FAFSA 2024-25 Simplification

1. I am a Dependent student, and my biological/adoptive parents are married or living in the same household 

• • My parents filed 2022 taxes jointly 

• • • One parent needs an FSA ID 

• • My parents filed 2022 taxes separately 

• • • Both parents need an FSA ID 

• • My parents didn't file 2022 taxes 

• • • Both parents need an FSA ID 

      2. I am a Dependent student, and my biological/adoptive parents are divorced or separated 

• • Did one parent provide more financial support in the past year? 

• • • The parent who provided more financial support is your parent of record 

• • Did both parents provide equal financial support in the past year? 

• • • Whichever parent has greater income and/or assets is your parent of record 

• • Did neither parent provide financial support in the past year? 

• • • Whichever parent has greater income and/or assets is your parent of record 

Federal Student Aid has a short list of criteria that automatically classifies a college student as independent. Any student who falls into ONE of these categories qualifies as a independent student:  

• Older than 23 

Born before Jan 1, 2001 

NOTE: Students who do not automatically qualify as independent but cannot complete the FAFSA with parent information may file the FAFSA alone and assume provisional independent status. You will need to reach out to your college or university to review the details and grant official independent status.  

You will need to reach out to SVSU to complete a Student Unusual Circumstances Form. 

If you are completing the 2024-2025 FAFSA, you’ll first need to set up an FSA ID for the student AND for one or two parents at least 3 days prior to starting the FAFSA. 

The FSA ID is important but simple. Visit www.studentaid.gov and create an account by setting up a username and password. You will need this information to login, complete, and sign the 2024-2025 FAFSA. 

• Use the following to help you determine who in your family will need to create an FSA ID.

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  Are You a Dependent Student?

  1. I am a Dependent student and my biological/adoptive parents are married or living in the same household
     • My parents filed 2022 taxes jointly
       • One parent needs an FSA ID
     • My parents filed 2022 taxes separately
       • Both parents need an FSA ID
     • My parents didn't file 2022 taxes
       • Both parents need an FSA ID
  2. I am a Dependent student and my biological/adoptive parents are divorced or separated
     • Did one parent provide more financial support in the past year?
       • The parent who provided more financial support is your parent of record
     • Did both parents provide equal financial support in the past year?
       • Whichever parent has greater income an/or assets is your parent of record
     • Did neither parent provide financial support in the past year?
       • Whichever parent provided more financial support in the most recent year is your parent of record
  3. Is your parent of record remarried?
     • No
       • Only your parent of record needs an FSA ID
     • Yes, and they filed 2022 taxes jointly 
       • Only your parent of record or their spouse needs an FSA ID
     • Yes, and they filed 2022 taxes separately 
       • Both your parent of record and their spouse need an FSA ID
     • Yes, and they did not file 2022 taxes 
       • Both your parent of record and their spouse need an FSA ID 

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  Are You an Independent Student?

  Federal Student Aid has a short list of criteria that automatically classifies a college student as independent. Any student who falls into ONE of these categories qualifies as a independent student: 

  • Older than 23
  • Married
  • Working on a graduate degree
  • Has children and provides more than half of their support
  • Has live-in dependents and provides more than half of their support
  • Serving in the U.S. armed forces
  • A Veteran
  • An emancipated minor
  • Since turning 13, has been an orphan, in foster care, or a ward of the court
  • An unaccompanied youth who is homeless or at risk of being homeless 

  NOTE: Students who do not automatically qualify as independent but cannot complete the FAFSA with parent information may file the FAFSA alone and assume provisional independent status. You will need to reach out to your college or university to review the details and grant official independent status. 

  • I am an Independent student
    • I am not married
      • Only you need an FSA ID
    • I am married and filed 2022 taxes jointly
      • Only you need an FSA ID
    • I am married and filed 2022 taxes separately
      • Both you and your spouse need an FSA ID
    • I am married and did not 2022 file taxes
      • Both you and your spouse need an FSA ID 

The 2024-25 FAFSA application is available now. 

Now that FAFSA is available, we would recommend that you complete it right away to receive your financial aid for the 2024-2025 school year.  The deadline to complete FAFSA for the 2024-25 academic year is June 30, 2025.  NOTE:  FAFSA must be completed by May 1 each year to be considered for the State of Michigan’s awards (ex. Michigan Achievement Scholarship).  Also, keep in mind, donor funded deadlines.  It’s best to complete the FAFSA as early as possible.      

You and your FAFSA contributors should visit www.studentaid.gov, and create your account. You and your FAFSA contributors will need to complete your account at least 3 days prior to filling out your 2024-2025 FAFSA. 

If you are an admitted student at SVSU, you can apply for our Donor-Funded Scholarships.

Yes, they will check a box that states they do not have an SSN and your parent(s) will need to enter their mailing address instead. 

You and your contributors may need your 2022 federal tax return, records of child support received, current balances of cash, savings, and checking accounts, and net worth of investments, businesses, and farms.

This has changed from prior years. For the 2024-2025 FAFSA, you will report information for the parent who provided you the most financial support within the last 12 months prior to completing the FAFSA, even if you do not live with them. If the parent who provided the most financial support remarried, you will need to also provide that stepparent’s information. 

If your parents are divorced, but living together, you will need to provide both their information.

Student, the student’s spouse, biological or adoptive parents or parent’s spouse (stepparent), any individual required to provide consent and approval for federal tax information and signature on the FAFSA form with their FSA ID (use your studentaid.gov login). 

All contributors will need to create their FSA ID (use your studentaid.gov login) at least 3 days prior to filling out the 2024-2025 FAFSA. 

Please note a FAFSA contributor is not necessarily who the student lives with and is not required to actually pay education fees. 

The student will need to know the contributor’s name, date of birth, social security number, and an email address (use the studentaid.gov login). 

An email will be sent to the contributor to complete their portion of the 2024-2025 FAFSA. Once the contributor has completed and signed their portion of the FAFSA, the student will receive an email the FAFSA is complete. 

If the student has not received an email that the contributor has completed their portion, then the FAFSA is not complete. The contributor has 45 days to complete their portion, or the student will need to start the process over.

The initial contributor sent an invitation to the other contributor(s) to complete their section of the FAFSA. The email invitation to complete the FAFSA will come from Federal Student Aid. You will have 45 days to complete your portion of the FAFSA or the student will need to start the process over. 

Before completing the steps to fill out your portion of the FAFSA, we suggest you confirm with the student who sent the invitation. 

An email invitation will be sent to any contributor asking them to complete their portion of the FAFSA. This makes sure all the right contributors are being invited and for their information to be protected. 

Questions about gender, race, and ethnicity were required to be added to the FAFSA by law. The answers to these questions will not affect or determine financial aid or school eligibility. The answers are also not released to any school, college, or university. 

Yes, all contributors must provide consent and approval. If the consent and approval is not provided, the student is ineligible for federal student aid. 

The Consent and approval are required of all contributors on the FAFSA. Consent allows the IRS to provide Federal Tax Information via a direct data share to Federal Student Aid. If there is no tax information on file for a contributor, the IRS will report as such to the Federal Student Aid. If a contributor does not give consent or approval the student will not be eligible for Federal Student Aid. 

The new SAI does not account for siblings who may be in college. However, the 2024-2025 FAFSA still requires to students to answer, “how many individuals will be attending college for the 2024-2025 academic year?” 

This means you do not need to answer questions about your parents to submit your application. Complete your FAFSA and you will be labeled a provisionally independent student. You will need to contact your school’s financial aid office and provide documentation to verify your circumstances. 

The 2022 tax year will be used.

Net worth is calculated as Total Assets – Total Liabilities = Net Worth

The amount to report will be based on the amount you received in the last 12 months leading up to the completion of the FAFSA.

The best part of the FAFSA Simplification was a reduction in the number of questions.

The federal government suggests that on average, students will be more eligible for federal aid under the new calculation and the change to Student Aid Index (SAI). 

You can visit www.studentaid.gov/aid-estimator to see an estimate of the federal aid you could be eligible to receive. 

SVSU is anticipating that the Department of Education will release FAFSA results to us mid to late March.  As a result, SVSU will process and send out our financial aid offers to students in April.  We appreciate your patience as we work through this. 

 

FAFSA indicated I need to submit documentation to SVSU.  How do I proceed? 

If additional documentation is required, students will receive an email to their SVSU email address alerting them to view their Missing Documents on their student self-service portal which will provide detailed instruction of what documents we need and how to submit them.  Please activate and closely monitor your student SVSU email account. 

After you have completed your 2024-2025 FAFSA, schools will receive a copy of your FAFSA. Schools will be working to provide you with a financial aid offer to attend their school. 

If you are a Michigan resident, you may be eligible for State grants and scholarships. You will need to create a student portal at https://www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid/missg. Click on “Go to MiSSG Student Portal” button to create an account.