skip to main content

FAFSA - Major Financial Aid Changes for 2022-2023

FAFSA - Major Financial Aid Changes

The Department of Education made some changes to the FAFSA and how it will be processed.

Federal Student Aid (FSA) no longer prints or mails aid-related publications, though they are available online for users to download and print. For more information on electronic versions of publications, fact sheets, online tools, and other resources, please go to 

Finan­cialAidToolkit.ed.gov/resources and/or StudentAid.gov/resources.

The application processing cycle lasts 21 months. For the 2022-2023 award year, applications are accepted beginning October 1, 2021, and will be accepted through June 30, 2023.

The first step in applying for financial aid is to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form.

Students can get advice on completing the FAFSA online here.

 

Changes on the 2022-23 FAFSA Form

The 2022-23 changes include the following:

Selecting a Role

The login process for the 2022-23 FAFSA form has undergone the following updates:

  • Users will now be able to select their specific role before they enter the FAFSA form. Users will have the option to select whether they are a student, a student from a freely associated state, or a parent or preparer who can provide the student’s personally identifiable information to enter the application.
  • Users logged in anywhere on StudentAid.gov using an account username and password (FSA ID), will no longer be asked to provide credentials again when accessing the FAFSA from in the student role. This will also apply to any occasion where a user might need to provide FSA ID credentials again, such as to use the IRS DRT in the student and parent role, or to provide an electronic signature on the  FAFSA form.  
  • If a user needs another user to provide FSA ID credentials in the application, such as if a student is logged in and wants to use the parent IRS DRT, the user will still be able to have a parent enter his or her FSA ID if they had not previously. If a user needs to create an account or has forgotten his or her password, he or she will be redirected away from the FAFSA form to complete these actions in the StudentAid.gov flows before being navigated back to the FAFSA form to complete the desired action.

New Menu Options

The FAFSA form-specific navigation a user will see on a given FAFSA view has been updated as follows:

  • View FAFSA Summary is now Review FAFSA Form, and Reset is now Reset FAFSA Form and Cancel Correction in Correction Entry.
  • FAFSA Home was added, which will take a user to the My FAFSA view.
  • If a user selects “Exit FAFSA Form,” they will be taken to the Dashboard if they are logged in to StudentAid.gov.

 

FAFSA Updates to IRS Tax Form Changes

Several questions in FAFSA on the Web have been revised as a result of IRS Tax Form changes. The revisions are listed below:

  • The Schedule 1 question and associated help text appearing in the Parent and Student Financials section of the FAFSA have been revised to remove references to virtual currency. The questions now reads as follows: “Did (or will) you (or your parents) file a Schedule 1? Select ‘No’ if you (or your parents) did not (or will not) file a Schedule 1 or only filed a Schedule 1 to report: unemployment compensation, educator expenses, IRA deduction, student loan interest deduction or Alaska Permanent Fund dividend.”
  • The responses for the student (and spouse) section of the FAFSA regarding the type of income tax return filed has been updated to no longer include the reference to the IRS 1040NR-EZ.

Household Information Updates

Section 3 and Section 4 of the Household Information portion of the FAFSA has been revised to change the way a user provides household information, household size, and the wording of the “Number in College” question.

The updates in Section 3 for the student household information are as follows:

  • If a user selects “Yes” to whether the student has children who receive more than half their support from them, they will be prompted on the same view to enter the number of children. The same occurs if a user selects “Yes” to the other dependents question.
  • Users will be able to navigate to the Household Information view where they will see a numerical breakdown of the student’s household in a table, including their spouse, their children and other dependents, and the total household size.
  • In the Household Information view, users will also see the “Number in College” question with updated formatting.
  • A user will not see the Household Information view if the student is the only individual in the household.

The updates in Section 4 for the parent in the household information are as follows:

  • The user will be able to enter the number of the parent’s children and the parent’s other dependents on one view before their household size is calculated.
  • The user will be able to navigate to the Parent Household Information view to see a numerical breakdown of the parent’s household size in a table, including the parent(s), the student, the parent(s)’s children and other dependents, and the total household size.
  • The number in college question will display below the Household Information table.
  • A user will not see the Parent Household Information view if the student is the only dependent in the household.

Clarification for which Parent Information to provide

  • In order to determine which parent’s information a student should provide in Section 4, a new view has been developed that appears at the beginning of the section to guide a user to provide the correct parent’s information. There is a link to an infographic on the view to provide a visual representation of the information.

Sign and Submit Changes

Users will have a streamlined path through the Sign and Submit portion of the application. It will mirror how the Mobile App signature process works.

  • Users will only see the Preparer Information view if they choose the Preparer role when they log into the FAFSA.
  • A user will be directed to sign for their role first. For example, if a user is in the Parent role they will be directed to provide the parent signature first before having the option to provide the student signature.
  • If a user is logged into StudentAid.gov, they will be able to sign their application from the Agreement of Terms view, and will not be taken to the Signature Options view.
  • If a user chooses to Print Signature Page on the Signature Options view, they will be taken directly to a separate view where they can print their signature.

SAR Redesign

  • Users will have the ability to view different sections one at a time. Users will be able to access the SAR as before through the My FAFSA view. Users will then be directed to the Processing Results section, where they will see a navigation pane to the left of their screen where they can select which section of the SAR they would like to view.
  • The Corrections History can be found as an additional option on the navigation pane. Users will no longer be able to access the view directly from the My FAFSA view, and will need to navigate to the SAR to see their previous transactions.

“Add a School” flow in Correction Entry

  • Eligible users who are able to complete a FAFSA Correction will have the opportunity to “Add a School” to their application if their only desired change is to add more schools to their FAFSA.

 

2022-2023 myStudentAid Mobile App Changes and Enhancements

Federal Student Aid has a new version of the myStudentAid mobile app, which a user can use the following actions:

  • FAFSA Form—Complete the FAFSA form safely and securely from your mobile device.
  • Dashboard—Access various types of popular tasks and a personalized page to help you determine what actions to take.
  • Settings—Edit/manage your account, using your username and password (FSA ID)
  • Aid Summary—View your federal student loan and grant history.
  • Notification Center—View and manage notifications regarding your student aid.

Users can download this app from the Apple App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android). No major changes have been made to the app for the 2022-23 award year.

Learn more about the redesigned, mobile-friendly myStudentAid app.