FAFSA Forms Get Major Makeover with Controversial Changes

New Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms — typically dreaded by college hopefuls and their families — will soon be available after a makeover, including some exciting and controversial features. The forms, which will drop on or before Sunday, intend to be easier and quicker to fill out, but they're also coming fairly late in the college application season. FAFSA papers normally open up in October, and the timing is raising concerns for experts and students.

“When students and families fill out the better FAFSA form, they will find that applying for college financial aid is simpler, easier, and faster than ever before,” said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “The Biden-Harris Administration’s implementation of the Bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act modernizes an archaic system, simplifies the form, and improves access for underserved students — representing the most significant overhaul of the federal financial aid application since the Reagan era.”

Here is what to know about the new forms: On the new FAFSA form, the student and their contributors must consent to allow the Department of Education to access IRS tax data. Information about income and finances previously had to be inputted manually, which was a struggle for many families having to find the documents and ensure accuracy.

The new adaptation will make it so more than 600,000 additional students will qualify for Pell Grants this year. The increase in Pell Grant recipients is due to changes in the calculation for the award, making it so 1.5 million students could receive the full $7,395 grant. Financial aid for students who receive money for college from family or a 529 college savings plan will also no longer decrease due to the gifts. However, the new form also takes away the discount families used to receive for having multiple children in college.

The new FAFSA forms will not be out until the end of December when they are typically released in October. Additionally, all college students will have to refill out new FAFSA forms since the information could not be transferred from the old system.

“If you’re going to a selective school that requires you to make a deposit by a certain date, your school is not going to have a very long time to make your financial aid offer to you. The whole timeframe where you sort of get your financial aid offers, compare them and then decide which school you want to go to and commit to, that timeframe is really compressed this year,” Desjean said. The most important thing students can do, she added, is to fill out the FAFSA form as soon as they can and pay attention to deadlines.