By Tyler White | Staff Writer
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is undergoing a major overhaul for this upcoming year, featuring changes to the form to simplify and streamline the process. The changes include modifications to what classifies as a family, introducing the student aid index and expanding access to Federal Pell Grants.
The FAFSA will not open until December as a result of the FAFSA Simplification Act that is bringing about these changes. Additionally, the questions and analysis through which the application determines needed aid are being changed to simplify the whole process.
Jeff Doss, associate director of student relations for financial aid, said the new overhaul is designed to streamline the process for all students. He said the simplification will allow students to complete the form more conveniently and with less confusion compared to the previous form.
“The whole FAFSA simplification process is to streamline the application for all students, prospective students as well as current students,” Doss said.
He said the changes for questions and terms — like changing from “family” to “contributor”— are designed to simplify the FAFSA for students and to allow them to be able to complete the form on their own. He said One Stop is working to provide students with as much information as possible about the changes to make the simplification easier.
“One thing we’ve done is we launched the massive simplification web page that’s out there,” Doss said. “We have some students who have downloaded the Navigate app. We have some pushes going out through the Navigate app just as reminders for students to let them know specific information, and then we will also have informational session sessions.”
Taryn Anderson, senior director for enrollment services, said although the time frame to submit the FAFSA is slightly shorter due to the overhaul and pushback, One Stop is ready to assist in any way to help students and parents with the new simplification process. She said they are preparing to help students overcome the initial changes and guide them in the process.
“We’re happy to be an advocate for those students and parents to help them understand what filling out that FAFSA means for the first time, so that’s where One Stop will come in,” Anderson said. “We plan in January and February to work with students to help them get them over the initial hump of filling out this new FAFSA.”
Anderson said she hopes the changes to the FAFSA will have a positive impact on students financially, not just at Baylor but across the nation. She said the simplified process could allow more people to fill out the application and not feel overwhelmed by the numerous questions that may have hindered them from filling it out before.
“I think that that’s really the idea is the hope is that this attention on the FAFSA field makes the FAFSA feel more like a partner and achieving your degree instead of a roadblock and achieving your degree, and that’s really what we’re trying to do,” Anderson said.
