This year’s FAFSA promised to be ‘much more pleasant process’ for applicants, quicker and expanded eligibility for aid

It may be FAFSA’s year.

The once-dreaded Free Application for Federal Student Aid incurred major changes in recent years intended to simplify the process and expand aid eligibility to more students.

Last year’s notoriously “clunky” rollout was marred by glitches and delays and soured some students’ perceptions of the document, but many in the know assure this year’s version is carefully tested and reflects the benefits promised by federal reforms.

The FAFSA is a federal form that considers a family or individual’s income in determining a prospective student’s eligibility for federal financial aid in their post-secondary education, including grants, loans, scholarships and work-study programs for those bound for college, a trade school or apprenticeship.

Sen. Patty Murray, who was among the lawmakers to negotiate the FAFSA changes and oversee the Department of Education in implementation, urged students “from the rooftop” to complete the document, promising a different experience.

“Things are different now. You have an opportunity; fill out the FAFSA form,” she said in an interview Wednesday. “It’ll just take you a few minutes and you may open up a door that you thought wasn’t there for you and your family.”

The form is much shorter due to federal reform, reduced from over 100 questions to as few as 18, depending on an applicant’s financial picture. It can take as few as 15 minutes to file, Murray said.

Rather than manually inputting financial information, the Internal Revenue Service can now directly send information to the Department of Education with the approval of the person submitting the FAFSA.

Additionally, more prospective students could see awards through the changes. Alterations to the formula for financial aid lead more applicants to qualify for Pell Grant funds – 10% more students around the nation and 12.4% in Washington, the Department of Education estimates.

Families who make under 175% of the federal poverty level and single parents earning under 225% of this threshold will automatically qualify for the maximum Pell Grant award. The changes also repeal a 1998 prohibition that barred students with drug-related offenses from qualifying for Pell Grants.

As her students begin to submit the form, Ferris High School college and career counselor Dawn Hilsendeger said the changes are making the form easier – almost too easy, she joked.

“Sometimes people will submit and they’ll call me and be like, ‘I think I did something wrong because that took me like 10 minutes and I think I missed an entire section or something,’ ” Hilsendeger said. “And I’ll be like, ‘OK, let’s look at a couple things and no, you did it right.’ It is really streamlined now and it is quite quick.”

Those with a more “traditional” financial picture, like two parents who file taxes jointly, should have the easiest time. Adding businesses or other assets could slightly complicate the form or make it take longer to complete.

This year’s seniors are still haunted by the horror stories of FAFSAs past, Hilsendeger said, but those stories are far from reality.

“Because of all the stuff they heard last year, I think there is some lingering sort of frustration, even though they haven’t even started it yet,” Hilsendeger said. “So we’re just trying to keep pushing that it’s fixed, it’s way better. Trust me, this is going to be a much more pleasant process this year.”

Though he didn’t file last year, Lewis and Clark High School senior Korbin Hamlin heard some of the problems going into this year’s FAFSA. He said the process “wasn’t incredibly hard,” though because his parents own a business, the form took them a collective hour-and-a-half to complete.

He said much of that time was spent researching to ensure they filed properly: consulting the Department of Education for definitions and double checking on third-party sites like forums on Quora, video tutorials on YouTube and even AI chatbot ChatGPT.

“It was weird they placed so much of the burden on the people who were filling it out, whereas I think that’s the burden of the federal government to make sure people understand what to fill out,” Hamlin said.

In some spots, the FAFSA lacked direction on where to find information on his parents’ tax forms and sometimes details were called different things on the tax forms and the FAFSA.

“Make it plug and play,” Hamlin said. “I almost rather it would have more questions and have every one explained.”

To help families navigate the document, a number of organizations around Spokane offer FAFSA support events where they can guide applicants through any potential confusion.

College and career staff at each Spokane high school host a FAFSA night December through January, open to all. STCU also hosts FAFSA guidance nights at all their branches around central and Eastern Washington and North Idaho, with dates listed on their website.

“There’s more out there than you might be able to imagine to assist,” said Traci McGlathery, STCU vice president and director of Community Impact and Advocacy.