File – Students make their way through the Sather Gate near Sproul Plaza on the University of California, Berkeley, campus March 29, 2022, in Berkeley, Calif. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is available for the 2024-2025 school year, three months later than usual. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
A new version of the federal student aid application known as the FAFSA is now available to all college applicants for the 2024-2025 school year.
The new Free Application for Federal Student Aid was designed to make it easier for students and parents to apply and to make more of them eligible for funding.
Students can usually fill out the FAFSA starting in October, but the 2024-2025 version only became available last week because the Department of Education was still working on the new form.
Students and families experienced limited availability and glitches during a soft launch last week.
As of Monday, over a million students had successfully submitted applications, according to the Department of Education. Every year, more than 17 million students fill out the FAFSA.
The relaunch brings major changes such as fewer questions, the ability to list more colleges and availability in more languages. However, the update means students will get their financial aid offers later than usual.
Here’s what you need to know:
HOW DOES THE FAFSA WORK?
The FAFSA is a free government application that uses financial information from you and your family to determine whether you can get financial aid from the federal government to pay for college.
The FAFSA will send your financial information to the schools you say you are interested in attending. It previously only allowed you to send your information to 10 schools, but the new application allows you to send your application to up to 20. Each school that admits you will send you a financial aid package. The amount of financial aid you get depends on each institution.
The application is also used to determine…
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