Posted Date
January 30, 2024
Author
Federal Student Aid
Electronic Announcement ID
GENERAL-24-06
Subject
2024-25 FAFSA Student Aid Index Update and Timeline (Updated March 1, 2024)
Note
Updates: On March 1, 2024, we updated the 2024-25 FAFSA Updates page. Each time we update the page, we will update this announcement and re-push it to our subscription email. In addition, you can bookmark the page and check it periodically.
Issue Alerts: On Feb. 23, 2024, we updated the 2024-25 FAFSA Issue Alerts page. Each time we update the page, we will update this announcement and re-push it to our subscription email. In addition, you can bookmark the page and check it periodically.
We would like to provide you with an important update regarding the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) process. This Electronic Announcement provides further details regarding aid eligibility and the post-processing experience for students, institutions, state higher education agencies, and scholarship organizations.
Since the form went live on Dec. 30, more than 3.1 million forms have been submitted. The Department continues to work to ensure students and their families have access to a stable and secure form.
As part of our continuing commitment to put students first, we will ensure students and their families receive all the aid they are entitled to receive. To account for inflationary adjustments as required under the law, the Department has updated the supporting tables used in the Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation, ensuring that students are benefitting from approximately an additional $1.8 billion in aid. These tables, which directly impact eligibility for need-based federal student aid, detail the allowances against income and assets reported by students and families on their FAFSA form. The revised tables are included in the final Student Aid Index (SAI) and Pell Grant Eligibility Guide. In the coming weeks, our teams will be updating the Federal Processing System (FPS) to include the updated tables. Based upon estimations for completing that work, the Department will begin transmitting batches of FAFSA information (ISIRs) to schools and state agencies in the first half of March, which will include the updated SAI tables. We anticipate catching up with the majority of ISIR transmissions to schools in the weeks following the beginning of ISIR delivery.
We anticipate that the 2024-25 FAFSA processing timeline will change as follows.
Post-Processing Experience for Students
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Students will receive an email informing them that their FAFSA form has been fully processed and their FAFSA information has been sent to the schools they listed on their form.
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Students who applied using the online FAFSA form will receive an email that they can access their FAFSA Submission Summary by logging in to StudentAid.gov using their account username and password.
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The Department will send an email reminder to previous FAFSA applicants who have not yet submitted a 2024-25 FAFSA form.
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Students will be able to make corrections to their FAFSA once their eligibility has been calculated and ISIR generated. Students may view their eligibility calculation by logging back into their Studentaid.gov account.
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The Department will fully process paper applications in the weeks following.
Post-Processing Experience for Institutions, State Higher Ed Agencies, and Designated Scholarship Organizations
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Institutions, state higher ed agencies, and designated scholarship organizations will begin receiving batches of FAFSA information (ISIRs) starting in the first half of March. The information transmitted to schools will include the updated SAI tables.
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We are continuing to test several vendor built systems and we will provide regular progress updates to schools and stakeholders as we move forward.
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As in previous years, when the Congressional appropriations process has completed and determined the 2024-25 Maximum Federal Pell Grant award amount, ISIRs will be re-processed to reflect that update.
Resources for Institutions, State Higher Education Agencies, and Other External Partners
The Department will continue to assist our external partners through webinars, resources, and updates on the Knowledge Center. We also welcome our partners to continue to submit questions related to the 2024-25 FAFSA launch using the Contact Customer Support form in FSA’s Partner Connect Help Center. To submit a question, please enter your name, email address, topic, and question. When submitting a question related to this Electronic Announcement, please select the topic “2024-25 FAFSA.”
Stay Informed
We will continue to update the “2024-25 FAFSA Updates” page and the key dates noted in this announcement in the 2024-25 FAFSA Roadmap. We encourage our partners to sign up for Knowledge Center Subscription emails to receive the latest news on a daily or weekly basis.
Last Modified: 03/01/2024
