For those of you who plan to attend college during the 2024-2025 school year, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) processes and system will be getting big updates. This includes a new and improved FAFSA experience for students and families. As a result, the updated FAFSA form is not available like it traditionally has been on October 1. Instead, the updated FAFSA form will be available in December 2023.

We encourage you to sign up for SMS message alerts from the Department of Education for future updates.

So, What’s Changing?

The Department is making big changes to the 2024–25 FAFSA form to create a better experience for students and families. These changes include:

• expanded eligibility for federal student aid,
• more streamlined application process, and
• a better user experience for the FAFSA form.

Consider registering for the Department’s How to Prepare for the 2024–25 FAFSA® Form webinar taking place on October 25, 2023.

What Can you Do Now to Prepare?

Starting with the 2024-2025 FAFSA, all FAFSA contributors must have an FSA ID and sign the FAFSA form. A contributor is anyone who is asked to provide information on an applicant’s FAFSA. These individuals include you (the student), the student’s spouse (if applicable), a biological or adoptive parent, or the spouse of the remarried parent who is on the FAFSA (i.e., the student’s stepparent).

In the past, only one parent of a dependent student needed to sign the FASFA with their FSA ID. Spouses of married, independent students were not required to sign at all. This has changed and now every contributor must have an FSA ID and sign the FAFSA.

We recommend that you determine who your 2024-2025 FAFSA Contributors will be and make sure everyone has an FSA ID. Contributors can sign-up for their own unique FSA ID online at https://studentaid.gov/fsa-id/create-account/launch.

This new process could be a challenge for some of our students. However, we’re committed to helping you navigate this process! As additional information is released, we will do our best to publicize it in a few ways including emails, blog posts, and social media channels.