Information for students, parents, and families regarding upcoming changes to the 2024-2025 FAFSA.
On January 30, 2024, the Department of Education announced an additional delay in the delivery of 2024-25 FAFSA form information to colleges and universities across the country. The anticipated timeline to start receiving student FAFSA information is late March 2024.
- Syracuse University is tracking issues and errors associated with the 2024-25 FAFSA.
- As FAFSA form information arrives from the Department of Education, it will take time for Syracuse University to process and confirm the accuracy of FAFSA form information.
- The Department of Education is now accepting changes/updates to the FAFSA from students and contributors.
What can I do to prepare for the FAFSA?
- Make sure you and your contributors create a StudentAid.gov account.
- Watch a video on creating a StudentAid.gov account.
- If you do not have a social security number (SSN), please review the instructions (PDF) for how to obtain an FSA ID without an SSN. (A Spanish version (PDF) is also available).
- Confirm your eligibility to complete the FAFSA.
- Identify your contributors (those who need to provide information, give consent, and sign the FAFSA form).
- For divorced, separated, or parents who have never married, you will need to determine who is the Parent of Record (PDF) on the FAFSA form.
- Contributors may include:
- the student;
- the student’s spouse;
- the student’s biological or adoptive parent;
- the student’s step-parent.
- Determine if you are a Dependent or Independent student.
- Learn what it means to provide Consent and Approval on the FAFSA.
- Collect important documents in case you need to enter additional information on the FAFSA manually:
- tax returns;
- records of child support received;
- current balances of cash, savings, and checking accounts; and
- net worth of investments, businesses, and farms
- Entering students should complete the CSS Profile as soon as possible. The CSS Profile is the application for Syracuse University grant funding and should be completed once during a student’s undergraduate career.
- Follow the Department of Education on social media:
Instructional videos from Federal Student Aid (FSA):
How to Prepare for the 2024-2025 FAFSA Form
What has changed for the 2024-2025 FAFSA Form?
Who is a Contributor on the 2024-2025 FAFSA Form?
2024-2025 FAFSA Simplification Information:
In 2020, the FAFSA Simplification Act was enacted into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. The FAFSA Simplification Act represents a significant overhaul of federal student aid, including the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form.
- The 2024-2025 FAFSA has opened and students should complete the FAFSA as soon as possible.
- The delay in the FAFSA opening will have a nationwide impact on post-secondary educational institutions.
- Syracuse University will continue to use the CSS Profile, in conjunction with the FAFSA, to determine aid eligibility. Please review the Application Process for Undergraduates for more information.
- We will continue to update this webpage as we receive more information from the Department of Education.
New Consent and Approval Process:
The student and any contributors identified on your FAFSA form must provide consent and approval. The consent and approval must be provided, even if one of the contributors does not have a Social Security number, did not file taxes, or filed taxes outside the United States.
If any of the student’s contributors do not provide consent and approval or refuse to provide them, the student will not be eligible for federal student aid.
When the student and their contributors provide consent and approval to the U.S. Department of Education on the FAFSA form, they are agreeing to:
- share personally identifiable information provided on the FAFSA form with the IRS,
- have federal tax information transferred directly into the FAFSA form,
- allow the U.S. Department of Education to use federal tax information to determine eligibility for federal student aid,
- all the U.S. Department of Education to share your federal tax information with higher education agencies and the schools listed on the FAFSA form, and
- all the U.S. Department of Education to reuse your federal tax information on other FAFSA forms that you are invited to and choose to participate in.
