Applying for Financial Assistance

The FAFSA Simplification Act introduces significant changes and overhaul to the processes and systems to award federal student aid. This includes the FAFSA form, need analysis, and the many policies and procedures. The goal of these changes is to make it easier for students and families to apply for federal student aid and to help streamline the process.

Federal Student Aid (FSA) has released a list of issues they are working to resolve with the 2024-2025 FAFSA. We recommend monitoring this site for issues reported, status, and their workarounds. Please feel free to schedule an appointment with your financial assistance counselor if you have additional questions or concens.

Key Changes with the 2024-25 FAFSA

• Instead of the normal timeframe of October 1st, the the 2024-2025 FAFSA was made available to students and families on December 31, 2023.
  
  
• The federal government has attempted to streamline the application process by reducing the number of questions on the FAFSA and making it easier to transfer tax information directly from the IRS.  Further, you can now:
  
  • List up to 20 colleges on your FAFSA.
  • View the 2024-2025 FAFSA in 11 languages.
    
    
• Each contributor will now need a unique Federal Student Aid ID (which is their StudentAid.gov username and password) to log in and complete their portion of the form. You can request your FSA ID on studentaid.gov but should expect a three-day turnaround time after you request it. Students will not be able to submit the FAFSA until every contributor has their FSA ID.
  
  
• All contributors must agree to allow the IRS to directly import their federal tax information to the FAFSA. The “direct data exchange” is intended to make it easier for families to fill out the form, since they won’t need to dig up their tax returns and manually enter the information.  While a student can still submit their FAFSA if any contributor doesn’t consent to this process, they will not be eligible for federal student aid.
  
  
• The Department of Education is replacing Expected Family Contribution (EFC) with the Student Aid Index (SAI). The SAI is calculated and used to determine your ability to pay for college and aid eligibility. There will be changes in the methodology used to determine aid.  Some of these changes include:
  
  • Child support received will count as an asset.
  • Family farms and businesses will count as assets.
  • The number of family members in college will no longer be considered in the need analysis formula.
  • Allows a minimum SAI of -1500.
    
    

New Terminology on the FAFSA Form

Contributor
Anyone who is asked to provide information on the student's FAFSA is considered a contributor. This includes the student, student's spouse (if applicable), biological or adoptive parent, or the spouse of the remarried parent who is on the FAFSA.

Consent and Approvel
Each contributor will be required to provide consent and approval to have their federal tax information transferred from the IRS, have their tax data used to determine the student's eligibility for aid, and allow the U.S. Department of Education to share their tax information with institutions to administer Title IV aid. The consent is necessary even if the contributor does not have an SSN, did not file taxes, or filed taxes in a foreign country.

Federal Tax Information
Rather than importing tax information from the IRS to FAFSA using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (IRS DRT), application will provide consent to provide their FTI via a direct data share with the IRS.

Student Aid Index (SAI)
The SAI replaces what is formerly known as the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The SAI is calculated from the information on your FAFSA to determine your family's ability to pay for college and is used to determine aid eligibility.

Please see the video below for instructions on how to submit the 2024-25 FAFSA:

The first and most important step to apply for most types of assistance is filling out your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Before beginning please note, you will need to include your:

• Federal tax information such as a 1040 Tax Return including W-2 Wage Statements for you (and your spouse, if you are married), and for your parents if you are dependent student
• Your Driver's License or State ID number
• Your Social Security Number
• Your parents’ Social Security numbers if you are dependent student
• Your parents’ date of birth if you are a dependent student
• Your Alien Registration number if you are an eligible non-citizen

Let's get started!

• Visit the FAFSA page online and click "Start Here" to create your FSA ID and begin the application process. (If your classification is as a dependent, your parent or guardian will need to apply for an FSA ID as well).
• Choose the school year when you'll be attending college and begin filling out your FAFSA.
• Use RCC's Federal School number—005447.
• Complete the application, submit it, and document your confirmation number for reference.

Complete your application to RCC.

Please note, we cannot receive your FAFSA information until this step is complete.

After admission, you may also need to take a placement assessment, depending on the program you're taking.

Once your FAFSA is processed, you will receive an email with a link to your Student Aid Report (SAR). (If you didn't provide an email address, you'll receive your SAR by mail.) This report will include information on your application and any next steps you need to take.

Once RCC receives your FAFSA information, we will contact you by letter and email to inform you of any further actions needed.

You must file a FAFSA every academic year to continue receiving financial aid.