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Data U.S. Department of Education Releases New Data Highlighting How the Simplified, Streamlined, and Redesigned Better FAFSA® Form Will Help Deliver Maximum Pell Grants to 1.5 Million More Students
                                                          U.S. Department of Education Releases New Data Highlighting How the Simplified, Streamlined, and Redesigned Better FAFSA® Form Will Help Deliver Maximum Pell Grants to 1.5 Million More Students
This represents the most significant improvements to the FAFSA form since the Reagan era and will help 610,000 new students access Pell Grants
November 15, 2023
**Contact:** Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov
The U.S. Department of Education (Department) today released new state-by-state data and details showing that the simplified, streamlined, and redesigned 2024–25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form will help 610,000 new students from low-income backgrounds receive Federal Pell Grants. The new FAFSA form will also help 1.5 million more students receive the maximum Pell Grant – bringing the total number of students eligible for the maximum Pell Grant amount to more than 5.2 million.

The changes to the FAFSA form represent the most ambitious and significant redesign of the processes to apply for federal student aid and the formulas used to determine aid eligibility since the Common Financial Aid Form—the FAFSA form’s predecessor—was introduced in the Reagan era. The updates are a part of the Department’s implementation of the bipartisan FUTURE Act and FAFSA Simplification Act. It is the vision and commitment of the Biden-Harris Administration to deliver a better FAFSA form and experience for students and families. The better FAFSA form will be available for students and parents by Dec. 31, 2023. Because the better FAFSA form is a major transition for students, families, schools, and other partners, the Department looks forward to working with schools, states, and college access organizations to support students and their families.
“When students and families fill out the better FAFSA form, they will find that applying for college financial aid is simpler, easier, and faster than ever before,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “The Biden-Harris Administration’s implementation of the Bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act modernizes an archaic system, simplifies the form, and improves access for underserved students -- representing the most significant overhaul of the federal financial aid application since the Reagan era. These bold changes will ultimately put affordable higher education within reach of more Americans, including 610,000 students from low-income families who will become eligible for Pell Grants for the very first time.”
**Expanded  Access**
The better FAFSA redesign goes well beyond just a new  form. Starting with the 2024–25 award year, the better FAFSA form reflects  updates to student aid calculations that will extend Pell Grants to more  students. Pell Grant eligibility will be linked to family size and the federal  poverty level. These changes will help significantly expand access to federal  student aid. Approximately 610,000 new students from low-income backgrounds  will receive Pell Grants, driven primarily by the changes to these eligibility  rules. Moreover, Pell recipients will receive more aid with nearly 1.5  million more students receiving the maximum Pell Grant.
“Pell Grants are a critical lifeline for millions of  students and families to attend college or career school and pursue the  American dream,” said Federal Student Aid Chief Operating Officer Richard  Cordray. “We are deeply committed to making sure students from all backgrounds  can easily apply for and receive the federal student aid they need through the  better FAFSA form. In every state and the District of Columbia, more students  than ever before will benefit from greater access to Pell Grants.”
A state-by-state breakdown of the impacts of the better  FAFSA form follows:

**State**
    **Increase    in Number of Pell Recipients**
    **Increase in    Number of Maximum Pell Recipients****Alabama**
    7,941
    22,498**Alaska**
    1,045
    2,103**Arizona**
    29,678
    62,897**Arkansas**
    4,140
    11,676**California**
    59,005
    177,362**Colorado**
    14,128
    25,465**Connecticut**
    5,053
    14,951**Delaware**
    1,612
    3,725**District    of Columbia**
    2,468
    6,957**Florida**
    44,810
    113,245**Georgia**
    16,463
    49,223**Hawaii**
    1,881
    3,691**Idaho**
    4,669
    9,159**Illinois**
    21,917
    52,902**Indiana**
    14,175
    30,249**Iowa**
    6,603
    13,590**Kansas**
    6,222
    14,018**Kentucky**
    8,160
    18,400**Louisiana**
    6,770
    19,362**Maine**
    2,579
    5,092**Maryland**
    7,398
    20,310**Massachusetts**
    12,221
    25,441**Michigan**
    19,844
    38,031**Minnesota**
    12,853
    29,275**Mississippi**
    4,625
    13,872**Missouri**
    10,919
    24,540**Montana**
    1,462
    3,497**Nebraska**
    5,685
    10,172**Nevada**
    5,227
    10,729**New    Hampshire**
    12,391
    24,089**New    Jersey**
    8,802
    30,453**New    Mexico**
    3,525
    7,370**New    York**
    23,313
    75,756**North    Carolina**
    16,489
    45,852**North    Dakota**
    1,649
    2,837**Ohio**
    22,567
    45,927**Oklahoma**
    7,550
    17,870**Oregon**
    7,209
    15,001**Pennsylvania**
    18,899
    41,774**Rhode    Island**
    2,859
    6,096**South    Carolina**
    9,186
    19,378**South    Dakota**
    2,007
    3,893**Tennessee**
    14,470
    31,590**Texas**
    51,296
    132,667**Utah**
    20,131
    39,049**Vermont**
    1,292
    2,295**Virginia**
    16,626
    37,916**Washington**
    14,797
    23,731**West    Virginia**
    4,960
    11,516**Wisconsin**
    9,993
    20,663**Wyoming**
    832
    2,117**Total**
    **610,000**
    **1,489,015**
**A  Better FAFSA Form**
This overhaul is critical as students and families often  struggle to complete the FAFSA form, which may be unfamiliar and confusing.  Even simple questions such as, “who is my parent for the FAFSA?” can be  difficult to answer. That’s why the Department has embedded a new “Who’s My  FAFSA Parent?” wizard to the form to reduce the burden of one of the most  frequently asked FAFSA topics for almost 8.6 million dependent students who are  asked to answer the question. For the approximately 300,000 students who are experiencing  homelessness or are unable to obtain their parents’ income information, because  they are not in touch with their parents, they will be able to complete the  FAFSA form and receive a provisional eligibility calculation before needing to  provide additional documentation.
Millions of students and parents will benefit from the  Department’s ongoing efforts to streamline the FAFSA experience—where  applicants only see relevant questions, based on the answers they provide. In  the 2024–25 FAFSA form, applicants will be able to skip as many as 26 FAFSA  questions, depending on their individual circumstances. Some applicants will  have to answer as few as 18 questions on the form, down from 103 possible  questions on the 2023–24 FAFSA form. This not only saves time and reduces  anxiety for students and their families, it means more students will  successfully complete the form and get access to federal student aid they  deserve and open the doors to a college education.
In March 2023, the Department launched the Better FAFSA Better Future Roadmap that  provided a suite of new resources to help students, their families, schools,  states, and the college access organizations that support students and  families, navigate the revamped FAFSA experience. The resources in the FAFSA  Roadmap are far more expansive from prior FAFSA seasons, and many have been  released much earlier in the cycle to give our partners as much time as  possible to prepare for the form’s launch. Today the Department is announcing  further updates to the Roadmap to provide additional support to ready our  partners for the 2024–25 FAFSA season.
**Helpful  Tools and Information for Students and Families**
The Department remains committed to ensuring all students  receive the federal student aid they need to access higher education and unlock  a brighter future. In preparation for the new 2024–25 FAFSA experience, the  Department has developed tools and resources to help students and families  understand the changes and prepare to apply. These include:
Outreach campaign about       preparing for the FAFSA launch,
  Videos and infographics       that include a preview of the improved FAFSA experience, and
  A revised Federal Student Aid Estimator, which       provides an estimate of how much federal student aid the student may be       eligible to receive.**Support  for Postsecondary Schools and State Agencies**
The Department will continue to work with our  institutional partners to support them in providing students with timely  financial aid packages. Since its launch in March 2023, the Better FAFSA Better  Future Roadmap has received more than 90,000 visits. The Department has  conducted 12 virtual training sessions with a total of more than 60,000 live  attendees and thousands of additional recorded views.  There have been  more than 80,000 views of guidance the Department has provided to schools about  the 2024–25 FAFSA implementation. This work will continue until the full launch  of the 2024–25 FAFSA experience. In addition, the Department also will continue  to provide targeted support to under-resourced schools through special training  sessions and technical assistance, including guidance and training for communicating  with vulnerable student populations.
**Resources  for Counselors, Mentors, and College Access Organizations**
The Department will continue to work with partners to  ensure we are providing additional resources, such as trainings, guidance  documents, and sample files, needed to ensure a successful FAFSA season for  students, schools, and partners. To support college access professionals, the  Department has launched a “Better FAFSA Better Future” digital Toolkit, that includes many resources, such as  videos, factsheets, social media posts, and sample email content. The  Department has supported in person training of more than 1,000 college  counselors and recently completed a two-day FAFSA “Bootcamp” for parents and  college counselors with more than 24,000 registrants.
**The  Department’s Continued Efforts to Build a Better FAFSA Experience**
As of the 2023–24 award year—which started on July 1,  2023—the Department already implemented several changes to the better FAFSA  form as part of its ongoing efforts to streamline the form. For example,  students who are incarcerated in federal and state penal facilities have  regained the ability to receive a Pell Grant, and the Pell Grant lifetime  eligibility was restored to students whose school closed while they were  enrolled or if the school is found to have misled the student.
As required by statute, the Department completely removed  both the drug conviction and the Selective Service questions from the 2023–24  FAFSA form; these questions are no longer considered in determining a student’s  eligibility for federal student aid. The Department also implemented changes to  the cost of attendance, professional judgment, and independent student statuses  for the 2023–24 award year.
Additionally, the Department:
Released technical       references and guides to system application processing changes on a       rolling basis and in draft form to better assist with vendors’ software       development;
  Outlined a schedule of        17 new guidance documents—far more than the five to seven released in a        typical year—to assist schools in their delivery of aid and compliance        with new laws;
    Presented multiple        sessions about the better FAFSA changes during the 2022 Federal Student Aid Training Conference , including details about Pell Grants and Prison Education Programs, use of federal tax information, 2024–25 FAFSA processing changes, and 2024–25 FAFSA form/experience changes;        and
    Announced session        topics for Federal Student Aid’s virtual 2023 Training Conference—which will be        broadcast from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, 2023—including, a better FAFSA update, *FAFSA Simplification Act* policy updates, and an update about Prison Education Programs.
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