Federal college aid deadline, data changed for upcoming school year

Students will be able to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, much earlier this year after the Department of Education moved up the release date for the form.

The FAFSA, which determines eligibility for student financial aid, will now be released Oct. 1, as opposed to its release date of Jan. 1 in previous years. Students will also be able to use “prior-prior year” income data, meaning a student applying for aid for the 2017-2018 school year will use 2015 tax data.

This makes it easier for students to apply for financial aid, said Sheelu Surender, director of Wichita State University’s Office of Financial Aid.

“The tax return is already done for most people by the time October rolls around, even if they’ve gotten extensions,” Surender said.

She contrasted this to the old policy, which would release the form in January but required the prior year’s tax data. That often forced students to wait until February or March when they had received all the necessary information to complete their taxes, or to use estimates that they would have to update once their families filed tax returns.

The FAFSA requires students to provide information about siblings in college, income and savings, families’ assets and other data, which is used to determine their eligibility for grants, scholarships and loans. The form must be filled out each year the student applies for financial aid.

The decision to use prior-prior year data will allow more students to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, which allows students and parents to access the IRS tax return information needed to complete the FAFSA and transfer it directly into their FAFSA from the IRS website. Before the change, students were not always able to access the tax return data required through the IRS site by the time they filed their FAFSA.

Though financial aid officials are excited about the change, they have raised concerns that the earlier FAFSA release date may prompt schools to move up their financial aid application deadlines. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators – a nonprofit organization of financial aid professionals from around the country – outlined the concerns in a recent news release.

“Some colleges are doing a reset of their own by demanding that students file for financial aid earlier than in the past, especially for priority aid that comes largely from the schools themselves,” the release said. “This puts students under the gun at a time when they are just wading into the application process, collecting reference letters and writing personal essays.”

Megan Coval, vice president for public policy for the organization, said although schools may move up their priority deadlines for financial aid, many will still be able to award money to students who apply after the deadline.

“A priority deadline is usually just a deadline that a school established to get a picture of the need,” Coval said. “And they’re moving those up in order to get (financial aid award) information to students earlier, which is always a good thing.”

Tony Lubbers, director of financial aid at Friends University, said the school is not moving any of its financial aid deadlines. Though WSU does not have a deadline for students to apply for financial aid, Surender said it is moving its “priority date” for applications to Dec. 1, three months earlier than its previous date.

Both WSU and Friends plan to work with the Wichita school district to educate prospective students about the change, Surender and Lubbers said.

Both schools will also help their current students adjust to the change. Joe Kleinsasser, director of media relations for WSU, said the school will notify students, faculty and staff about the deadline move through its community newsletter.

Friends is hosting a FAFSA financial aid night on campus on Oct. 27 for current and prospective students.

Both Lubbers and Surender said they are excited about the FAFSA changes because they would give students and parents a clearer financial picture much earlier in the academic year.

“This is definitely a positive thing,” Lubbers said. “It helps parents and students make decisions earlier in the process — they will theoretically know their financial situation in November or December instead of in March or April.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2016 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Federal college aid deadline, data changed for upcoming school year."