{"id":6891,"date":"2023-09-05T10:57:47","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T10:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/finance\/new-fafsa-launches-in-december-dont-miss-it-and-make-sure-youre-ready\/"},"modified":"2023-09-05T10:57:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T10:57:48","slug":"new-fafsa-launches-in-december-dont-miss-it-and-make-sure-youre-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=6891","title":{"rendered":"New FAFSA launches in December: Don\u2019t miss it and make sure you\u2019re ready"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This <\/em>article<\/em> is reprinted by permission from <\/em>NerdWallet<\/em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

For the first time since 2016, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will not be ready on Oct. 1 for the following academic year. Instead, students have to wait until December to fill out and submit a redesigned application for financial aid \u2014 including federal student loans, grants and work-study \u2014 for the 2024\u201325 school year.<\/p>\n

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Nearly 72% of college families didn\u2019t know that the 2023-24 FAFSA became available on Oct. 1, 2022, according to a 2023 study by private student loan lender Sallie Mae. If families aren\u2019t ready to go when the new FAFSA is released this year, they could miss out on vital aid to help them cover college expenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re dealing with a truncated financial aid season,\u201d says MorraLee Keller, senior director of strategic programming at the National College Attainment Network (NCAN), a nonprofit organization supporting college affordability. Keller says all students should do what they can to be ready when the new simplified FAFSA is released.<\/p>\n

Here are steps you can take now to make sure you\u2019re ready to go when the new FAFSA is released in December.<\/p>\n

Read<\/strong>: Student-loan interest is resuming. Here\u2019s why the government charges it.<\/p>\n

Find your FSA ID<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Your Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID is required to complete the FAFSA online, track the status of your application and make any changes and updates. It wasn\u2019t required for the 2023-24 FAFSA, but it\u2019s a must-have for the new one, according to NCAN.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re an incoming first-year student, create your FSA ID by visiting\u00a0studentaid.gov. If you\u2019re a returning student but forgot your FSA ID, you can retrieve your username or password by selecting \u201cforgot username\u201d or \u201cforgot password\u201d from the login page.<\/p>\n

Everyone who touches your FAFSA needs an FSA ID too. Parents and guardians who could access the form without an ID before will need to create one, says Keller \u2014 who advises all contributors to set up their FSA ID by this fall to avoid trouble accessing the application when it\u2019s ready.<\/p>\n

Track your school\u2019s deadlines<\/strong><\/h2>\n

States and schools can have financial aid deadlines much earlier than the FAFSA deadline. Missing an institution\u2019s deadline could mean missing out on aid.<\/p>\n

Incoming students can get their college list ready now and keep track of critical deadlines.<\/p>\n

Many schools set priority deadlines in March before the relevant academic year, says Dana Kelly, vice president of professional development and institutional compliance for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Kelly says this gives colleges a sense of their first-year class and provides incoming students an idea of how much institutional aid they can expect before the May 1 deposit date.<\/p>\n

Returning students should double-check their school\u2019s deadlines and renew the FAFSA before then.<\/p>\n

Because so much aid is given out on a first-come, first-served basis, you want to get in line for that aid by filling out the FAFSA as early as possible, says Rick Castellano, vice president of corporate communications at Sallie Mae.<\/p>\n

Learn more:<\/strong> Here\u2019s how to decode your college financial aid package<\/p>\n

Estimate the amount of aid you\u2019re eligible for<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Given that colleges and universities will experience a delay in the FAFSA filing process, students should estimate how much federal aid they\u2019re eligible to receive ahead of time using the\u00a0Federal Student Aid Estimator, says Bradley Barnes, vice provost for enrollment management at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. An updated estimator is expected to be available by this fall.<\/p>\n

The Education Department also released a 2024-25\u00a0Pell Grant lookup table. It can help you determine if you\u2019re eligible for the need-based\u00a0Pell Grant, which can give you up to $7,395 per year in aid that doesn\u2019t need to be paid back. To use the table, you\u2019ll need to know:<\/p>\n