The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is an online application that students and families must complete in order to apply for federal student aid such as grants, work-study funds, and loans (US Department of Education, 2024).

Recently, the FAFSA was redesigned to be simplified and streamlined, with most students and families able to complete their applications within 15 minutes. Approximately 7.1 million total students are expected to be eligible for Pell Grants, 665,000 more students will receive Federal Pell Grants, and more than 1.7 million more students will receive the maximum Pell Grant amount (Federal Student Aid, 2024).

When the redesigned FAFSA first launched, technical difficulties affected the rollout. Those have now been fixed, and the application deadlines have been extended, but fewer students have filled out the form than usual, which could result in less access to financial assistance.

Please help bridge this gap by sharing these resources with your staff who are planning to attend college and apply for aid:

• FAFSA Tool Kit
• FAFSA Pro Tips
• Applying for Financial Aid With the FAFSA® Form (video)
• The Better FAFSA: What You Need to Know
• FAFSA Application Form

References

US Department of Education. (2024, July 10). The better FAFSA: what you need to know. ed.gov/Better-FAFSA

Federal Student Aid. (2024, March 1). The better FAFSA: what students and their families need to know. ed.gov/finaid/info/apply/fafsa-toolkit-students-families.pdf