What’s New With the FAFSA? An Update for High School Counselors and College Access Mentors December 9, 2014 Cindy Forbes Cameron, Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education

Instructions clarified Affects Selective Service question Gender = gender at birth

Citizenship question Neither citizen nor eligible noncitizen DACA-specific Text

New question re foster care Foster Care Students

Link to info re benefits for foster care students Foster Care Students

Don’t list a school if you don’t want other schools to see it School Selection

For state aid, may want to list state school first For federal purposes, doesn’t matter Order of Schools Listed

Filtering modified Clarification of what an amended return is IRS DRT Eligibility Determination If you, the parent(s), filed a Form 1040X Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return for 2014, select Yes; otherwise, select No. The Form 1040X is used to correct your original filed tax return. You are not eligible to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool if you amended your 2014 federal tax return.

Link to info on timing of availability of IRS DRT (depends on how you file and whether you owe taxes) IRS DRT Eligibility/Timing

Specific wording re spouse of active duty member of armed forces Dislocated Worker Definition

Wording added to expand beyond biological or adoptive “Legal Parent” Definition

Definition of “Separated” Separated = Considered legally separated by a state Married but has chosen to live separate lives, including living in separate households, as though not married If separated but living together, answer “married” Married but separated by distance/separate households = married

xxx Resident of Foreign Country

Even if diploma not called diploma, answer “diploma” High School in Foreign Country

New link to guidance re what to do if no SSN First time: same as always Subsequent FAFSAs: use assigned pseudo-SSN Pacific Islanders (Citizens of the Freely Associated States)

Important to make note of pseudo-SSN Pacific Islanders

Username & password to replace Federal Student Aid PIN Watch this space (on FinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov): Coming Next Spring: FSA ID

For everyone (students and counselors): FAFSA: Completing the FAFSA: StudentAid.gov/complete StudentAid.gov/resources#fafsa FED-AID For counselors: FinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov/fafsa Counselors and Mentors Handbook on Federal Student Aid: FinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov/handbook FSAConferences.ed.gov (sessions GS2 and 57) Resources for FAFSA Info

Questions?