Procrastinating about completing your Free Application for Federal Student Aid? Thanks to a bit of pruning by the Department of Education, the 2010 – 2011 FAFSA may not be as complicated as you think! Yes, you read that right.
The shiny new version of the online 2010 – 2011 FAFSA is reportedly easier to use and navigate! On web pages alone, the Department of Education boasts a 65% decrease in the number of webpages and omitted over 20 questions! That’s big news for the millions of students that fill out the FAFSA each year.
A streamlined FAFSA means you can spend less time filling out the FAFSA and more time on other important things like choosing a college and applying for college scholarships.
Changes on the 2010 – 2011 FAFSA include:
Side Tabs. Clearly labeled sections on the left of each screen make it easy for parent (light blue) or student (dark blue) to quickly find and complete specifically labeled sections without a lot of guesswork.
Help Text. In previous versions of the FAFSA, the help text took up large sections, creating an online FAFSA as bulky as the paper version! Now, the help pops up in the sidebar and changes as you move from section to section so you can easily find what you need without a lot of digging.
Assets? The new FAFSA no longer requires students with family incomes around $40,000 to claim assets, in the hopes that, in the future, families will tuck a little away for higher education for their children – without worrying about being potentially penalized for it later.
Data Sharing – Future data-sharing between the IRS and the Department of Education could make answering questions a snap – or at least a lot easier than it has been in the past. Students filling out the 2009 – 2010 FAFSA for the Spring semester can take advantage of tax information right from the IRS. It should make filling in the blanks a whole lot easier!
Non-Traditional? Married? If you are at least 24 or married, the Department of Education has good news for you! You no longer have to provide parental information – which means it might be easier for you to qualify for financial aid since your parent(s) information will no longer count against you.
What do you think? Do the changes to the FAFSA make you feel more confident about tackling (and completing) the form? Why or why not?
Related posts:
- Beyond Federal Financial Aid
- FAFSA: Charta Squad Style
- Don’t Overlook the Fastest Route to College Financial Aid
- 6 of the Greatest Online College Planning Tools
- Colleges for Low Income Students: Free Tuition, No Loans, and Full Rides
Tags: assets, department of education, FAFSA, federal financial aid, Financial Aid, free application for federal financial aid, low income families and financial aid, married student, non traditional student, online fafsa, Online Tools
Streamlining the FAFSA is a major step toward helping others gain access to financial aid to help cover educational expenses. The Department of Education has introduced a new technology called “Skip-Logic” that tailors the FAFSA for each user and helps to eliminate duplicate or unnecessary questions.
Next year they will have fully tested and implemented the IRS integration process that allows FAFSA filers to import their tax information safely and securely.
Kudos to the Department of Education for making use of new technology!