FAFSA Simplification

This process is the first major redesign of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process in over 40 years. It represents a significant overhaul of federal student aid, including changes to the FAFSA form, need analysis, storage of federal student aid application data, and many policies and procedures for schools that participate in Title IV federal aid programs. Students and families will see a different measure of their ability to pay for college and experience a change in the methodology used to determine aid. 

The California Student Aid Commission is also making changes to the California Dream Act Application (CADAA) to include some of the updates in the FAFSA Simplification. The CADAA typically mirrors the FAFSA, but due to FAFSA Simplification, the applications will be somewhat different. Information about the California Dream Act Application Changes will be updated when it becomes available.

While there are numerous updates to different aspects of the FAFSA, some of the most notable ones are changes to the application dates, length of the form, questions on the form, calculation for financial need analysis, and vocabulary (new and revised language). Also new to the FAFSA include the ability to create an FSA ID without a Social Security Number and the requirement to consent to data sharing with the IRS. Additional changes are detailed in other answers.

• The 2024–2025 FAFSA form opened December 31, 2023 (instead of October as in previous years).
• The Cal Grant priority deadline for the 2024–25 academic year has been extended to May 2, 2024, due to the delayed application opening.
• The application open date and priority deadline are expected to return to October and March , respectively, for the 2025–2026 aid cycle

Note for prospective students: While the Cal Grant priority deadline has been extended, the UC system is still encouraging students to complete their FAFSA by Federal priority deadline in order to receive financial aid offers in time to make an informed decision on college selection.

Changes to FAFSA questions:

• The number of questions will be reduced and the application will maximize the use of previously collected data.
• Some questions will have additional available responses to better describe an applicant’s unique circumstances.
• The form will include new demographic questions about an applicant’s gender and race/ethnicity, but students will be offered a choice of “Prefer Not to Answer.” Schools and state agencies will not be able to see a contributor’s responses to these questions and this information will not be used to calculate aid.

Changes to support for completing the FAFSA form:

• Resources for completing the FAFSA form will be expanded to the 11 most common languages spoken in the United States.
• Information connected to student and contributor StudentAid.gov accounts (FSA IDs) will be automatically populated in the form each year.
• Certain information provided in the new FAFSA form will be carried over to the applicant’s form the following year; the greatest benefits of this will be felt in the second year of the new FAFSA (for the 2025–26 application).
• Applicants may continue to receive support in completing the FAFSA form from financial professionals, but will need to complete and submit the form themselves.

Changes to FAFSA processing and submission:

• Students will be able to list up to 20 schools on their FAFSA via the online application.
• The parent reported on the FAFSA is the one who provided the greater portion of a student’s financial support in the past year, not who the student lived with the most.
• Foster, homeless, and unaccompanied youth—as well as applicants who cannot provide parental information—will be able to complete the form with a provisional independent student determination and receive a calculated Student Aid Index.

The new need-analysis formula:

• Removes the number of family members in college from the calculation,
• Allows a minimum SAI of -1,500,
• Implements separate eligibility determination criteria for Federal Pell Grants based on federal poverty levels and family size.

The new formula also includes changes to asset reporting:

• Child support received will be included in assets and not as untaxed income.
• Families who own a small business/farm that also serves as primary residence will now have assets of that business/farm considered in their need-analysis calculation.

Financial need will be calculated and determined with a new need-analysis formula: COA – SAI – OFA = financial need.

• The Cost of Attendance (COA) will be the starting point for calculating financial need. COA includes direct costs (charges for which the university bills you directly) and estimated indirect costs (living expenses) to fund educational expenses for an academic year. UC Berkeley already provides transparency regarding cost of attendance and will continue to provide clear information.
• The Student Aid Index (SAI) is a formal evaluation of a student’s approximate financial resources to contribute toward their education for a specific award year and will replace the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
• Other Financial Assistance (OFA) is all financial aid awarded to the applicant, including outside scholarships and loans, as well as aid awarded by the university.

The formula uses information that applicants provide on the FAFSA form and, in most cases, federal tax information (FTI) that is retrieved directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The Student Aid Index (SAI) is a number that determines each student’s eligibility for certain types of federal student aid and will replace the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The SAI is an index number that a financial aid office uses to determine how much federal, state, and institutional aid a student would receive if they were to attend that school. A student receives one SAI number after completing their FAFSA, but financial need is specific to each university’s Cost of Attendance and will vary by institution.

Changes from EFC to the SAI include:

• EFC could never go below 0, SAI can be as low as -1,500.
• SAI formula removes the state and other tax income exclusion.
• SAI formula eliminates the family farm and small business asset exclusions: families have to report these as assets.
• Income protection allowances are updated to higher amounts for the SAI.
• SAI will not take into consideration the number of family members in college.

SAI will determine eligibility for all aid except for minimum and maximum Pell Grants. Pell Grant will be based on Dependency Status, Marital Status, Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), Poverty Level, and Enrollment Status.

The SAI is used by financial aid offices when determining student eligibility for need-based financial aid. SAIs can range from -1,500 to 999,999. Lower SAIs (including negative SAIs) indicate a higher financial need.

The benefits of FAFSA simplification include:

• A more streamlined application process.
• Expanded eligibility for federal student aid.
• Expanded eligibility for the Federal Pell Grant.
• Reduced barriers for certain student populations.
• A better user experience for the FAFSA form.
• Enhanced data sharing with the IRS to simplify the applicant's experience.

Additional benefits for certain student populations include:

• Ability to be assigned a “provisional independent” status to receive a calculated Student Aid Index (SAI) while independent student status is being verified.
• Students who have their independent student status approved by a financial aid administrator will also be eligible for a renewal of their dependency status in subsequent years if their circumstances remain unchanged.
• Ability for family members without a Social Security Number (SSN) to verify identity with an address instead of SSN.
• Eligibility for the Pell Grant is extended to incarcerated students.

Eligibility for federal student aid will be expanded in the following ways:

• Elimination of selective service and drug conviction questions reduces applicant barriers.
• New methodology will be introduced to calculate and determine applicant eligibility.
• The new need-analysis formula allows for a negative SAI calculation and implements separate eligibility criteria for Federal Pell Grants.
• Federal Pell Grant access will be expanded and linked to family size and federal poverty levels, which allows more students and families from low-income backgrounds to qualify.
• Federal Pell Grant access will be restored to incarcerated students under specific rules and programs.

To complete the FAFSA, you will need the same documents and information that you need for the FAFSA every year. Each contributor will also need an FSA ID (which is a username and password for a StudentAid.gov account), including a unique FSA ID for any parent(s) or spouse who needs to sign the FAFSA. It will be helpful to have tax returns for the reporting year (2022 tax returns for the 2024–2025 FAFSA), as well as records of child support received and net worth of investments, businesses, and farms, if applicable. Students will also need to provide the name(s), date(s) of birth, social security number(s), and email address(es) of any parent or spouse who will contribute to their FAFSA form. For contributors without a social security number, you will need their A-number or current address.

In the past, when students completed a renewal FAFSA, it would prefill certain fields with information from their previous year's FAFSA, like their name, mailing address, and the schools the student selected. This feature isn't available with the 2024–25 FAFSA due to the new updates, so students will need to provide answers to all required questions on the new application. The FAFSA form will resume prefilling certain information for renewal applications starting with the 2025–26 FAFSA.

Anyone asked to provide information on the aid application—student, student’s spouse, student’s parent(s) and/or stepparent(s)—is called a “contributor” to the application. Contributors are required to provide consent and approval for federal tax information (FTI) along with their signature on the FAFSA form.

• The student applying for aid is always a contributor.
• A student who is a dependent will have at least one parent as a contributor.
• An independent student may not have contributors other than themselves.
• For independent students who are married and filed taxes separately for the reporting tax year, their spouse is considered a contributor.

The new FAFSA form will include an interactive worksheet (“parent wizard”) that helps the applicant to determine which parent(s) they should be planning to include on their application. The Federal Student Aid resource Who is considered a parent? has additional information to help with this determination. Common situations include:

• If the parents are married and their tax filing status was "married filing jointly” for the reporting year, then only one parent needs to create an FSA ID and provide consent on the FAFSA. Providing consent allows both parents' tax information from their tax return to be retrieved from the IRS.
• If the parents are married and their tax filing status was "married filing separately” for the reporting year, then they will both need to create an FSA ID and will both need to provide consent on the FAFSA, since their tax information is provided on separate tax returns.
• If the parents are separated or divorced, the Custodial Parent will need to create an FSA ID and provide consent on the FAFSA. If the Custodial Parent remarried, include the new spouse’s information when completing the FAFSA form.

For dependent students, the Custodial Parent will be the parent who provided the most financial support, instead of the parent with whom the student lived more during the past 12 months. If both parents provided an exact equal amount of financial support, then this will typically be the parent with greater income or assets. The Custodial Parent will need to create an FSA ID to provide their information for the student’s FAFSA.

Family Size replaces the term “household size” on the FAFSA form. It captures the appropriate number of family members and dependents in the applicant’s household. For tax-filers, Family Size will be automatically calculated based on the number of individuals claimed as exemptions on the tax return. If the Family Size is different from what is reported on the tax return, there will be an option to enter it manually. 

If the student applicant is a dependent, family size must include the parent (and spouse or partner), the student, the parent’s dependent children (even if they live apart because of college enrollment), and there are people living with the parent now if the parent will provide more than half of their support between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025.

If the student applicant is independent, family size must include the student (and spouse), the student’s dependent children and other people only if the student will provide more than half of their support between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025.

An FSA ID is the Account Username and Password needed to file a FAFSA form and used to log in to all Federal Student Aid products and tools on StudentAid.gov. There will be two-step verification for the FAFSA and all contributors must have an FSA ID to log in to the online form.

Students and other contributors register for an FSA ID by creating a StudentAid.gov account through the Federal Student Aid website. Most continuing students will have created an FSA ID to file their FAFSA in previous years and will not need to register for another one.

Every contributor to an applicant’s FAFSA form will need an FSA ID in order to access the online FAFSA on StudentAid.gov. This is the easiest way for students and their contributors to sign the form and provide consent for data share with the IRS. Signature and consent can also be provided with a printed FAFSA form, but the process is significantly slower, and it is more difficult to correct mistakes after submission. Federal Student Aid (FSA) recommends all parents create an FSA ID.

It depends on your tax filing status for the reporting tax year. If you filed a joint tax return (married filing jointly) in 2022 for the 2024–2025 FAFSA, your spouse doesn't need an FSA ID. However, if you didn't file the tax return jointly with your spouse, your spouse will need an FSA ID to provide consent and sign the FAFSA form.

New this year for households where family members have different citizenship or immigration statuses: the 2024–25 FAFSA created a process designed to make it easier to complete the application when there is a family member contributor without a Social Security Number (SSN). The new process allows contributors without an SSN to create an FSA ID and complete the 2024–25 FAFSA through their StudentAid.gov account. A contributor needs to create their FSA ID and input their current address into their account. When the student completing their FAFSA is asked to invite contributors to their form, they will need to input the same address as their contributor’s StudentAid.gov account. For details, reference Mixed Family Status (PDF).

The applicant and other contributors will each have their own section of the FAFSA form to complete. According to the Department of Education, much of the applicant’s tax return information, including information from their spouse and parents, will come directly from the IRS and will not be viewable by the student and other contributors.

The provisional independent status will allow the student to receive a provisional Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation while their independent status is being verified. Dependency is determined based on how a student answers the dependency questions on their aid application. In the past, if a student was not considered Independent, they could indicate they had unusual circumstances that prevent them from providing parental information; but the aid application would be rejected until a financial aid administrator verified the independent student status. Under FAFSA Simplification, dependent students with unusual circumstances—as well as foster, homeless, and unaccompanied youth—will be assigned a “provisional independent” status and receive an SAI while awaiting verification. The SAI will remain provisional and not official until the student’s college or career school makes a final determination.

The FAFSA Submission Summary replaces the Student Aid Report (SAR) as the student’s output document providing a summary of data input on the FAFSA form. After submitting the FAFSA form, you will receive a FAFSA Submission Summary. It is important to review the summary for accuracy and if necessary, make corrections or updates to the submitted FAFSA data.

Your FAFSA form is considered complete and submitted on the date that all contributors (student, spouse, parent as applicable) complete and submit their sections; not on the day the student starts the FAFSA. For students with other contributors (parent or spouse) your form is not considered complete until the other contributors have completed their section, even if you have completed your own section.

The FAFSA form completion date is important for schools that use a priority deadline to award/offer institutional funds. For example, UC Berkeley’s priority deadline for the FAFSA and the California Dream Act Application has traditionally been March 2. For the 2024–25 application, the California state financial aid deadline has been extended from March 2 to May 2, 2024. UC will consider California students for all financial aid for which they are eligible based on the extended deadline. However, UC strongly encourages you to submit your applications by the Federal priority deadline in order to receive financial aid offers in time to make an informed college choice.

Your FAFSA responses are included in your Submission Summary. When your summary is available, the Department of Education will send you an email with instructions on how to access it online.

New and continuing students can find their application status in CalCentral along with directions for any additional tasks that need to be completed. Common errors that need to be corrected on FAFSAs include:

• Missing student or parent signatures
• Needing to provide consent to share tax information
• Choosing to be considered for unsubsidized loans only (most students will choose subsidized loans)
• Inaccurate manual entry of financial information (check your tax information)
• Inaccurately filed as provisionally independent

The ability to make corrections to a “Processed” 2024–25 FAFSA is now widely available as of April 15, 2024. The Department of Education has provided detailed information on how you can correct the most common FAFSA form errors. Visit the How to Correct or Update Your FAFSA Form page on studentaid.gov for more information.

The Financial Aid and Scholarships Office will let you know when we have received and processed your FAFSA information by posting a message in the Communications section of My Finances in CalCentral. If you haven’t been notified yet, you will be notified when your data is received.

There have been additional updates to the process by the Department of Education in April. We encourage you to try filing now if you haven’t yet completed your application. There are instructions on studentaid.gov on “How To Submit the 2024–25 FAFSA® Form if Your Contributor Doesn’t Have an SSN.” The website also has information in Spanish on how to submit a FAFSA.

Note that the steps you follow are dependent on whether you have already started a form for 2024–25. Also, the form needs to be started by the student and not a contributing family member. The steps are quite detailed, so please read the instructions carefully.

It’s true that prospective college students still unable to complete the FAFSA can now complete a California Dream Act Application (CADAA) as a short-term measure.

However, the best solution is to complete your FAFSA, which will give you access to all the federal financial aid to which you are entitled. We encourage you to try filing your FAFSA again with the newest steps provided on studentaid.gov for filing a FAFSA with a contributor who doesn’t have a social security number.

If you file a CADAA, you will still need to complete the FAFSA to be eligible for federal financial aid awards, including: Pell Grants, Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants, Federal Work-Study, and Federal Direct Subsidized Loans. The CADAA will allow schools to provide you with an estimate of your financial aid eligibility, but will only allow you to apply for state and educational institution financial aid.

This option is not available for continuing students.

Direct Data Exchange with the IRS will replace what is currently known as the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT). This allows the IRS to share Federal Tax Information (FTI) with the Department of Education and the colleges listed on the FAFSA.

Students, spouses, parents, and/or stepparents who are contributors will now need to provide their consent to share their Federal Tax Information (FTI) in the new Consent to Retrieve and Disclose Federal Tax Information section of the FAFSA to be eligible for federal student aid. Once given, consent lasts for that application year; consent will need to be given by all contributors every year the applicant submits a FAFSA.

It is vital that all contributors provide consent for Direct Data Exchange. If any contributor to the FAFSA form does not provide consent, submission of the form will still be allowed. However, a Student Aid Index (SAI) will not be calculated, so the student will not be eligible to receive Title IV federal student aid. If a parent contributor refuses to provide consent, the student is given the opportunity to be eligible for some aid by updating their form to only apply for a Direct Unsubsidized Loan.

Each contributor will be asked to provide consent in a section of the FAFSA application form that provides details about what information is shared. When completing the FAFSA, students will be able to invite contributors to complete their section of the form by providing an email address and basic information for the contributor. That contributor (parent or spouse) will need to log in to the form with their FSA ID and from there will be able to consent to the data exchange. Alternatively, parents may start a FAFSA form on behalf of their student and invite the student to complete their section.

If a contributor filed taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) instead of an SSN for the reporting year, they will need to enter their ITIN on the FAFSA in order to consent to Direct Data Exchange.

Yes, contributors will need to consent to Direct Data Exchange with the IRS for the FAFSA every year as part of completing the form. Once data is exchanged with the IRS, consent will not be able to be revoked.

Yes. Even if a tax return has not been completed, the applicant and all other contributors must provide consent in order for the student to be considered eligible for federal financial aid. Note that if tax filing was required for a contributor, but taxes were not filed and no filing extension has been obtained, the applicant may not be eligible for Title IV federal student aid.

Yes. Throughout the 2024–2025 FAFSA, there are several opportunities to update your consent approval. You can log in to StudentAid.Gov and update your consent on your dashboard.

International students and applicants with unique circumstances (like families navigating identity fraud) will still need to provide consent for Direct Data Exchange with the IRS. For instances where income and tax information cannot be obtained directly from the IRS, the applicant will be able to manually enter the necessary information into the FAFSA. That manual entry may be subject to verification.

Yes. Foreign tax filers can enter tax information manually on their student's FAFSA. As a contributor, you will still need to provide consent for Direct Data Exchange.

If you are determined to be a Dependent Student, based on the information you've added to your 2024–2025 FAFSA, and your parent refuses to provide their information, then you can indicate that you would like to be considered for a Direct Unsubsidized Loan. The Direct Unsubsidized Loan is the only federal financial aid that you can be considered for without your parent's information.

Criteria for Federal Pell Grants is based on the federal poverty line and family size. Pell Grant amount will be based on Dependency, Marital Status, Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), Poverty Level, and Enrollment Status.

The university is still determining the extent of changes to financial aid due to the new FAFSA. More information will be provided when available.

The university is still determining the extent of changes to financial aid due to the new FAFSA. More information will be provided when available.

With the new need-analysis calculation, there will be a loss of the “sibling discount”, or the benefit families receive when they have more than one person attending college at the same time. The university is still determining the extent of these changes and the impact it will have on financial aid packages for our continuing students. More information will be provided when available.

The university is still determining the extent of changes to financial aid due to the new FAFSA. More information will be provided when available.