Deep Dive: ED Issues FAFSA Simplification Implementation Guidance for 2024-25 Award Year
Jill Desjean
August 10, 2023
On Friday, the Department of Education (ED) released implementation guidance and an updated FAQ document for the FAFSA simplification provisions that become effective in the 2024-25 award year.
While the guidance largely repeats provisions of the law itself, it offers some operational details and clarifies some areas. It also details several new areas where financial aid administrators will be required to manually enter or review information.
New Manual Review of Entry by Financial Aid Administrators
With respect to income questions on the FAFSA, the guidance reiterates that income items will flow to the FAFSA from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) using the new secure FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX). The guidance also restates which income items have changed as a result of the FAFSA Simplification Act, including the elimination of several untaxed income items that are not delineated on federal tax forms.
