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 be considered for a Pell Grant.

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.

Starting with the 2024-2025 Academic Year, the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) will be replaced with the Student Aid Index (SAI).

The SAI is an eligibility index number that financial aid offices use to determine how much federal student aid a student would receive if they attend. This number is a result of the information the student provides on their FAFSA and can be a negative number.

A need-based analysis is conducted to calculate a student’s SAI. The analysis takes into account the income and assets of the student and their parents or spouse, if applicable. The analysis formula used considers both taxed and untaxed income, as well as any assets and benefits received, such as unemployment or Social Security.

On the 2024–2025 FAFSA, a contributor refers to anyone (student, the student’s spouse, a biological or adoptive parent, or the parent’s spouse) who is required to provide information on the FAFSA. Information entered on the FAFSA by students or parents will determine which contributors (if any) will be required to provide information. Students or parents will invite a contributor to complete their portion by entering the contributor’s name, date of birth, Social Security Number (SSN), and email address.

Note: If a contributor doesn’t have an SSN, they can still be invited to complete their portion of the FAFSA. The student or parent will indicate that the contributor doesn’t have an SSN and will instead provide the contributor’s address.

To complete the contributor’s portion of the FAFSA, the contributor will:

1. Receive an email informing them that they’ve been identified as a contributor.
2. Create an account at studentaid.gov, if they don’t already have one.
3. Review information about completing their section of the FAFSA.
4. Provide the required personal and financial information and consent and approval on the student’s FAFSA.

IMPORTANT: A parent or spouse contributor is not financially responsible for the student’s education costs. However, if a required contributor refuses to provide their information and consent and approval, the FAFSA will be incomplete, and the student will be ineligible for federal student aid.

The FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange will replace the IRS Data Retrieval Tool starting with the 2024–2025 award year. This time saving measure will transfer contributors’ federal tax information from the IRS directly to the FAFSA. In addition, students selected for verification will not be asked to verify information transferred from the IRS.

All contributors must provide consent and approval to

• Disclose their personally identifiable information provided on the FAFSA form to the IRS for matching purposes
• Obtain their federal tax information from the IRS via direct data exchange
• Allow the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to use their federal tax information to determine the student’s eligibility and amount of federal student aid
• Allow ED to share their federal tax information with postsecondary institutions and state higher education agencies for use in awarding and administering financial aid
• Allow ED to reuse their federal tax information on another FAFSA applicant’s form (e.g., if a parent has multiple dependent students or a parent’s own FAFSA).

NOTE: Even if contributors don’t have an SSN, didn’t file taxes, or filed taxes outside of the U.S., they will still need to provide consent and approval.

IMPORTANT: If a required contributor doesn’t provide consent and approval to have their federal tax information transferred to the FAFSA, the student will not be eligible for federal student aid—even if they manually enter tax information into the FAFSA. Information about how federal tax information will be used and the consequences of not providing consent and approval will be included on the FAFSA.

The FAFSA Submission Summary, which is the summary document you receive after completing the FAFSA, will replace the Student Aid Report (SAR) starting with the 2024–2025 award year. To ensure information is secure, federal tax information will not display on the FAFSA site or the FAFSA Submission Summary.