Important changes to the FAFSA are now upon us (Thanks to Jessica for the friendly reminder to blog about this)! The FAFSA becomes available for the 2017-18 school year on October 1st (just two weeks away!).  Why is this important? Students applying to college for the first time will get a much better handle on financial aid they MAY qualify for earlier in the process.

This article from Consumer Reports highlights the other changes: 

• You’ll use last year’s tax return. Previously, you had to enter tax information from your prior year’s tax filing. That meant that if you wanted to apply when the FAFSA first became available, in January, you had to estimate important financial information, such as your income and assets, and then later update it when you filed your return. Now you can use tax information from two years prior to the academic year in which you plan to attend school. So if you’re applying for financial aid for the 2017-2018 school year, you can now use 2015 tax data.

• School deadlines may be different. Traditionally, colleges sent out financial aid offer letters in March or April. The Department of Education sent a letter last month encouraging schools not to change their priority deadline (that’s the date by which you must file your FAFSA to be considered for the most money). But 77 percent of schools surveyed by Cegment, which makes college enrollment software, say they will send aid award letters earlier. A few schools are also moving up deadlines for college admission, so check both aid and admission deadlines with each school you are targeting.

From USA Today:

Typically, the FAFSA filing season begins in January. But the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is moving to a new schedule to align financial aid applications with the college admissions season. You’d likely file for FAFSA even before you’re admitted to a given college, if you’re a high school senior. Many times, students apply to five or more colleges and need to review financial aid packages.

The change, first announced in September 2015, can help high school seniors make better decisions on where they’d like to attend college based on the financial aid offers they receive from schools. It’s possible some awards letters could arrive a little earlier in the decision-making process, maybe even by early March instead of late March or April.

FAFSA has a new application date..don’t miss it! (from Chicago Tribune):

Financial aid is typically awarded on a first come, first served basis. Most financial aid — including federal, state and private scholarships — is meted out in order of application. Some state and other aid programs have moved up their application timelines in light of the earlier FAFSA filing date. So if you wait until January to think about FAFSA, you might miss out on available money. Procrastination is expensive!

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One of the HUGE benefits of having a digital curriculum at NGPF is that we can make updates to reflect the ever-changing world that we live in, such as these FAFSA changes. Here is a list of the updates to our Unit 5: Paying for College to reflect FAFSA changes:

• Replaced Resource 13 in Lesson 5.1 with the same exact video EXCEPT it’s updated with the new changes.
  • Updated the Answer Key for the Student Activity Packet for resource 13
  • Changed the Video Library to the updated video
• Edited a few of the Comprehension Questions for Lesson 5.2
• Added an optional article to the end of Lesson 5.2 that explicitly discusses the FAFSA changes as new updates to the process. We added it as optional because it’s new and relevant right now, but by next year, it might not be as big a deal.
  • Added this optional article onto the Student Activity Packet with relevant questions and put the answers on the answer key.
• Updated the Unit Plan for Unit 5 as well as the two Lesson Guides for 5.1 and 5.2

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.