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FAFSA facelift

Changes to the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) forms are coming soon. Here are some things to know.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — There are changes coming in the Free Application For Student Aid (FAFSA) forms, which college students and their parents, as well as parents of high school students making plans for college next year need to know about.

"This is the first facelift for FAFSA in decades, and it's a major revision," said Jeff Boron MBA, a Certified College Planning Specialist with Sendyourkidstocollege.org a nonprofit college planning organization based in Western New York.

The first change to be aware of is that the FAFSA application process now starts in December, instead of October, although it is unclear exactly when in December that students and parents can begin tackling that annual chore of applying.

The changes were enacted as part of the FAFSA Simplification Act, although Boron says the new applications, while shorter (50 questions as opposed to 100) may not be simpler.

There are different terms and definitions to get used to, and anyone required to fill out part of a student's FAFSA — including a spouse, parent or step-parent — must create their own FAFSA ID and password.

"It looks like it's going to be a little cumbersome, maybe until we get used to it," Boron said. "The bigger thing here is some of the rule changes that have come in this year."

One of particular note involves families where parents are separated or divorced.

"It used to be (whichever parent) the students spent the majority of their time was considered the parent that you use for the FAFSA. That that has changed to be which parent contributes the most for that students living expenses," Boron said.

Another change will effect families with more than one child in college, and not for the better.

"That used to be a big benefit because we used to take that same expected family contribution number and divided by two. So when your second child started college, you're likely to get more financial aid," Boron said. "Unfortunately, that's being eliminated and each student is being treated separately with no benefit of having multiple students in college at the same time."

However, Boron says a new aid formula figures to allow more applicants to receive Pell grants to help fund their education.

"The new system and  he new rules will award about 15% more people a Pell Grant than we've had in the past. So what's happening with the system is it's really benefiting some of those families at the lower income scale who are now going to be eligible for a Pell grant where in the past they weren't," he said.

Other changes include not having to include some types of untaxed income to your FAFSA application. Examples may be money received from extended family members, such as grandparents.  As well, housing and living allowances paid to service members may also be excluded from the aid analysis.

Other changes include expanding, up to 20, the number of schools you can list on the online FAFSA application (10 if you fill out the PDF version).

It may also be helpful to set up FSA IDs before the FAFSA application period opens.

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