DALLAS — It seems like an odd ask, but some people might be wanting to tell Santa they’d like a FAFSA form for Christmas. And even he may have trouble delivering.
A lot of financial aid, including grants, scholarships, and student loans require you to fill out a yearly FAFSA–Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Usually, you can do that starting Oct. 1. But the form and the student aid calculations have been getting a huge overhaul, so this year it's delayed. But a new notice says that what they’re calling Better FAFSA will finally be available by Dec. 31.
On the re-designed form, you’ll only have to answer a maximum of 36 questions, instead of the previous 103. The estimated family contribution that used to be calculated by the form will be replaced with a student aid index (SAI). The lower your SAI, the higher your student aid determination will be.
But who gets what will change a lot. The Department of Education says that among students who get Pell Grants, 1,489,015 more of them nationally, including 132,667 of them in Texas will now qualify for the maximum grant.
Also, it’s expected that another 51,296 Texas students who wouldn’t have been eligible before will now qualify for Pell Grants. But others will potentially lose aid. For instance, one of the changes is that the new FAFSA no longer gives you the so-called sibling discount for families that have multiple students in college.
Here is an interactive calculator from Brookings that shows you based on income how your financial aid prospects change under the new FAFSA. Also, this Department of Education tool will let you run the numbers now to see a rough sketch of what your new FAFSA calculations might look like.
There’s a breakdown of the incomes the calculations rely on on page 2 of this document. And here is an explanation of how the math is done.
Regardless of that, just fill out the FAFSA as soon as it's available because some of the money is first come first served. Also by one estimate, just in 2021 Texas students who would have been eligible for Pell Grants, but just didn’t fill out a FAFSA missed out on $495,973,418 in financial aid that went unclaimed.
Since the FAFSA is delayed, colleges likely won't send you a letter about your financial aid until February or later. Also, the TASFA – Texas Application for State Financial Aid (for those ineligible for FAFSA) is extending its deadline this cycle as well, to March 15 instead of the usual Jan. 15.