Tired of struggling with the new federal financial aid form?
Colleges are too.
So a handful of them across the country have launched their own financial aid forms. While these forms don’t replace the 2024-2025 free application for federal student aid (FAFSA), schools can use them to estimate financial aid awards for students. Some schools guarantee their portion of the award up to a certain amount; others simply provide a breakdown of what students are eligible for.
Either way, they’re offering families and students some immediate clarity to help them make decisions on school. The Department of Education, which had a rocky rollout of its new simplified FAFSA, doesn’t even expect to start sending the data that schools need to determine awards until mid-March. That would push the first award letters out to late March or early April.
Choosing a school is “a monumental decision for an 18-year-old and for parents and their pocketbook, and the FAFSA delay only adds an extra layer of stress,” said Rob Reddy, vice president of enrollment management at Missouri’s St. Louis University (SLU). “We want to provide services and support. Students’ enrollments were in jeopardy.”
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How is a school’s financial aid form different from FAFSA?
Schools say their financial aid form mirrors the FAFSA. Whatever information you need for FAFSA is pretty much the same for the school’s version. That said, students who have parents without Social…
