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Officials say 2024-25 ‘streamlined’ FAFSA to be available by December 31

pixabay.com

Students can expect an easier experience with the 2024-25 FAFSA form. Officials said with a streamlined batch of questions, some students may even qualify for more financial aid.

Dr. Aaron Thompson is President of the Council on Postsecondary Education. He said families can also expect less stress when it comes to filling out the form.

“The whole goal here is to make it easier, to make it simpler for families to do it without pulling their teeth, because it was a hard process. So, that’s what really the goal of this new FAFSA is. To really allow students to get more Pell, if you will. It will help students qualify for more money in most cases,” Thompson said.

According to Thompson Kentucky lost money due to a low number of new FAFSA forms.

“It’s estimated that we left $58 million in D.C. that we could’ve received if we had more students fill out the FAFSA, but we do see a significant increase and GEAR-UP even goes to the high schools themselves and really work hard to fill it out. So much so that we’re getting like 81, 90% in any of these schools of folks that are filling out the FAFSA,” Thompson said.

While there is no set date for the 2024-25 FAFSA form yet, it will be released sometime before December 31. Officials said depending on personal circumstances, some students and families can expect to answer as few as 18 questions on the FAFSA, with as many as 26 questions being skippable.