FAFSA Simplification has been a
multi-year process, culminating in a form that contains fewer questions, more college cost transparency, and greater access to financial aid for students that really need it. The U.S. Department of Education hopes that after this revamp, more students and families will have an easier time completing the FAFSA, resulting in more distributed aid.
Along with the edits to the FAFSA, the
Student Aid Report (SAR) has also been eliminated and replaced with the FAFSA Submission Summary. This document will provide students and families with an overview of their responses as well as their
financial aid eligibility.
What is the FAFSA Submission Summary?
The FAFSA Submission Summary is a document that lists your answers to the questions on the FAFSA as well as an estimate of your eligibility for federal student aid. It is not, however, a
financial aid package. Those will come directly from schools that you have applied to.
Unlike the SAR, which was very general, the FAFSA Submission Summary provides detailed information on your estimated aid packages and college costs. With the information that it provides, you will be able to make a more informed college decision.
How Do I Get My FAFSA Submission Summary?
If you complete the FAFSA electronically, you can expect your FAFSA Submission Summary to arrive within a few days of completing the form. However, if you file the paper FAFSA, the Summary will be delivered via mail in three to four weeks.
This is the first year that the new FAFSA is in circulation; and while the debut has been much anticipated,
the launch has not happened without complications. While there was initially great difficulty in accessing the portal to complete the form, the obstacle now is a delay in processing forms that have been submitted.
The U.S. Department of Education has announced that no FAFSAs will be processed before mid-March. At that time, however, schools may begin to receive data from the FAFSA, and students should be able to view their FAFSA Submission Summary. Because of the delay in processing, you should not expect your financial aid packages from schools until April.
What Information Does the FAFSA Summary Include?
Once your FAFSA has been processed, you will be able to view your FAFSA Submission Summary. The Summary will provide a comprehensive look at your FAFSA answers as well as financial aid eligibility through multiple sections. Each section has it’s own dedicated tab on the electronic version:
Eligibility Overview
This portion of the FAFSA Submission Summary will give you estimates on your financial aid eligibility. In some cases, you will see
exact figures for the Pell Grant or
Federal Loans. These estimates are determined by the answers to the FAFSA you recently submitted.
You will also be able to view the Student Aid Index (SAI), formerly known as the Expected Family Contribution. This is an eligibility index number that schools will use to determine how much aid they should figure into your financial aid package.
Keep in mind that the financial aid estimates that you see in this tab are just that:
estimates. Final figures will be mailed or emailed directly from the schools to which you are applying.
FAFSA Form Answers
The FAFSA Submission Summary also has a review of the answers your provided on the form. From the Summary, you will be able to
edit individual answers should they change or need to be updated.
School Information
As stated earlier, the goal of the new FAFSA was to increase transparency into the
cost of attending college. With that, the FAFSA Submission Summary contains information on college costs.
You will be able to view each institution to which you sent your FAFSA data and compare the cost of attending; average debt upon graduation; and graduation, retention, and transfer rates by each institution.
Next Steps
Finally, the FAFSA Submission Summary provides “Next Steps” for you to complete. These include:
• Reviewing your FAFSA answers to see if you need to make any corrections.
• Confirming with each college that they have everything they need to make a financial aid decision (some schools require a supplemental financial aid form in addition to the FAFSA).
• Look for aid-related communications from each institution.
Your Next Steps may look different from your friends’ tabs . Just like the other tabs, this section is tailored to you and your financial aid journey.
