Important 2023 FAFSA News

The FAFSA Opens in December in 2023

If you are expecting to be able to begin filling out the FAFSA on October 1st, you should know that you won’t be able to do so this year. Due to some pretty substantial changes to the FAFSA for next year, you will need to wait a couple more months to get started.

That said, many people may view the December date as a blessing, actually. At least for this year, you will have more time to put your taxes and any other financials together. And by all means, take this time to do so! For those who are ready to go right now or will be on October 1st, mark your calendars and make sure to submit the form immediately once it opens in December. Remember, the early student gets the financial aid, with some of the funds being limited as well as first come, first served. Get your ducks in a row and have your pencil sharpened and ready on December 1st.

As you may or may not be aware, the temporary delay in FAFSA form availability for this year is due to the numerous changes that are being made; some of which will be quite appealing to most or all applicants. Among them would be the reduction in questions from 108 to 46 as well as the importing of financial data being much easier than in the past. I am quite confident that everyone is going to be more than receptive to a nearly 60% reduction in the time and process of completing what has historically been an almost notoriously onerous form.

There is also some restructuring which may not be as popular. Families with more than one student in college simultaneously will no longer benefit from the scenario. In years past, extra consideration would be given for such situations and more financial aid awarded to those families. This new rule will affect more than half of those applying in December and thereafter. You may still be able to appeal your EFC by submitting additional data demonstrating financial hardship, but this will require a bit of extra effort, whereas before it was automatic.

One change that will go into effect next year which should play well for many is that cash support and money paid on behalf of the student to the school will no longer be reported on the FAFSA and neither workman’s compensation nor veteran’s education benefits will be reported. This will allow for others to help a student out with tuition without penalty. This means that rich uncle, aunt or great grandparent of yours can help pay for your education and it won’t count against you.

There are also a number of changes to financial aid appeals, chief of which is that colleges may no longer have a policy of summarily denying all appeals. Each case must be heard and judged on a case-by-case basis. This one, in particular, is very interesting to me. It will definitely be interesting to learn how much extra time and resources will need to be assigned to the process of hearing and consideration of appeals. Sure, it is going to vary quite broadly from one college to the next, but given the current cost of attendance, it could be substantial to say the least.

One quite interesting change is that the new FAFSA bans anyone from charging a fee for the completion of the form. Decades ago, there was a website hosted by a company called Student Financial Aid Services called FAFSA.com. Similar to a site offering to do your taxes for you, I suppose, the company offered to complete your FAFSA for you. The service was priced at up to $79.99 for a single FAFSA form completion. For years, there were a number of articles online making sure students and parents knew that they didn’t need to pay and not to be taken in by anyone telling them otherwise. The URL began redirecting visitors to www.studentaid.gov in September of 2015.

For more information about the FAFSA changes for this year and beyond, please visit https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/december-fafsa

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