Announcements/Resources

Updated March 2024

• 2024-2025 Latest FAFSA Updates: 
  • All students and contributors should be able to submit the FAFSA as of March 2024.
    • Parents/Contributors without SSNs can now submit the FAFSA. Please review the following information to determine which steps to take.
      • Parents/Contributors should no longer use the “workaround” FSA shared in early March.
      • Even with the fix:
        • All users without an SSN, including those with an Individual Taxpayer Number (ITN), will need to enter their financial information manually.
        • Some students and their contributors may receive errors when inviting contributors to their form. This is likely due to a mismatch in information. Make sure to enter personally identifiable information EXACTLY.
  • After submission, students will receive an email confirmation that may or may not list the student’s estimated Student Aid Index (SAI).
    • This is NOT the official form that colleges will use to determine aid packages nor the final determination of the student’s SAI or Pell eligibility. The official form, a FAFSA Submission Summary, will come once Federal Student Aid has processed the student’s FAFSA.
  • Federal Student Aid (FSA) began to process FAFSAs in mid-March so students will start to receive FAFSA Submission Summaries in late March.
    • FSA will clear out the “backlog” of FAFSAs—all FAFSAs submitted up until mid-March, before processing FAFSAs submitted after mid-March. We do not know when an individual student’s Summary will be sent.
    • Students can login to their FAFSA portal to see the status of their FAFSA.
    • FSA is also sending the FAFSA forms to colleges (the version colleges receive is called an “ISIR”) as it is sending Summaries.
  • Students cannot yet make corrections to a submitted FAFSA. FSA anticipates the corrections process will begin in early to mid-April.
  • Dependent students who reported assets on their FAFSA (e.g., businesses, investments) and received their Summaries prior to March 21 may receive a new Summary in the coming weeks. FSA did not include the assets information in some of these students’ SAI calculations and will be reprocessing their FAFSAs. This does NOT impact dependent students without assets.
• FAFSA: Things to Remember
  • We strongly encourage every FAFSA contributor to set up their FSA ID several days prior to completing the FAFSA.
  • If someone sets up an FSA ID and immediately moves to complete a FAFSA, they will be unable to transfer any financial information from the IRS and will have to manually enter the answers to all the questions.
  • For dependent students with separated or divorced parents, the definition of which parent’s information belongs on the form has changed. Starting with the 2024-25 form, the parent who provided the most financial support to the student in the previous 12 months should place their information on the form.
  • The old Expected Family Contribution (EFC) has shifted to a new Student Aid Index (SAI).
  • As you’re navigating students through the new FAFSA you can send a message to uAspire’s team of financial aid experts using the “Request Support” feature on the uApsire Partner Portal!
  • FSA is tracking technical issues, including which ones are fixed and any workarounds here.
• CAT Google folder
  • Here you can find APS-specific resources. You can find event flyers, resources on FAFSA and applications, training materials, and more in the General Information Folder. You can see information specific to your school’s CAT in your individual school folders.
• uAspire Partner Portal
  •  Use this site to ask your most pressing FAFSA or financial aid questions and have them answered by the experts at uAspire, access student-facing resources, review policy updates, and more.
• FAFSA Completion Grants
  • These grants are meant to support school-based FAFSA events. No need to apply—all APS high schools received funds!