FAFSA Simplification

FAFSA Simplification Act

Due to the passing of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Simplification Act on December 27, 2020, as a part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, the FAFSA is changing for the 2024-2025 aid year.

The 2024-2025 FAFSA determines your financial aid eligibility for the fall 2024, spring 2025 and summer 2025 terms.

You can expect the following changes:

The FAFSA application process will be streamlined and easier for students to complete.
New terminology will be added to the FAFSA.
Eligibility for federal financial aid will be expanded.

We will continue to update this page as additional information becomes available. You can learn more about the specific changes, timeline and how to prepare below.

Prepare for the FAFSA

Before you complete the 2024-2025 FAFSA you should prepare by doing the following:

Create an FSA ID on the Federal Student Aid website and assist contributors, such as your parent(s) or spouse, in creating an FSA ID.
- An FSA ID is an account and password that gives you access to the Federal Student Aid’s online system and serves as your electronic signature.
- With the FSA ID, you can fill out the FAFSA when it’s available, sign your Master Promissory Note (MPN), apply for repayment plans, complete loan counseling, and use the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Help Tool.
Complete the FAFSA
- The simplification of the FAFSA filing experience for students and their families has truly been the goal and we believe this has been achieved-give it a try!

The Status of your 2024-25 FAFSA Application

We understand many students will want to know the status of their FAFSA form. Applicants may check the status of their 2024-25 FAFSA form on StudentAid.gov. To check the status, applicants should do the following:

Log in using their account username and password (FSAID).
Navigate to their account Dashboard.
Select “2024-25 FAFSA Form” from the “My Activity” page.

The application status will be one of the following:

Draft: Your selection of the FAFSA form is incomplete.

In Progress: You provided your consent, approval, and signature to your section of the FAFSA form has not been submitted yet.

In Review: You have submitted your form and your application is still processing.

Processed: Your application was processed successfully. No further action is needed.

Action Required: Your application requires further action from you or your contributor(s). In some cases, you may need to contact your college or career/trade school to resolve the issue.

Closed: Your FAFSA form was never submitted and can no longer be submitted because the federal FAFSA deadline passed.

This is your status with the department of education. Once MPTC receives your application, you will be notified via email. See the time line below for details.

FAFSA changes for 2024-2025

Instead of opening in October, the 2024-2025 FAFSA will not be available until December 2023. This is only temporary for 2024. After the 2024-2025 aid year, the FAFSA will be available in October as usual.

The FAFSA will feature fewer questions, fewer requirements, and retrieve tax information using a direct data exchange from the IRS instead of the previous IRS Data Retrieval Tool.

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 adopted parent, or the parent’s spouse. Being a contributor does not imply responsibility for the student’s college costs.
- 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.
If your parents are divorced or separated, the contributing parent(s) 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(s) (if a dependent student)–must provide consent to have tax data transferred directly from the IRS to the FAFSA. 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.
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.
Small businesses and family farms are now considered assets*.

*The Department of Education will provide more details in the coming months.

The number of family members in college will still be asked on the FAFSA, but it will be excluded from the federal, state, and institutional financial aid calculation.
The Student Aid Report (SAR) will now be referred to as the FAFSA Submission Summary. This is the summary submission document you receive after completing the FAFSA.

The adjustments to the new Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation will expand Federal Pell Grant eligibility to more students.

Timeline

The following timeline provides an overview of upcoming changes due to the FAFSA Simplification Act. Additional dates will be added as we learn more information.

Date	Item Description
December 2023	The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2024-2025 year opens.
January 2024	Soft launch of the 2024-2025 FAFSA Application.
March 2024	FAFSA’s processed by the Dept of Education began being sent to schools.
Late Spring/Early Summer 2024	Financial Aid Offers began going out to students via Moraine Park email.

Resources

What is the FAFSA Simplification Act? | Federal Student Aid

FAFSA Simplification Fact Sheet

Federal Student Aid Estimator- Prospective applicants can also use the Federal Student Aid Estimator to get an early estimate of what their federal student aid could be after submitting the new FAFSA form.

How to correct or Update your FAFSA Form

How to Submit the 2024-2025 FAFSA Form if Your Contributor Doesn’t Have an SSN

FAFSA Simplification