Recent changes to the Free Application For Student Aid (FAFSA) system have made the application available since October 1, 2016, instead of on the traditional January 1 release date.
Because the FAFSA is available earlier, students and parents will complete it using tax information from two years ago. This means that this year, students and parents will fill out the FAFSA using their 2015 tax information, according to Financial Aid employee, Susanna Roorbach. The Federal Student Aid website said the new system offers several benefits. One of the benefits will be that the FAFSA will not involve as much estimation of finances since the taxes from two years prior will already be completed. Additionally, it will enable students to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to automatically import tax information to the FAFSA. According to a tutorial on the Federal Student Aid website, this tool makes the process of transferring tax information to the FAFSA faster and more accurate.
Some of the greatest benefits are for incoming first year students, Roorbach said. Before, prospective students had a narrow window between receiving their financial aid package from a school and the school’s deadline to enroll. The new system takes the pressure off for new students exploring their options. “It will allow students to have their financial aid award letters sooner and give them more time to make a decision,” said Roorbach.
For returning students, Roorbach said, “When we award financial aid at Houghton, we give students the best package we can up front and we typically don’t change that, but this could really affect federal and state aid.” Using tax information from two years prior means that it takes longer for a change in finances to affect a student’s federal and state aid. Roorbach said if a student has a circumstance where their income dropped significantly or they recently had high medical expenses, they can fill out a Special Circumstance form along with their FAFSA which will allow their aid to reflect these changes. On the other hand, if a student’s income rises significantly, this change will not catch up to their aid as quickly as in previous years, Roorbach said.
The Financial Aid Office is changing their calendar to accommodate these new deadlines, Roorbach said. She explained the new system will mean sending out financial aid packages from October until August. “It’s something we thought would be helpful for a while,” she said. “Now that it’s here it could be a little challenging to implement, but I think things will run a lot smoother once we have a year of using this system under our belts.”
These changes will likely be helpful to Houghton students across the board. According to the Houghton College website, students receive roughly $13 million in aid, grants, and scholarships.. Roorbach said returning students generally shouldn’t worry about completing the FAFSA until after Thanksgiving.