New Dear Colleague Letter Summarizes the FAFSA Simplification Act Changes for Implementation in 2024-25

On Friday August 4th, the Department of Education published a new Dear Colleague Letter (GEN-23-11) which provides a comprehensive summary of the changes occurring for 2024-25 due to the FAFSA Simplification Act.

The full letter is available here: (GEN-23-11) FAFSA Simplification Act Changes for Implementation in 2024-25 and also published below for ease of reference. Please refer the link for any potential update.

PUBLICATION DATE: August 04, 2023
DCL ID: GEN-23-11
SUBJECT: FAFSA Simplification Act Changes for Implementation in 2024-25

SUMMARY: This letter summarizes changes to requirements under Title IV of the Higher Education Act resulting from the FAFSA Simplification Act that will become effective for the 2024-25 Award Year. These changes include significant modifications to the need analysis formulas and calculation of Federal Pell Grant awards.

Dear Colleague:

The FAFSA Simplification Act (Act) was enacted into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, and amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022. The Act further amends the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), and impacts the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®).

Over the past three years, the Department of Education (Department or we) has implemented these changes in phases, beginning with the 2021-22 Award Year. The final phase of the Department’s implementation of the changes required by the Act will occur in the 2024-25 Award Year.

This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) summarizes the changes resulting from the Act that have previously been implemented and explains the final changes to the need analysis formulas and the calculation of Pell Grant awards that the Department is implementing beginning with the 2024-25 Award Year. The Department will make significant and extensive changes to the FAFSA form and process for the 2024-25 Award Year to implement these statutory changes.

The Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) has also published Questions and Answers (Q&As) about FAFSA Simplification changes for the 2024-25 Award Year. These Q&As can be found on the OPE website.

Summary of FAFSA Simplification Changes Previously Implemented

The Department has already implemented numerous components of the Act in the current and prior award years. Major changes that have already been implemented include:

Beginning with the 2021-22 Award Year, elimination of limitations on student eligibility related to Selective Service registration and drug convictions, described in DCL GEN-21-04
Beginning with the 2021-22 Award Year, elimination of the subsidized usage limitations on eligibility for Direct Loans, described in Electronic Announcement EA ID: DL-21-04
Beginning with the 2023-24 Award Year, changes to the statutory definition of cost of attendance (COA), professional judgment requirements, determinations of independence, application process for unaccompanied homeless youth and foster care youth, and Pell Grant lifetime eligibility restoration described in DCL GEN-22-15
Beginning with the 2023-24 Award Year, elimination of the ban on Pell Grant eligibility for confined or incarcerated individuals, described in DCL GEN-23-05

Transition from Expected Family Contribution to Student Aid Index

The Act requires that schools transition from the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to the Student Aid Index (SAI) beginning in the 2024-25 Award Year. The SAI is a number that determines each student’s eligibility for certain types of federal student aid. An applicant’s SAI is calculated using modified need analysis formulas outlined in the Act. These formulas use information that applicants provide on the FAFSA® form and, in most cases, federal tax information (FTI) that is retrieved directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The most significant changes to the need analysis formulas include:
Removal of the number of family members in college from the eligibility calculation
The possibility for an SAI to be a negative number, with a minimum SAI of -1,500 instead of zero
Elimination of alternate EFCs for enrollment for a period other than 9 months
Elimination of the Simplified Needs Test (SNT) and Auto-Zero calculations, which have been replaced with similar calculations described below

Use of Federal Tax Information

The Act requires that, wherever possible, the Department use data received directly from the IRS to calculate a student’s SAI and Pell Grant award. The Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act (FUTURE Act) requires the Department of Education to access tax information held by the IRS pertaining to FAFSA applicants—and, where applicable, their parents and spouses—through a secure method: the FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX). The FUTURE Act amended the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to mandate the disclosure of FTI directly from the IRS to the Department with an individual’s approval and consent. The FUTURE Act also made providing consent for the exchange of FTI a requirement for receiving federal student aid.

There are strict limitations on the access and use of FTI under the IRC. FTI will only be available to institutions, state higher education agencies, and designated scholarship organizations, via the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR). FTI will not be included on the FAFSA Submission Summary.

Applicants may view all information provided on their FAFSA by obtaining an unredacted copy of their ISIR from their school. However, contributors may only obtain information they provided on the FAFSA, such as their FTI. Contributors are individuals, such as a parent or spouse, that may be required to provide information on an applicant’s FAFSA depending on the applicant’s dependency or marital status. Despite these limitations, institutions are still permitted to use professional judgment to amend FAFSA data values, including information that was originally received as FTI.

Applicants and other contributors must consent to the use of their FTI on the FAFSA. An applicant or contributor can enter income and tax data manually on the FAFSA. However, we will reject the ISIR, and the applicant will not be eligible for federal student aid until all required contributors provide consent. Because the FUTURE Act requires consent to use FTI for federal student aid eligibility and FTI includes filing status, nontax filers must also consent.

Applicants and other FAFSA contributors will also need to provide information on the FAFSA that is not FTI (such as certain demographic information and assets). That information is subject to general requirements for use and disclosure of FAFSA data.

An Electronic Announcement (EA ID: GENERAL-23-34), published May 12, 2023, contains additional information on the requirements for accessing and using FTI. The Department also plans to provide additional information about requirements for protecting Controlled Unclassified Information, including FTI, in the near future.

Changes to the Need Analysis Formulas

Like the EFC, an applicant’s SAI is still determined by one of three formulas:

Formula A – Dependent students
Formula B – Independent students without dependents other than a spouse
Formula C – Independent students with dependents other than a spouse

The Act did not substantially change the structure of these formulas but did change the data elements used in each formula. It also eliminated the simplified versions of each formula and instead established new rules for exempting certain applicants from providing asset information based on criteria that are similar to those used for the simplified EFC formulas.

Each formula is described in detail in the 2024-25 Draft SAI and Pell Grant Eligibility Guide, published in Federal Student Aid’s Knowledge Center and updated as additional guidance becomes available.

Income components

Most income items for the 2024-25 Award Year can be found on a U.S. income tax return and will be imported to the application via the FA-DDX, eliminating the need for the applicant to self-report most income. A significant change will be the reduction of untaxed income items included in the need analysis, which will include only the following:

Deductions and payments to self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh, and other qualified individual retirement accounts excluded from income for federal tax purposes, but excluding payments made to tax-deferred pension and retirement plans, paid directly or withheld from earnings, that are not on the federal tax return

Tax-exempt interest income

The untaxed portion of individual retirement account distributions (excluding rollovers)

The untaxed portion of pensions (excluding rollovers)

The foreign earned income exclusion

Other types of untaxed income have been eliminated from the need analysis, including housing, food, and living allowances paid to members of the military and clergy; veterans noneducation benefits; and the general categories of “other untaxed income” and “money received by or paid on behalf of the student.”

Note that foreign earned income exclusion amounts must be entered manually (they are not transferred via the FA-DDX), and although they are included in the calculation of an applicant’s SAI, they are not considered when determining the applicant’s eligibility for a Maximum Pell Grant. As such, for the 2024-25 Award Year there will be a new “C flag” comment code added to the ISIR that will require institutions to review how foreign income exclusion amounts impact eligibility for a Maximum Pell Grant prior to awarding federal student aid. See the relevant Q&A at OPE’s website for details.

Applicants and contributors who file foreign tax returns will not have tax information available to retrieve from the IRS and instead will have to input their income and tax data manually, although they will still be required to provide consent to use their FTI (which includes filing status). They will convert foreign currency to dollars and enter the resulting amounts in the comparable fields from U.S. tax returns, such as adjusted gross income, income tax paid, and any untaxed income that corresponds to the five types of untaxed income listed above.

Allowances against income

Some of the allowances against income have changed, and some are the same or similar. For the 2024-25 award year, allowances against income will include:

Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program income, rather than the broader allowance against income for taxable earnings from need-based employment that appears in the EFC formula;
Any institutional grant and scholarship aid included in adjusted gross income (AGI) on a federal tax return, including amounts attributable to grant and scholarship portions of fellowships and assistantships, as well as AmeriCorps benefits (including awards, living allowances, and interest accrual payments);
American Opportunity or Lifetime Learning education tax credit amounts claimed on the federal tax return;
The payroll tax allowance, which replaces the Social Security Tax allowance in the EFC formula; and
Federal income tax paid, the employment expense allowance, and the income protection allowance (IPA).

Cooperative education employment earnings, child support paid, combat pay, and the state and other tax allowance are no longer treated as allowances against income in the SAI formula and will no longer be reported on the FAFSA. Additionally, the IPA will no longer account for the number of family members in college. However, the IPA has been increased, which helps to offset the removal of these allowances.

Asset components

There are significant changes to the asset contribution components in the SAI formula.

Assets now include the annual amount of child support received (previously included as income in the EFC formula). The recipient of the child support will be asked to report the amount received in the last complete calendar year.
The net worth of a business is no longer limited to those with more than 100 full-time employees. Applicants will be asked to report the net worth of all businesses, regardless of the size of the business.
Net worth of a farm now includes the value of a family farm. However, the value of a family’s primary residence is still excluded. The net worth of a farm may include the fair market value of land, buildings, livestock, unharvested crops, and machinery actively used in investment farms or agricultural or commercial activities, minus any debts held against those assets.
For dependent students, education savings accounts will only be counted as a parental asset if the account is designated for the student. Previously, if a parent had education savings accounts for their other children, the value of those was also required to be counted.

The law specifically highlights certain changes to assets or income as items that the financial aid administrator can adjust using professional judgment. These include:

Excluding from family income or assets any proceeds or losses from a sale of farm or business assets of a family resulting from a foreclosure, forfeiture, bankruptcy, or liquidation; or
Adjusting assets to consider additional costs incurred by the student because of a disability of the student, their dependent or spouse, or their parent or guardian.

Other notable changes

The definition of family size has changed to align with the number of individuals reported as dependents on the applicant’s (if independent) or applicant’s parents’ (if dependent) U.S. tax return. Applicants may update family size if it changes after filing the tax return.

The number of family members in college is no longer a factor in the need analysis. Schools may use professional judgment to adjust other data items related to COA or SAI that reflect costs associated with additional family members enrolled in college.

The Simplified Needs Test (SNT) and Auto-Zero were eliminated. Some applicants will still qualify for an automatic Maximum Pell Grant or be exempt from asset reporting based on similar criteria.

Some applicants will qualify for a Maximum Pell Grant based on tax filing status or on AGI compared to poverty threshold for their family size and state of residence. Those who qualify for a Maximum Pell Grant and are not required to file a federal income tax return (if independent) or whose parents are not required to file a federal income tax return (if dependent) will be assigned an SAI equal to -1,500. Other students eligible for a Maximum Pell Grant will receive an SAI no greater than 0.

Other applicants will have assets excluded from their SAI calculation based on income, tax filing status, and receipt of a benefit from a federal means-tested benefit program. This asset exclusion effectively replaces the SNT from the EFC formulas. The following applicants are eligible for the asset exclusion provision:

An applicant who qualifies for an automatic Maximum Pell Grant award (as described below under “Calculation of a Federal Pell Grant”)
An applicant who received a benefit under a federal means-tested benefit program in the prior two completed calendar years (i.e., 2022 or 2023 for the 2024-25 award year) or whose parent or spouse received such a benefit during the same period
A dependent applicant whose parents (1) have a total AGI of less than $60,000; (2) do not file a Schedule A, B, D, E, F, or H (or equivalent successor schedules) on their federal tax return; and (3) either do not file a Schedule C or file that form with a net business gain or loss of $10,000 or less
An independent applicant who (1) has a total AGI (including the student’s spouse, if any) of less than $60,000; (2) does not file a Schedule A, B, D, E, F, or H (or equivalent successor schedules) on the federal tax return; and (3) either does not file a Schedule C or files that form with net business gain or loss of $10,000 or less

Dependent applicants will not qualify for an exemption from asset reporting if their parents do not reside in and do not file taxes in the U.S. or a U.S. territory unless they are not required to file due to having income below the filing threshold.

Dependency Status

The criteria used to determine dependency status for receiving federal student aid remain largely the same but with some differences.

Beginning with the 2024-25 award year, students who are separated will no longer be considered married and should not indicate they are married on the FAFSA. Unless independent by a criterion other than marriage, they will be considered dependent students.

The Act adds to the dependency override (DO) provision by noting that a DO may be warranted when a student is unable to contact their parents or when contact poses a risk to the student. Circumstances where contact is not possible or risky can include human trafficking (as described in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act); legally granted refugee or asylum status; parental abandonment; estrangement; or student or parent incarceration. However, incarceration by itself is not sufficient to make a student automatically independent. The financial aid administrator would need to determine that the student is unable to contact their parent(s) or that contact would pose a risk to the student.

Changes to Definition of “Veteran” for Purposes of Determining Independence

The Act changes the statutory basis for determining who is a veteran. It cites Title 38 (about veterans’ benefits) of the U.S. Code, section 101(2), which has similar language to the HEA and states that a veteran is one who served in the active military, naval, air, or space service and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable. The Act further provides that “veteran” includes any person who falls under 38 U.S.C. 101(21)-(23). Those paragraphs define “active duty,” “active duty for training,” and “inactive duty training.” FAAs should rely on Sec. 101 definitions to determine whether an applicant is a veteran.

Provisional Independent Status

Beginning with the 2024-25 award year, otherwise dependent students who indicate that they have unusual circumstances that prevent them from providing parent data will no longer receive a rejected application but will instead have their application processed with a provisional independent status. This will generate output documents with a provisional SAI and an estimate of federal student aid eligibility. Aid administrators will need to make a final determination whether these students should receive a dependency override.

The guidance in DCL GEN-22-15, in the section “Additional Flexibility for Assisting Students with Unusual Circumstances,” established the communication timeline and processing procedure that schools must follow beginning in the 2023-24 Award Year when handling cases where students indicate they might be independent due to unusual circumstances. The communication timeline and processing procedure laid out in that DCL will continue in Award Year 2024-2025 and beyond.

Awarding Aid Using the Student Aid Index

Other Financial Assistance

Under the Act, the term “estimated financial assistance (EFA)” was replaced with “other financial assistance (OFA).” OFA still refers to all scholarships, grants, loans, or other assistance known to the institution at the time the determination of the student’s need is made. FSA will begin using the term “other financial assistance” throughout our various publications and websites.

The formula for determining a student’s need remains the same, except that EFC has been replaced by SAI and EFA has been replaced by OFA. When determining a student’s need, an institution will use the following formula: Cost of Attendance (COA) minus Student Aid Index (SAI) minus Other Financial Assistance (OFA) equals need. (COA – SAI – OFA = Need)

The new definition of items excluded from consideration as other financial assistance now includes the following two forms of assistance:

Foster care benefits received under Title IV, Part E, of the Social Security Act, including education and training vouchers and room and board that youth are receiving as extended foster care benefits under Section 477 of that act
Emergency financial assistance provided to the student for unexpected expenses that are a component of the student’s COA, and not otherwise considered when determining the student’s need

Treatment of Negative Student Aid Index (SAI)

An applicant may receive a negative SAI as low as -1,500. When packaging students for need-based Title IV aid (Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work-Study (FWS), and Direct Subsidized Loan programs), convert any negative SAIs to a 0 SAI for awarding purposes. For example, consider an applicant with a $15,000 COA, a -500 SAI, and a $7,395 Federal Pell Grant. When calculating remaining need for other need-based programs, the school will change the -500 to 0 in the need-based calculation referenced above. The student’s remaining need will be $7,605 ($15,000 – 0 – $7,395 = $7,605).

Note that a negative SAI converted to 0 will also not increase a student’s eligibility for non-need-based aid.

Removal of Alternate Expected Family Contributions

In amending HEA section 475, Congress removed the provisions that allowed schools to use alternate EFCs when packaging students for periods other than 9 months. Therefore, when packaging for any period that is not 9 months, schools will use the calculated SAI (9-month) in the awarding formula for need-based aid (COA – SAI – OFA = Need). For example, if a student is attending a summer term only, the COA used to determine subsidized Direct Loan eligibility will be based on the actual period of enrollment (3 months), but the SAI used in the formula will be the 9-month calculated SAI. As a result, students enrolled for periods shorter than 9 months will have less need than when using an alternate EFC.

Veterans’ Education Benefits Excluded from Consideration as OFA

The HEA lists veterans’ education benefit programs that are excluded from consideration as other financial assistance. The Act did not change the veterans’ education benefit programs listed in the HEA. However, Congress did remove the phrasing “including but not limited to” when describing what constitutes veterans’ education benefits. Therefore, veterans’ education benefits not considered other financial assistance when awarding federal financial aid are those benefits expressly listed in HEA section 480(c). This means financial assistance under programs such as the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP) and the Veterans Rapid Retraining Assistance Program (VRRAP) will no longer be excluded from OFA.

Prohibition on Requiring Additional Financial Information

The Act affirms that institutions may not require additional information beyond the FAFSA to award or disburse federal financial aid to applicants. The exceptions to this rule are if additional information is required to complete the verification process, document a determination of independence, or exercise professional judgment. Additional information may be requested for the separate awarding of state, tribal, and institutional financial aid. We encourage institutions, state higher education agencies, and others to rely solely on the Student Aid Index and other FAFSA data elements whenever possible.

Several changes to the 2024-25 FAFSA described above may impact a school’s ability to complete the institutional awarding and packaging process. Examples include removal of the housing question, removal of the ability for independent students to elect to provide parent information (including financial information), and removal of the question asking the student whether they are interested in work study. An institution may separately ask students to indicate a choice (e.g., clarify their housing plans to produce a more accurate COA) but may not require this information as a condition of awarding or disbursing federal student aid.

Calculation of a Federal Pell Grant

The Act makes several significant changes to the process for determining the amount of a student’s Scheduled Award and disbursement amounts.

Pell Grant Formulas 1-5 used to determine a student’s Pell Grant payment amount were not changed. However, as described below, the enrollment status step within the Pell Grant Formulas will now use an enrollment intensity formula where appropriate. The law changed the Scheduled and Annual Pell Grant Award calculations, which we describe below. Additional details, including examples of payment schedule calculations for each Pell Formula, are available in the 2024-25 Draft Student Aid Index (SAI) and Pell Grant Eligibility Guide.

Note that the Department’s regulations for the Pell Grant program currently make reference to enrollment status. Until the Pell regulations are corrected, schools should interpret any reference to enrollment status in those regulations to mean enrollment intensity.

Steps to Determine a Student’s Eligibility for Pell Grant Funds

In the 2024-25 award year and thereafter, the Department will no longer publish a Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedule for use in determining a student’s Pell Grant eligibility. Instead, Pell Grant eligibility will be determined using the following steps:

Determine the student’s Pell Grant Scheduled Award
Determine the student’s Pell Grant Annual Award using Pell Formulas 1 through 5 and the student’s expected enrollment intensity
Apply the appropriate Pell Formula to divide the Annual Award among the payment periods in which the student plans to enroll
Change the student’s disbursement amount for a payment period based on the student’s actual enrollment intensity for that period
Reduce the disbursement amount for the payment period if the student has reached their annual or lifetime maximum

We explain these steps in greater detail below.

Calculation of Pell Grant Scheduled Award

The Pell Grant Scheduled Award is the maximum amount a student can receive during the award year if the student attends full-time for a full academic year. This definition remains unchanged, but the Act significantly changed the calculation of a Scheduled Award.

Beginning with the 2024-25 award year, each student’s Scheduled Award is one of the following:

An automatic Maximum Pell Grant Award (Max Pell)
SAI-calculated Pell Grant, determined by subtracting the student’s SAI from the annual published Max Pell
A Minimum Pell Grant Award (Min Pell)

Maximum and Minimum Pell Grant eligibility are determined based on tax filing requirements, family size and composition (i.e., single parent or non-single parent), poverty guidelines, and state of residence. If a student qualifies for a Maximum Pell Grant, the SAI is not used to determine the amount of that grant. An SAI-calculated Pell Grant is determined by subtracting the student’s calculated SAI from the annual published Max Pell, then rounding to the nearest $5. If the SAI-calculated Pell Grant is less than the published Min Pell, the student is ineligible for an SAI-calculated Pell Grant. However, the student may still be eligible for a Min Pell if they meet the minimum Pell Grant eligibility requirements.

Calculation of Pell Grant Annual Award

The Pell Grant Annual Award is the Pell Grant Scheduled Award adjusted for enrollment intensity. This represents a change in the way a Scheduled Pell Grant gets reduced for students enrolled less than full-time. Beginning with the 2024-25 award year, we will replace enrollment categories of full-time, three-quarter-time, half-time, and less-than-half time with a continuous measure of enrollment intensity. Except for students enrolled in clock-hour or nonterm credit-hour programs, students enrolled less than full time must have their Pell Grant Scheduled Award prorated based on their enrollment intensity.

Enrollment Intensity Adjustments for Pell Grant Awards

Enrollment intensity is the percentage of full-time enrollment at which a student is enrolled, rounded to the nearest whole percent. For example, if full-time enrollment is 12 or more credit hours and the student is enrolled in 7 hours, the enrollment intensity would be (7 ÷ 12) × 100% = 58%. For the 2024-25 award year and thereafter, a student’s Scheduled Pell Grant award is multiplied by the student’s enrollment intensity percentage to determine the Annual Pell Grant Award. Though a student’s enrollment may exceed full-time enrollment, as defined by the school, enrollment intensity cannot exceed 100% for Pell Grant adjustment purposes. Please note that students enrolled in clock-hour or nonterm credit-hour programs are still always considered to be enrolled full-time for Pell Grant awarding purposes and, therefore, will always have an enrollment intensity of 100% when calculating Pell Grant amounts within Formula 4.

Please note that if an institution awards credits in decimals (e.g., 7.5 credits, 10.5 credits) the institution must incorporate the partial credits that it awards into the enrollment intensity formula (e.g., (7.5 ÷ 12) x 100% = 63%).

Changes to Year-Round Pell Grant Awards

The Act made an important change to Year-Round Pell. Previously, a Pell Grant-eligible student must have been enrolled at least half-time in a payment period during which they received more than 100% of their Scheduled Award. The law removes the half-time enrollment requirement beginning with the 2024-25 award year but made no other changes to the Year-Round Pell provisions.

Changes to Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants and Children of Fallen Heroes Award Eligibility

The Act changes eligibility for what were formerly called Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants (IASG) and Children of Fallen Heroes (CFH) Awards as well as the resulting award amount. Beginning with the 2024-25 award year, students who meet the eligibility requirements for Pell Grants under the Special Rule in HEA Section 401(c) will receive Max Pell, regardless of their calculated SAI. To receive a Pell Grant based on eligibility under the Special Rule, a student must be–

The child of a parent or guardian who died in the line of duty while (a) serving on active duty as a member of the Armed Forces on or after September 11, 2001; or (b) actively serving as and performing the duties of a public safety officer; and
Less than 33 years old as of the January 1 prior to the award year for which the applicant is applying (e.g., for the 2024-25 award year, a student must be less than 33 years old as of January 1, 2024, to be eligible).

The Department of Defense is no longer able to provide confirmation that a service member killed in the line of duty meets the revised special eligibility criteria after the 2023-24 award year. Further, no comprehensive database exists to identify public safety officers killed in the line of duty. Therefore, students will self-identify potential eligibility on the FAFSA®, and the school will be required to verify eligibility by collecting supporting documentation from the student. Schools will report Special Rule eligibility to the Department using the new FAFSA Partner Portal (formerly FAA Access to CPS Online) to generate an ISIR transaction reflecting the student’s eligibility. Schools will award eligible students Max Pell, regardless of SAI. Other aid for these students will be based on their calculated SAI.

Schools will be able to continue awarding funds to students who meet the current IASG or CFH criteria in the new FAFSA Partner Portal. For more information and resources regarding the IASG and CFH process, please review OPE’s Q&As about FAFSA Simplification on the OPE website.

Resources and Contact Information

We recognize that the Act changes foundational aspects of how institutions calculate, award, and disburse federal student aid. We commit to providing resources needed to update institutional policies and procedures, train staff, and prepare students for the changes.

As described above, the Department has already published (and will continue to update) the 2024-25 Draft Student Aid Index (SAI) and Pell Grant Eligibility Guide, which includes a detailed explanation of the proposed process for calculating SAI and determining eligibility for Federal Pell Grants starting with the 2024-25 Award Year. We have also published the 2024–25 Draft FAFSA Specifications Guide, which consolidates all FAFSA-related processing information and guidance into a new, multi-volume resource. Finally, OPE has published Q&As on the OPE website and plans to continue updating those Q&As as they receive additional questions from the community.

These and other resources are available on the FAFSA Simplification Information page on Federal Student Aid’s Knowledge Center. To further assist the community with implementation of the FAFSA Simplification changes, the Department will provide additional operational guidance and technical resources in the near future.

You may refer additional questions to the Department 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 DCL, please select the topic “FSA Ask-A-FED/Policy.”

We appreciate your continued partnership as we implement these changes.

Sincerely,

Annmarie Weisman
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning, and Innovation
Office of Postsecondary Education