completed by all contributors for that student.

So yes, as the student is almost there, right, so they still need their parent contributors to provide their information, but this is now what their portal kind of looks like on the FAFSA. This is, you know, an invitation goes, an email goes to the parent who the student has designated as the parent contributor, and the parents can click on log in right from that email. Um, and parents can actually start the FAFSA before the student, um, and we'll review that process kind of at the end of this, um, presentation, um, but we've kind of started it as the student starts the process, which is, um, kind of how the department, uh, really, um, believes it should happen.

The student starts it, and they're inviting the parent. But it can go, uh, the other way. So the parent is then going to log in with their FSA ID. Again, they can, um, create an account from here, but they're going to, um, kind of go off and have to create that account and wait to be able to use it. Um, so, one more time, I'm going to say it, uh, if you don't have that FSA ID yet, uh, to make sure that you have, uh, that prior to getting to log in and complete your section as a parent contributor, they're brought to their activity page and they will see that an invitation has been set.

You can see here you've been requested to be a contributor on a FAFSA and then it will have the student's name. I suppose the parent could decline the invitation, but we are going to go forward with get started.
And the parent is provided information about this contributor role. And again, this is something that has changed, um, from the past, just using this term contributor. Uh, and after, uh, clicking continue, the parent's going to see the same onboarding slides that the student viewed. There was about four of them, so I won't go through those again.

Uh, and, uh, just as the students saw when they logged in, um, is reviewing the FSA ID information. And again, it could be that a parent already has an FSA ID from, uh, an older child or from themselves. So make sure, uh, you're reviewing that information, that it's all still accurate, particularly mobile phone number, uh, and email address.

And again, the information on the left side, um, although it could be updated, it has to be done in account settings on studentaid.gov. Um, but on the right side, uh, mailing address could be updated right here, uh, in the FAFSA form. The parent is going to have to provide consent as well. Uh, you know, I said it already on the student side that every single contributor must provide consent whether or not they filed a tax return or if they are a non-filer and were not required to file or if they file a foreign return, they still have to provide consent in order for that student to be eligible for federal student aid.

It's going to ask about parent marital status. In this example, we're, we're clicking married and not separated. But these are really kind of have bumped out a bit as far as past answers for the FAFSA, which I think is really helpful in making a little bit more clear as you complete the form. It's going to ask, um, if um, you anytime during 22 or 23 that the parent or anyone in the parents family received benefits.

Um, and these are kind of mean means-tested, uh, federal programs. Uh, so you can kind of, uh, see what those are. You're just going to answer whether or not, uh, you've received, uh, one of these in that 22 or 23 year, even though the income is going to be for 22. And in this scenario where we're saying no, there wasn't anything, it's going to ask about your tax filing status.

So, in this scenario, you remember, we checked off that the parent was married. So now it's asking, did you, or will the parent file a 22 joint return with their current spouse. So in this scenario, we're saying yes, if it was that we were answering no, um, it's going to that would prompt that it's going to need a second contributor on, uh, the FAFSA form.

This is something that's, um, again, very different for many people. I know when I've been doing presentations and kind of assessing who has ever filled a FAFSA out, oftentimes when I'm looking at parents of seniors, there's just a few hands and most for most people, this is the first time they're going through it.

Um, but for anyone who has completed a FAFSA before, um, you were, you were able to just, you, you answered the question, you know, how many people are in your household and then of those people in your household. Um, how many of those dependents were enrolled, um, in college, uh, right now, what is happening for the kind of household size, it is, it is being automatically pulled from the tax return, the 2022 tax return of the, the parent who is the parent contributor, right?

And so what it will ask you is, um, is the parent's family size different from the number of individuals claimed on the 2022 return. And if that is true, um, you can update that information here. It may be that a school is going to, um, follow up on that, or we might be required to, um, verify that information, but you do have the ability to make a change because we know that, um, sometimes, particularly in, um, You know, divorced, um, situations where sometimes claiming a child might bump, um, based on year to year.

So, um, you're including any dependents who live with the parent and will receive more than half of their support, um, between that 7/1/24 and 6/30/25.

It's going to ask about the number in college. You're not including parents. So this would only be dependent students. It's not going to be used in the calculation of determining eligibility for federal aid. Um, but colleges are going to get that information and perhaps they're going to use that. Um, but it, but it is a change where it's not, um, determining the eligibility for, um, say, like the federal Pell Grant or any of those, um, uh, federal. I would like to note though that, um, you know, there's two reasons really that, um, the form is going through these changes.

One is to make it easier for students and families to apply for financial aid. And the second reason is increasing, um, you know, eligibility. So we're going to see an increase in actually who is eligible for a Federal Pell Grant. So I kind of note that here with the number in college, because a lot of what is happening, um, is, is increasing what, you know, students are eligible for. And this is probably one area where, um, you know, there's a little bit of a difference in for those families.

So parent tax return information again, um, you know, you've provided consent, um, that information is automatically going to go to the institution, but there are a couple of additional questions. So on the parent side, it asks about the earned income credit. And then also the same questions that were asked on the student side about any grant scholarships or AmeriCorps.

And again, if the family had a foreign earned income exclusion, then they're to report that here. For some families, they may not need to report assets. I'm jumping right to the bottom bullet point there. If parent income is less than 60,000, then no asset questions will be asked. Um, a change, uh, in this, um, kind of year forward is that child support received because the income questions that can be asked have to come off of the tax return, uh, and so the question about child support received is now being, um, reported as an asset.

So, um, that will be listed here under assets. And then the parent is to provide, you know, current balance of cash, savings, checking account, um, investments, so real estate, this would be other real estate, so not your, um, primary home, that is not included as an asset, but if you, um, have, let's say you have a two-family, right, so half of that, or you have a second home, Um, that would be, uh, something that is included as investment, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, 529 college savings account.

This is also a change where you're reporting the value, if you have one, just for the student that you are completing this FAFSA as a contributor for. That is a change from past years where you're noting the value, um, in total for all students within your household. Um, so and again, uh, excluding primary home, life insurance, uh, and retirement accounts. You will not be reporting those here as assets.

You are to report the net value of, uh, any business, small business and farm, uh, and in the past, um, some of those were excluded and I've already hit on that last, uh, bullet point. And here, um, parent provides information about other parent if, uh, married or living together or current, um, spouse.

So they're going to enter that information there. And, and again, in that scenario, we answered the question that they were married and filing together. In a scenario where parents are, um, you know, married, filing, um, separately, or let's say they're living together, um, and they're, and they're filing individual because they weren't married, each of those parent contributors are going to log in and have to go through that same process and all they see is their own set, um, of questions.

Similar to the student, they're going to get to the end of answering their questions, uh, and they're going to want to review, um, before actually signing the form so they can expand all and just, um, scroll through there again. Any data from the IRS is not going to be showing here because it doesn't actually pull into the, um, FAFSA form itself.

And then the parent will be signing, um, the form and, and really it's just, they've already logged in with that FSA ID. That FSA ID is access and then, uh, becomes that signature, but you kind of, but you have to check off, yes, sign, uh, and submit.

And the parent will receive a congratulations screen, uh, the FAFSA form is completed, uh, and kind of what happens next, uh, they receive a little bit less information than what, uh, the student receives because the student is going to receive, uh, a detailed, um, uh, confirmation, uh, email.

Now we're going to go into, um, let's say a scenario where the parent begins the FAFSA first. So it's not that the student is initiating and inviting the parent, but the parent is going to go in first and wants to start the FAFSA. Um, so they would go in. And they would start a new form on that main page just as we had initially started and the student was the one that was starting the FAFSA, the parent would log in with their FSA ID again, please have that FSA ID set prior to the FAFSA opening at the end of this month.

And then the parent would then be designating that I'm starting this form as a parent. Because there is no student information, they weren't, um, uh, invited by the student, they're beginning the application. The parent actually has to provide the student information, um, and they can answer some student questions, um, if the, the, student hasn't provided consent yet. You know, the parent could manually enter student tax info, but really, the student is going to have to provide consent. Uh, and so, um, let's just like kind of walk through what this looks like.

So this is the FAFSA Submission Summary. Anyone who has completed a FAFSA previously, this is the same as the Student Aid Report. I think FAFSA Submission Summary makes more sense. It is really just a listing of data that the student provided and it's going to have four basically four tabs that the student can click on.

So it's going to give an overview of what it looks like the student is eligible for. So you can see here it's providing it looks like you're going to be eligible for up to, you know, in this scenario 4,056 in a Pell Grant, um, up to 4,556, that seems odd, in a federal direct loan, um, and then, uh, providing the information of you may be eligible, um, for work-study.

I'm glad that this actually changed from some other iterations where I saw an amount for work-study, which, there's really, um, again, and it depends. It depends by the institution and what sort of funding they might have available for federal work-study, um, they can click on the tab. That is the FAFSA answers, right?

So that's kind of the summary of what was provided on the FAFSA form. Then it goes to school information. So it's going to provide information. I think we're going to go through those in the slides and then next steps. So It's important to note, and I said this in the very beginning, but I want to reiterate it, that the FAFSA form is going to open by December 31st or on December 31st.

The FAFSA Submission Summary, um, will not become available until the end of January. So for students who are completing that FAFSA right on, you know, December 31st, or even January 1st or 2nd, you know, they're not going to get that FAFSA Submission Summary until the end of January. But any student that is beginning to complete a FAFSA, you know, from February on, you're going to get that FAFSA Submission Summary by email, you know, within one to three days.

So I already talked about the kind of eligibility overview. What I didn't know is that it's going to also list this figure called a Student Aid Index. Again, if you have completed a FAFSA before, this was always called the Expected Family Contribution or EFC. That terminology is changing to Student Aid Index, which again I think is a really, uh, is a much better way to describe what this is.

The FAFSA form answers the school information. This is, um, uh, new and more robust information than what's previously provided. So for each of the schools that the student has listed on the FAFSA, which is going to then, in turn, get their faster information. It is providing graduation rate, retention rate, transfer rate, default rate, median debt upon completion, average annual cost.

This is information that really, um, uh, schools have to report that and it exists on the school College Scorecard. It's something that when I'm talking to students who are, you know, juniors or beginning of senior year. Hey, use that information as you're doing your search, but it's great that they've pulled that.

Right in here as well. And then the last tab in the FAFSA Submission Summary is kind of next steps, right? So if you need to perhaps, you know, make any corrections on how to go about doing that. Making sure that schools have everything they need. Um, and looking for any communication, uh, that the school may have with you.

That's really important because, um, let's say for the example I gave about citizenship and, um, and the FAFSA was not able or the Social Security Administration to confirm a student's citizenship. It becomes the responsibility of the institution, each institution, to be reaching out to the student to be collecting that documentation, the same goes for any sort of verification, um, you know, of, uh, you know, household size or perhaps other untaxed income, it becomes this, this, um, uh, the school's responsibility.

It doesn't go back to the FAFSA, but we then communicate with FAFSA that we've, that we've cleared that.

So now we're at the point of, you know, what happens after you submit the FAFSA. Again, it's going to be a little bit later after submitting, particularly if you're going to submit right on December 31st or January 1st, but Colleges and states will receive data electronically by the end of January 2024.

As noted, colleges may need to request additional documentation. So when we looked at the provisional independent student, and then I said that an institution is going to be following up with that student, you know, for some sort of documentation, that that is what I'm talking about. Or for verification, verification is going to look a little bit different because, um, you know, in theory, all of the income information is been verified because it's being pulled, but there may be some information that the institution is required by the Department of Ed to verify.

Some institutions will want to collect documentation up front in order to produce, um, a financial aid offer. There could be some institutions that are going to put a financial aid offer as an estimate and then collect that documentation. Again, it's an it depends scenario based on each institution, but you can ask the institution that.

Um, and then colleges are going to send out your financial aid offers, um, the time frame here saying typically March, you know, through April, um, for any of the institutions that, you know, perhaps, um, had the Early, Early Action I or Early Action II, um, and, and, and they don't have another form and they've been waiting for this FAFSA, you may see for those students that you're going to, um, hopefully maybe get an offer in February, um, but everything is just a little bit off, um, this year, but there's still plenty of time to, um, to kind of assess, uh, receive that information and then have time to ask questions, uh, of the financial aid office.

Here's some resources, uh, that we have, uh, in the state of Massachusetts. So through our state financial aid organization, we have FAFSA Day, which has been a longstanding and wonderful help for, um, for our families in Massachusetts, running free assistance, completing the FAFSA. MEFA has been involved with them as well.

And running events kind of FAFSA completion events, and there's a lot of resources on their website, FAFSAday. org, so that's a great spot to go. We also have Educational Opportunity Centers, which provide free financial aid help. And so MassEdCo is that website where you can look for locations and information there.

And then, of course, you know, leaving here, what are the things that you should do, um, you know, MEFA is a, is a wonderful resource. I have been volunteering with them for probably 25 years at least, um, and that's because I believe in them and what they provide, not only to families, but also to our counseling staff at, um, the high schools in Massachusetts as well as to our financial aid staff.

So they are a great resource. They have wonderful events and different presentations. So definitely look into accessing that as well as their emails that they send. Get that FSA ID. I've already said it probably 56 times already, but that is just such an important thing to do prior to that FAFSA opening.

Always important, um, to look at and research deadlines and required applications at each institution. With the FAFSA being a bit delayed from its typical October 1st opening, there are some schools that I'm hearing about that have even created their own form that they're offering for, say, Early Action applicants to complete, to be able to provide an early estimate.

Know that at those institutions, you're still going to be required to complete the FAFSA form. And there might be the CSS Profile^® form, which is a College Board^® form. So. Every institution is different and you're going to want to know, uh, and make sure you're meeting deadlines, uh, for each institution. Uh, and then, you know, complete that FAFSA as soon as it becomes, uh, available, uh, as well as any other financial aid applications.
These are just some kind of upcoming events that MEFA has, learning about the Tuition Break here in the state of Massachusetts. The FAFSA festival in late January just helped in kind of completing the FAFSA and that's all virtual. Uh, and athletics in college admission. I think connecting with me on social media.

I was gonna say, I think that was the last slide, but, um, is there now we're at questions. So, um, I have seen that there's been some activity in the Q & A and I know that my friends behind the scenes have been probably frantically typing away, but I'm going to, uh, open it up to them to see are there any kind of lingering questions or things that we might want to highlight because they were common themes.
So, I will ask everyone.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: We have a couple of common themes that I'll throw out Amy, if you could just say a few words about grad students if, you know, families have a graduate students. Can you talk about that a little bit and how does that affect the discount. As far as number and family, and you can talk a little bit.

Amy Staffier: So. Any student, extra student in college is not counting anymore, right, and affecting the formula, um, but as far as counting them in the household size, if you are, if they're living with you and you're providing more than half of their support, then you would be including them in the household size.

I was thinking you were asking like maybe there was a grad student on the call and how the new FAFSA affects the grad students, but that was not the question.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: No, that's great. And I think we all answered that graduate students will file the FAFSA as independent students. So that's great. But they may need to have their spouse providing where they might not have in the past.

The other question that came up quite frequently was for Early Decision students and how they will commit to a school. Now that process is going to work out.

Amy Staffier: That's a that's a great question. So I would say for a vast majority, and I've spoken with a lot of the schools that that have ED, they have the profile form. Um, the form. I mean, it's important to know that the formula to determine, um, the federal eligibility was set back in, uh, December 27 2020. Right. And so a lot of the work with the late FAFSA is more kind of the, um, the electronic part and the security and all of that. But those institutions are going to be providing information early.

Um, but. Uh, you don't have to commit to in school if you don't, if you do not have that financial aid offer in front of you that, you know, that is kind of like finalized. So that's kind of like the one out, um, with, uh, Early Decision. But for most of the institutions that I spoke with, um, you know, they're going to be providing that information, um, and using the profile, um, or perhaps maybe they've created their own form.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Do others have questions you'd like to bring up with Amy? I know I will acknowledge one thing first that we are at 1:06. Um, so we'll just just see if there are a couple of questions that we're going to answer here.

Amy Staffier: I do see that there are two raised hands. I don't know.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: We'll see about that. And then if your question doesn't get answered, you can always be in touch with us. You can see that email college planning@mefa.org. So feel free. But let's, let's take a couple more. If people have questions, um, that we would like to, um, ask here because we received a number of them.

Stephanie Wells: Julie, the only thing that we've received a lot of questions about that we might want to just reiterate for everybody is how 529 plans are reported, if it's in the ex spouse's name but they're not the contributor as well as grandparents aunts and uncles

Amy Staffier: Yeah. So as far as the reporting of those 529 plans. It's reported. Um, as the whoever kind of owns that, right? So I have a 529 plan for my daughter. She is the beneficiary.
I am the owner of that. If I am the parent contributor completing that, that FAFSA form, I am reporting that 529 for her as my asset, not as the student asset. So if it is a parent who's not the contributor, Um, you know, it wouldn't be reported on the form. Um, is that something that in a scenario of the following year, does that add into determining who the parent is who provides support?

Um, you know, perhaps that is, but that that kind of needs to be determined between the parents. But as far as reporting it on the FAFSA form itself. It's who, who owns it. So if my dad as the grandfather of my child owned that 529 account and she was the beneficiary, we wouldn't be reporting it as an asset because that owner is not a contributor on the FAFSA form.

So hopefully that cleared that up.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: That's great. Thank you. And I guess if there's, there's anything else we can say it now we can ask. Thank you, Amy. That was so much and thank you everyone else. I know there were a lot. There was a lot of activity behind the scenes and we're looking forward to the FAFSA being available. And as families begin to complete this new FAFSA, we'll learn a couple of things. I know there were a couple of questions about what's the best time of day to do this when it opens up. Um, and we don't know that yet, but we'll, we'll find out all of these things and we will continue to share information with you.

So stay in touch with us and you can always follow up with further questions for us as well.

Amy Staffier: Great.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: I just want to add that everybody who registered for the webinar will get a link to this recording as well as the copy of the slides. And if anybody wants to register for any of the webinars on the previous slide that Amy mentioned, they're all on mefa.org so you can find any of the other webinars coming up there as well if you didn't catch the QR code.

Amy Staffier: That's terrific.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: All right. Well, thank you all and best of luck with everything and we'll, um, we'll. We'll stay connected. ​