The 2024-2025 FAFSA is now Available
The 2024-2025 FAFSA became available in December 2023. UCF’s priority filing date for 2024-2025 is February 15, 2024. Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) today!
The 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will be significantly different from previous years. The FAFSA Simplification Act aims to streamline the financial aid application process and will result in a broad sweeping changes to how financial aid is administered. The most significant changes will take place for the 2024-2025 aid year.
FAFSA simplification will reduce the total number of questions students see when filing the FAFSA, attempts to clarify the questions that will be asked, and will aim to increase Federal Pell Grant eligibility. While in some cases the FAFSA simplification could increase some students’ financial aid eligibility, some students may see a decrease in aid. Below is a list of the major changes resulting from FAFSA simplification.
FAFSA Terminology Changes
Contributor: any individual required to provide consent and approval for federal tax information (FTI) along with their signature on the FAFSA® form, including the student; the student’s spouse; a biological or adoptive parent; or the parent’s spouse (stepparent).
FAFSA Privacy Act Consent: formal consent provided by an applicant and any applicable contributor(s) for a given FAFSA cycle (e.g., December 2023 to September 2025 for the 2024-25 FAFSA form) that meets the statutory requirements of collecting and using an individual’s personally-identifiably information.
FAFSA Submission Summary: replaces the Student Aid Report (SAR) as the student’s output document providing a summary of data input on the FAFSA form.
Family Size: replaces the term “household size” on the FAFSA form.
Federal Tax Information (FTI): is the data and information related to federal tax paying. It includes a return or return information received directly from the IRS or obtained through an authorized secondary source such as the U.S. Department of Education.
Student Aid Index (SAI): replaces the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) as a formal evaluation of a student’s approximate financial resources to contribute toward their postsecondary education for a specific award year.
Changes for the 2024-2025 FAFSA Form
& Financial Aid Process
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The FAFSA for the upcoming academic year typically becomes available at fafsa.gov on Oct. 1. For the 2024–2025 academic year only, the FAFSA will not become available online until December 2023. The exact date in December is to be determined.
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UCF’s 2024-2025 Priority FAFSA Filing Date is February 15, 2024.
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There will be less questions and the form will be more streamlined.
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Students will be able to list up to 20 colleges/universities on the FAFSA.
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Tax information will be directly imported into the FAFSA.
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Each contributor (student, student spouse, parent(s) and/or stepparent) will have to provide consent to complete the FAFSA.
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If any contributor does not provide their consent the Student Aid Index (SAI) will not be calculated, and eligibility for financial aid cannot be determined.
2024-2025 FAFSA becomes available:
December 2023
UCF’s Priority Date for the 2024-2025 FAFSA:
February 15, 2024