Students who depend on federal aid to help pay for college know the Free Application for Federal Student Aid became available on Oct 1. The federal government requires students to use their tax information from 2015 to fill out their FAFSA for the 2017-18 school year.

Michelle Wells, associate director of financial aid, explained why the federal government made these changes and addresses some concerns about issues that may come with the change.

Why did FAFSA open early?

The goal is to award earlier.

Wells explained that the financial aid office has always aimed to begin sending award notifications by April 1, but now they hope to start by Feb. 1.

“The main purpose of this time line change is to make award information, to new students specifically, available sooner,” Wells said.

She said the feds realized many parents don’t file their taxes until April 15. This means new students can’t complete their FAFSA until that date and they won’t receive award notification until May.

“Giving these award notifications to beginning freshman in May was putting them at a big disadvantage with trying to make all these decisions about ‘what can I get from school A’ and ‘what can I get from school B’ by August,” she said.

What if a student’s current financial status no longer reflects the information given on their 2015 FAFSA?

Wells explained that the federal government will not request 2016 tax information and is requiring 2015 tax for the 2017-18 FAFSA, but the federal government has given the financial aid office permission to make adjustments.

She said, “The feds grant us professional judgement, and one of our tools in that is what we call special circumstance.”

Wells went on to say that special circumstance can be based on situations similar to the following:

• A change in jobs where the student is making less money now than they did in 2015.
• A student’s parents/providers recently lost their jobs or have a a different source of income.
• A change in dependency status.
• A change in the number of people living in the household now or within the next school year.

She also said some information on the 2017-18 FAFSA will be based on current status.

“The only thing that goes back to prior-prior year is the tax information. People who live in your household, current marital status, age, and everything still drives whether you are a dependent student or an independent student,” she said.

She explained that students who need changes based on special circumstance do not need to make changes on their FAFSA.

“In general, students just go back to their school and say ‘hey, this is what has happened,'” Wells said, “We make adjustments all year long.”