The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has updated how it calculates the amount of aid students will receive to be in full alignment with the FAFSA Simplification Act.
U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel A. Cardona said the update, the latest in ED’s 2024–25 Better FAFSA® implementation, will not impact implementation timelines.
Dr. Miguel Cardona
Following are steps ED is taking to further improve the Better FAFSA® implementation:
1.) As part of the final steps in preparing to process FAFSA forms in the first half of March, ED updated how it calculates the amount of aid students will receive to be in full alignment with the FAFSA Simplification Act.
Officials said the update will not affect ED’s timeline for delivering completed applications to schools in the first half of March, and combined with other implementation efforts, the department’s Better FAFSA will result in 7.3 million students in total expected to be eligible for Pell Grants in the 2024–25 award year. Since the new 2024–25 FAFSA form became available Dec. 30, more than 4.7 million forms have been successfully submitted.
ED plans to work with colleges and vendors to put the update into effect in the coming days. It plans to be available to provide technical support and assistance to institutions through its FAFSA College Support Strategy. Under this strategy, ED is deploying federal personnel, allocating $50 million in technical assistance and support, and providing tools to help schools prepare to process student records as efficiently as possible.
