Here's what Texans need to know about the new FAFSA to get aid for college

The launch of the revamped federal application to receive aid for college pushed this year's filing deadlines, but financial aid counselors are still advising college hopefuls in Texas to fill out the form as soon as possible to up the odds of getting more money.

The video above is from a December 2023 report.

The new Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the biggest update to the form in decades. Mandated by Congress in 2020, the changes are expected to streamline the application to make college accessible for more families. Students will see fewer questions and a different formula used to award need-based aid.

Completing the application has been a pain point for Texas families. The form came three months late, on Dec. 30, because the U.S. Education Department needed more time to roll out changes. In a weeklong, rocky "soft launch," the form was only accessible for intermittent periods of time, with a waiting room to manage capacity. As of Jan. 8, the form has been available 24 hours a day.

FAFSA is the single best way to get assistance paying for college because it opens the door for federal, state, and school grants and scholarships. The Texas high school class of 2022 missed out on $390 million in Pell Grant money by not completing the FAFSA.

Here's what's changing with FAFSA and what the updates mean for Texas students and their families.

Fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible

Because the changes to the new form were released late, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board pushed its own priority deadline for financial aid applications from Jan. 15 to Mar. 15.

However, students should still fill out the form as early as they can so financial aid counselors can help them resolve any hitches with the new system.

More importantly, many schools provide their own award packages to students on a first-come, first-serve basis. While a student may qualify for federal aid, a school's pot of money to subsidize tuition can tap out faster, depending on how much it set aside for financial assistance and how generous the school wants to be with each student's aid package.

That means the sooner you submit the FAFSA, the better your chances are at getting sizable award packages, said Sara Urquidez, the executive director of Academic Success Program, a college access center in Dallas, Houston, and College Station.

"The real challenge... is that many of our state institutions will have run out of money before [the state priority deadline]," Urquidez said. "You really just have to get it done early."

The U.S. Education Department has said it would likely start sending information from completed FAFSAs to colleges in late January, meaning that some schools will soon start putting together financial aid packages for people who have already applied.

The new FAFSA is shorter

The new FAFSA is supposed to be easier for families to complete. The number of questions has dropped from 108 to about 36, and applicants can skip as many as 26 questions. The Education Department says it takes most people less than an hour to fill out the form.

Members of Congress ordered the changes to the financial aid application after complaining the old version was unduly complicated and acted as a barrier to college.

The amount of financial aid students receive could change

The funding formula, which determines how much federal financial aid students are eligible to receive, has also gotten some updates, too. While the changes expand eligibility for some benefits, they're also expected to result in less aid for some applicants.

The new formula extends eligibility for the Pell Grant, a subsidy that goes to the lowest-income families and doesn't have to be paid back. Eligibility will now be calculated based on family size and income.

In Texas, about 51,000 new students will now qualify for the Pell Grant, and about 133,000 Pell recipients will get the maximum amount of $7,395 per year under the grant, according to data from the U.S. Education Department.

For students with divorced or separated parents, aid will be determined based on the parent who provides the most financial support, instead of the parent the student lives with.

Small businesses and family farms, previously exempt from the formula, will now be counted to determine a family's financial situation. That could mean students in rural communities could see less aid. A study from the Iowa College Student Aid Commission estimated a typical family with a small business or farm could be expected to pay out of pocket five times the amount they had in previous years.

Rural students already attend college at lower rates than their urban and suburban peers. Experts are worried this new formula will make rural students even less inclined to pursue a college degree.

In addition, families with more than one child enrolled in college at the same time will no longer get a break and qualify for more aid, a benefit that was known as the "sibling discount." This will hit middle-class families the hardest, according to an analysis from the Brookings Institute.

In Texas, completing the FAFSA is mandatory

High school seniors in Texas must fill out the FAFSA, the Texas Application for State Financial Aid or sign an opt-out form to graduate.

This is the third academic year Texas is mandating the completion of financial aid applications. Texas was the second state to institute such a requirement in 2019, after Louisiana. Research suggests that students who file the federal form are more likely to attend college.

This also means Texas high school counselors will get increasingly busy as summer approaches. Because of the FAFSA delays, they have a shortened window of time to get every student to fill out a form before graduation. That's added pressure, as they also try to understand the changes in the new system.

In May, counselors at San Angelo ISD will go into "opt-out form mode," where they track down students who have not completed any form to have them formally opt-out.

"It's just one more thing [counselors] have to crunch down on in a semester. And spring semesters are always the busiest." Rebecca Cline, the director of counseling at San Angelo ISD in West Texas, said. "But we also know it's not forever."

Where to get FAFSA help

Families can call the national FAFSA hotline at (800) 433-3243. Texans working on the FAFSA online can also use the "Live Help" function on the website, which starts a chat session with a customer service representative.

Students should look out for FAFSA workshops led by their local high schools, college access centers and college financial aid offices. High school counselors typically offer one-on-one assistance to graduating seniors and their families, too.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

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