FAFSA FAQs

The FAFSA Simplification Act passed by the US Congress in 2020 allows for 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 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 2024-2025 FAFSA Application ushered in major changes to the overall application process. The information listed below highlights those changes. There are currently no additional changes expected for the 2025-26 FAFSA Application. 

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. 

• Students will be able to list up to 20 schools on their FAFSA via the online application. 

• 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 SAI. 

Additional FAFSA process improvements:

• Resources for completing the FAFSA form will be expanded to the 11 most common languages spoken in the United States. 

• Information connected to a student’s and other contributors’ FSA ID 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. 

Additional changes are detailed in the other answers on our Apply for Aid page.

Student Aid Index (SAI): An eligibility index number that a college's or career school's financial aid office uses to determine how much federal student aid the student would receive if the student attended the school. This number results from the information that the student provides in their FAFSA form.

The Student Aid Index (SAI) is used by financial aid offices when determining student eligibility for need-based financial aid. The SAI can range from negative $1,500 (-$1,500) to $999,999. A lower SAI (including negative SAI) indicates a higher financial need.

To complete the FAFSA, you and your parent(s), if you are a dependent student, will be required to give consent to the IRS to share your tax information with the FAFSA processor.

Each person required to provide their information on the FAFSA will need an FSA ID.

It will be helpful to have records of child support received, net worth of investments, businesses and farms, if applicable. If the Federal processor is unable to retrieve your tax information from the IRS, you should also have the tax returns available (2023 tax returns for the 2025/26 academic year).

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.

Anyone asked to provide information on the aid application—student, student’s spouse, student’s parent(s) and/or stepparents(s)—is called a “contributor” to the application. Contributors must 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 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 a "Parent Wizard," an interactive worksheet that helps the applicant to determine which parent or parents they should be planning to include in their application.

Direct Data Exchange (DDX) with the IRS will replace what is currently known as the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT). This allows the IRS to directly provide Federal Tax Information (FTI) for contributors to an applicant’s FAFSA.

Yes, contributors will need to consent to direct data share with the IRS for the FAFSA every year, but only once a year when completing the form. Once the consent is granted it cannot be revoked.

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. It is also referred to as your studentaid.gov account. 

There will be two-step verification for the FAFSA and all contributors must have an FSA ID to log into the online form.

Applicants with unique circumstances (like international students or 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 prompted to enter the necessary information into the FAFSA manually, and that manual entry may be subject to verification.