Undergraduate Financial Aid

FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION

FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION

A new FAFSA is coming for 2024-25!

We will continue to update this webpage as we receive more information from the Department of Education.  Please check back for updates. (Page last updated: November 16, 2023) 

The FAFSA Simplification Act represents a significant overhaul of federal student aid, including the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, need analysis, and many policies and procedures for schools that participate in the Title IV programs.  The goal is to streamline the federal financial aid process for students and families.

Schools will start getting Student Information Records (ISIRs) by January 31, 2024.  Please be aware that it could take up to five business days for the status of a student's application to update in our system.

The 2024-2025 FAFSA is scheduled to be available by December 31, 2023. The exact date has not yet been released by the Department of Education.

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.