Major changes came to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2024-25 academic year! The FAFSA Simplification Act was passed by Congress in 2020 and represents one of the biggest changes to federal student aid in over 40 years.  Among other things, it has required a complete rewrite of the FAFSA application and processing system. If you intend to be a student in the 2024-25 academic year, please go file your FAFSA now.

  • The 2024-25 FAFSA is currently open, if you have not completed your FAFSA for 2024-25 please go do it now. FAFSA® Application | Federal Student Aid
  • The Department of Education has told universities that we will not receive your FAFSA application until the end of March 2024. This delayed timeline will be challenging for you and us. We will do our best to communicate with you as we get updated information. We will notify you when we receive your FAFSA application in late April 2024. 

This link is a great resource if you encounter issues doing your FAFSA:  Pro Tips for the 2024–25 FAFSA® Form 

Latest Updates

April 3, 2024

  • MSUB has access to FAFSA applications and anticipates beginning to load FAFSA applications into our system in the coming week. We anticipate testing will likely take additional weeks to complete. We will start communicating with students about the status of their FAFSA and the things students need to do by the end of April.  Please watch MyInfo and your email for updates on your specific situation.

 

April 1, 2024

  • Together, the Department and the IRS identified three issues that impact a subset of FAFSA forms. The first and second issues may occur for a subset of applicants and their contributors who successfully have federal tax information (FTI) transferred via the IRS FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX). The third issue impacts a subset of applicants and their contributors who were required to manually enter their income and tax information. Across these three issues, the Department and IRS estimate that approximately 5% of previously submitted FAFSA applications need to be reprocessed because the errors would result in decreased financial aid eligibility for students if unresolved. The Department plans to reprocess those records as soon as the functionality is available, which we expect in the first half of April.

 

March 25, 2024

  • The Department of Education (ED) announced “The ability for students to make updates and corrections to their FAFSA forms will be available in the first half of April.”
    • Prior to opening the option to correct a FAFSA, the Department will provide guidance for how to make several different corrections including adding missing signatures and other common errors.

What does the FAFSA Simplification Act do?

FAFSA Form Changes

  • The Student Aid Index (SAI) is replacing the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
  • The student’s housing choice
    • MSUB may assume a status based on your living situation from 2023-2024. The student has the right to request an update based on actual plans for 2024-2025.
  • The student’s interesting in Federal Work-Study (FWS) employment
    • MSUB will package work study on a first-come, first-serve basis. Early filing will ensure a better chance of a work study offer.
  • No benefit for having siblings in college.
    • Previously, the FAFSA divided the EFC proportionally based on the number of household members in college. The elimination of this "sibling discount" will be the biggest change in aid eligibility for some students. The SAI will not use the number in college as a factor in calculation of eligibility. As such, Montana State University Billings (MSUB) students with siblings in college may see a change in their aid eligibility at MSUB as well as with the aid received by their sibling(s) at MSUB or elsewhere. The determination to no longer consider the number in college was made by Congress and can only be changed by Congress.
  • Family Farms and small businesses must be reported as assets.
    • When required, families must now report the value of their small business or family farm. If the family farm includes the principal place of residence, applicants should determine the total net value of all farm assets and subtract the net value of their principal residence to determine the final value of their farm assets.
  • Excluded income for the student, spouse, and parents. This includes other income items that have been reported under "Additional Financial Information" on the FAFSA and excluded from need analysis in prior years (such as taxable combat pay, or special combat pay and cooperative education program earnings). Child support received is still reported, but as assets rather than income.
  • Applicants will be required to use the IRS Direct Data Exchange
    • Previously, users had the option to enter their tax information manually or use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Beginning with 2024-25, all persons on the FAFSA must provide consent for the Department of Education to receive tax information or confirmation of non-filing status directly from the IRS. In a very small number of cases, students and families will have to enter their tax data manually, but for most, that data will be automatically transferred into the application. This change makes it easier to complete the FAFSA and reduces the number of questions to be answered.
  • All “contributors” must provide financial information.
    • A contributor refers to anyone who is required to provide information on a student's form (such as a parent/stepparent or spouse). A student's or parent's answers on the FAFSA will determine which contributors (if any) will be required to provide information.
    • Contributors will receive an email informing them that they've been identified as such and will need to log in using their own FSA ID to provide the required information on the student's FAFSA.
    • Being a contributor does not mean they are financially responsible for the student's education costs, but it does mean the contributor must provide information on the FAFSA or the application will be incomplete, and the student will not be eligible for federal student aid.
    • Who Is a Contributor on the 2024–25 FAFSA® Form? - YouTube
  • The parent responsible for submitting the FAFSA in cases of divorce or separation has changed.
    • For dependent students, financial information was previously needed from the parent(s) the student had lived with the most in the last 12 months. With the new FAFSA, financial information will be required from the parent(s) who provided the most financial support to the student.