• We appreciate your patience while the Department of Education implements the new FAFSA. Even if you have submitted your FAFSA, it will likely still be listed as “required” on the Requirements tab in Banner Self-Service. We anticipate being able to process FAFSAs in the coming weeks. 
• If you have not yet submitted the FAFSA, you still have time. Please complete it as soon as possible. A late submission will not impact your aid eligibility.

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The ability to correct your FAFSA is now available.  A late FAFSA based on these issues will not impact your Brown aid eligibility.

Given the Department of Education’s delay in releasing FAFSA data to schools, we are just now starting to process FAFSAs for admitted students. This process will take several weeks. However, as a school that meets full demonstrated need, we are in the fortunate position to accurately inform you of your total eligibility for aid using only your CSS Profile Application and federal tax returns. Once we receive and process your FAFSA, if you are eligible for a Pell Grant, the components of your aid offer may change; however, your total grant and scholarship funding should remain the same. We will notify you via email of any updates to your aid offer.

It's possible that you have aid offers from other schools that have listed a Pell Grant. This is probably an estimated eligibility for Pell based on the information that schools have received so far from the Department of Education regarding the new FAFSA analysis. However, we are not doing that at this time. 

If the financial aid offer you received from us includes University Scholarship, it's important to note that a portion of the scholarship funds you're being offered may be converted into a Pell Grant in the future. This means that even if you're eligible for a Pell Grant, it won't increase the total amount of funding you're currently being offered.

No. Since the SAI is used only to determine eligibility for federal aid, the SAI is generally different from the calculated Family Responsibility.  Additional information is available here. 

Currently we anticipate releasing Financial Aid notifications mid to late June.

Changes include, but are not limited to:

• The number of questions on the FAFSA has decreased from over 100 to less than 50.
• The EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) is now the Student Aid Index (SAI).
• Students can list up to 20 schools on their FAFSA via the online application.
• The Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) has been renamed the Direct Data Exchange (DDX) 
• The students, spouse, and parent(s) will now need to provide their consent in the new Consent to Retrieve and Disclose Federal Tax Information section of the FAFSA for federal student aid eligibility.
  • This consent will allow the IRS to share Federal Tax Information (FTI)
  • If any party to the FAFSA form does not provide consent, submission of the form will still be allowed. However, a Student Aid Index (SAI) will not be calculated.

FAFSA Simplification may change your federal aid eligibility. However, at this time, Brown has no plans to change how we determine the financial need for undergraduate students.

While the FAFSA will ask about siblings enrolled in college, the analysis will not adjust for this. As such, this could impact the amount of federal aid you are eligible to receive.   However, at this time, Brown has no plans to change how we determine the financial need for undergraduate students. Therefore, for most students who are eligible for University Scholarship funding in 2023-2024, there will be no net change in total aid eligibility at Brown as a result of the new FAFSA.

When families have more than one child in college at the same time we adjust the contribution to reflect the cost of the other sibling(s) enrolled in college. Siblings enrolled in graduate, medical or law schools are not included in the number in college for the determination of eligibility for University Scholarship.

We kindly ask for your patience while these issues are being addressed, and if the 2024-2025 FAFSA is unavailable, please try again at a later time. Federal Student Aid has created a 2024-2025 FAFSA Issue Alerts page where you can view some known issues other users are experiencing. In the meantime, you can rest assured that delays in submitting or updating the FAFSA based on these technical issues will not affect an aid determination or the amount of aid a Brown University undergraduate student will receive. 

Yes, the financial aid deadline for both incoming and current undergraduate domestic students has been moved from February 1st to March 1st, 2024. Keep in mind that this is a “priority” deadline, meaning that if the FAFSA is submitted beyond this date, we will not penalize students or reduce their aid because of a late application.

A contributor refers to anyone who is required to provide information on the 2024-2025 FAFSA form to calculate a Student Aid Index (SAI), including the student, the student’s spouse, a biological or adopted parent, and/or the parent’s spouse (which may include a stepparent). 

Here is an infographic to help dependent students determine which parent’s information should be reported on the FAFSA: Is My Parent a Contributor?

The FSA ID is required to complete the FAFSA online as a student applicant or as a contributor (parent/stepparent or spouse of a student applicant). While in the past, a Social Security Number (SSN) was required to obtain an FSA ID, students’ spouses, parents, and stepparents who do not have an SSN can now obtain an FSA ID using an alternative method to verify their identity. Instructions on how to create an FSA ID if you don’t have an SSN can be found here: 

FSA ID without SSN

FSA ID without SSN (Spanish)

There are a number of questions on the FAFSA related to a student’s dependency status to help you decide whether a parent’s information is required to calculate a Student Aid Index. If, after answering those questions, it is determined that you are “provisionally independent,” once we receive your FAFSA, we will contact you if we need more information to confirm your status.

We have compiled the following additional resources to assist you in completing your FAFSA application:

Federal Student Aid - YouTube

Filling Out the FAFSA® Form | Federal Student Aid

Federal Student Aid FAFSA Help page

Determining Dependency Status | Federal Student Aid

Pro Tips for the 2024–25 FAFSA® Form