The questions that have been removed from the FAFSA effective the 2024-25 award year include, but are not limited to the following:

1. The student’s housing choice
2. The student’s, spouse’s, and parents’ untaxed income that does not appear on the IRS 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR tax return (such as untaxed payments to tax-deferred pension and retirement saving plans represented by IRS Form W-2 Box 12 codes D, E, F, G, H, and S; housing, food, and other living allowances paid to members of the military, clergy, and others; etc.)
3. The student’s interest in Federal Work-Study (FWS) employment
4. Taxable earnings from need-based employment (such as need-based employment portions of fellowships and assistantships)
5. Excluded income for the student, spouse, and parents. This includes other income items that have been reported under “Additional Financial Information” on the FAFSA and excluded from need analysis in prior years (such as taxable combat pay, special combat pay, and cooperative education program earnings). Child support received is still reported but as assets rather than income.
6. The student’s driver’s license number and state
7. The highest school completed by the student’s parents. This question now asks whether either parent attended college.
8. The college degree or certificate a student will be working on when they begin the award year
9. Whether the student or parent filed IRS Schedule 1
10. The dislocated worker question

The FAFSA Simplification Act specifies which questions can be asked on the FAFSA and prohibits the U.S. Department of Education (ED) from asking FAFSA questions that are unnecessary for Title IV federal student aid.

A contributor is anyone who is asked to provide information on an applicant’s FAFSA including:

The student
The student’s spouse (if applicable)
A biological or adoptive parent; or
The spouse of a remarried parent who is on the FAFSA–the stepparent
The new FAFSA is student-driven, so that means the student’s answers in their section will determine who will be a contributor (in addition to the student). 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.

All contributors are required to have an FSA ID and to provide consent to have their Federal Tax Information (FTI) transferred from the IRS, have their tax data used to determine a student’s eligibility for federal student aid, and allow the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to share their tax information with institutions and state higher education agencies for the administration of Title IV aid. Consent is provided once for the award year and cannot be revoked in that award year. This consent is necessary even if the contributor does not have an SSN, did not file taxes, or filed taxes in another country.

If a dependent student’s parents are unmarried and living together, both parents will be contributors, will need to have separate FSA IDs, and need to provide consent. Dependent students whose parents filed their U.S. income tax return as Married Filing Jointly only require one parent contributor to complete the FAFSA. If the student’s parents filed separately, both parents will be considered contributors and therefore need separate FSA IDs, and both must provide consent.

If an independent student is married and filed separately, both individuals are contributors, must have FSA IDs, and must provide consent for the student to be eligible for Title IV aid.

Effective the 2024-25 award year, the parent of record on the FAFSA is noted below. You will notice that the parent with whom the student lived the most in the past 12 months prior to filing the FAFSA, is no longer a criterion in cases of divorced or separated parents. For divorced or separated parents, income and assets are reported on the parent who provides the most financial support even if the student does not live with that parent or lives with the other parent.

• Parents who live together
  Parental income and assets in the case of students whose parents are married and not separated, or who are unmarried but live together, shall include the income and assets of both parents.
• Divorced or separated parents
  Parental income and assets for a student whose parents are divorced or separated, but not remarried, are determined by including only the income and assets of the parent who provides the greater portion of the student’s financial support.
• Death of a parent
  Parental income and assets in the case of the death of any parent is determined as follows:
  (A) If either of the parents has died, the surviving parent shall be considered a single parent, until that parent has remarried.
  (B) If both parents have died, the student shall not report any parental income or assets.
• Remarried parents
  If a parent whose income and assets are taken into account under paragraph (2), or if a parent who is a widow or widower and whose income is taken into account under paragraph (3), has remarried, the income of that parent’s spouse shall be included in determining the parent’s assessment of adjusted available income if the student’s parent and the stepparent are married as of the date of application for the award year concerned.
• Single parent who is not divorced or separated
  Parental income and assets in the case of a student whose parent is not described in paragraph (1) and is a single parent who is not divorced, separated, or remarried, shall include the income and assets of such single parent.”

The IRS DRT will be replaced with the Direct Data Exchange (DDX).

• EVERYONE (students, spouses (if applicable), and parents) will need to consent to have their Federal Tax Information (FTI) imported into the FTI module.
• To provide consent, the individual will need to access the FAFSA with an FSA ID that has been matched with the Social Security Administration (SSA).
• Federal tax filers will have their tax information imported into the FTI module. No tax income will transfer into the FAFSA, but tax data will be sent to the colleges listed on the FAFSA.
• Non-tax filers must also check the box to consent. When IRS Data is accessed, the process will verify non-filing status.

The Student Aid Index (SAI) will replace the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) on the FAFSA form. 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.

In addition to the SAI, the FAFSA Simplification Act will expand the Federal Pell Grant to more students and link eligibility to family size and the federal poverty level. New eligibility formulas and funding are estimated to increase Pell Grant recipients by nearly 15%. Incarcerated students will regain the ability to receive a Pell Grant, and Pell Grant lifetime eligibility will be restored to students whose school closed while they were enrolled, or were subject to a false certification, identity theft, or a borrower defense loan discharge.

Accessibility to the FAFSA has been expanded to the top 11 languages spoken by English learners in the U.S.- Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, French, Arabic, Korean, Russian, German, Haitian, and Hindi.

No benefit for having siblings in college: Previously, the FAFSA divided the EFC proportionally based on the number of household members in college. The elimination of this “sibling discount” will be the biggest change in aid eligibility for some students. The SAI will not use the number in college as a factor in the calculation of eligibility. As such, Northland College students with siblings in college may see a change in their aid eligibility at Northland College as well as with the aid received by their sibling(s) at Northland College or elsewhere. The determination to no longer consider the number in college was made by Congress and can only be changed by Congress.

Gather your and your parent’s (if applicable) prior year’s tax information, W2 forms, and other records of income. You can see a full list at https://studentaid.gov. You can also estimate the tax information if you have not yet filed.

• File your FAFSA online.
• Complete all sections about you, your school plans, and financial information.
• List Northland College. Our school code is 003875.
• Enter your Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID. Remember to include your parent’s FSA ID or your FAFSA will be rejected.
• Print out and keep a copy of your submitted information for your records.

• You will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR). Check it for accuracy and follow up on any requests for additional information.
• Your Student Aid Index (SAI) is calculated from information you provided on the FAFSA and is listed on your SAR. The SAI is the amount your family is expected to contribute to your education for the upcoming year.
• 30% of FAFSAs are selected for verification by the federal government. If selected, you will be required to complete a verification worksheet and submit tax documents to the financial aid office.
• Your financial aid award will be mailed to you. Upon receiving this, you will need to accept or decline any aid.

We are here to help! Let us know if you have any questions.

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