FRANKFORT, Ky. — There are major changes on the way for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, more commonly known as FAFSA. The U.S. Department of Education is calling the 2024-2025 FAFSA “simplified, streamlined and redesigned.” 
The changes apply to high school seniors who will attend college next school year and current college students who will still be enrolled next school year.

What You Need To Know

  • The U.S. Department of Education is calling the 2024-2025 FAFSA "simplified, streamlined and redesigned" 

  • The FAFSA form will have 46 questions instead of the previous 108

  •  Updates to student aid calculations mean more students could qualify for Pell Grants
  • Other changes could mean families with more than one kid in college, or who own a family farm, could receive less aid than in previous years

The most notable change that would impact anyone applying for federal student aid is that the FAFSA form will have 46 questions instead of the previous 108. By cutting the questions by more than half, it should take less time to fill out.

“That’s a big one. It should be easier for families, students, counselors and others to fill it out and do it fairly fast,” said Aaron Thompson, president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education.

People may also notice the FAFSA is not yet available. It usually opens Oct. 1, but it’s still not out. The U.S. Department of Education said it should be available this month, but no exact date was provided.

The U.S. Department of Education is touting that updates to student aid calculations mean about 610,000 more low-income Americans will receive Pell Grants and nearly 1.5 million more students would receive the maximum Pell Grant. That same release from the USDE said 8,160 more Kentuckians will receive Pell grants and 18,400 more Kentuckians would receive the maximum Pell Grant because of the recent changes.

Dr. Thompson said 58% of Kentucky students who could qualify for that don’t fill out the FAFSA.

“Only about 42% of our students who would fall in that unmet needs category ever fill out a FAFSA. Even though we listed as a high fill out FAFSA state, many of our low-income students don’t do that,” said Thompson.

He encourages everyone to fill out a FAFSA, whether or not they think they would qualify for aid. He said last school year Kentuckians left $54 million on the table by not filling it out.

While some families will benefit from the changes, Dr. Thompson warns it is not all good news for all families. For example, those who have multiple kids in college at the same time will probably not see as much aid as they would have under the old FAFSA.

“If you have two kids in college, that works against you a little bit. You look at them individually with the dollars the family has instead of saying ‘I have two kids in college. It’s going to cost me more.’ We are concerned about that,” said Thompson.

Another change that could hurt some families is that the value of a family farm or small business will now be used when calculating expected financial contribution from parents.

“A family farm used to not count against you. In some cases, it was a credit. But now, they will count that asset. That’s going to hurt a lot of our students,” Thompson said.

While you cannot yet access the new FAFSA form, the USDE said people can use the federal student aid estimator to get an early idea of what aid they may receive. 

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