Filling Out the 2024-2025 FAFSA

Yes! The only way you can access the FAFSA is with your FSA ID. This is also the case for parents and spouses if they are required to provide information on the FAFSA.

Yes, every time you use your FSA ID to access any Federal Student Aid websites, including the FAFSA, you will need to enter a verification code. Depending on the options you set up and verified when creating your FSA ID, you can request that the code be sent via text to your cell phone, sent to your email, or provided by an authenticator app.

If a parent or spouse needs to access the FAFSA, they will need their own FSA ID and will also be required to provide a verification code.

Anyone who is required to provide information and a signature on a student’s FAFSA form, including a biological or adoptive parent or the parent’s spouse (stepparent).

A contributor isn’t a non-adoptive grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, brothers or sisters and aunts or uncles, even if they helped provide for or raise the students.

A Parent Wizard tool will be added to the FAFSA form which offers a series of filtering questions  that determines which parent(s) must be on a dependent student’s FAFSA form.

If your biological or adoptive parents live together, regardless of marital status or gender, answer the questions about both.

If your biological or adoptive parents are divorced or separated, answer the questions about the parent that provided the majority of your financial support (it does not matter who claimed you on their tax return). If your parent is remarried on the day that you file the FAFSA, answer the questions about your parent and your stepparent.

If one of your parents is deceased, answer the questions about the surviving parent. If that parent is remarried on the day that you file the FAFSA, answer questions about your parent and your stepparent.

If you live with a foster parent, legal guardian, grandparent, or other relative, they are not considered a parent for the purposes of filing the FAFSA unless that person has legally adopted you. Students in these situations should contact their high school counselor, college financial aid office, or FAME to discuss their situation further and obtain guidance to help them complete their FAFSA.

If you don’t meet the criteria to be considered an independent student, parent information is needed on your FAFSA.

However, if the situation with your parents is complicated or you do not have contact with either parent, providing information may be difficult or impossible. Consider the following to determine your next steps.

If your high school considers you a homeless student as described in the McKinney Vento Act, you can file the FAFSA as an independent student (no parent information will be needed). You will need to document your situation with the financial aid office. Your high school guidance office can provide you the documentation needed. Please keep original copies of this documentation and only give the financial aid office a copy.

If you are not considered a homeless student by your high school, but do not live with your parent and cannot provide parent information, contact the financial aid office to discuss your options and determine how to apply for financial aid.

If your parent doesn’t have a Social Security number, you are still eligible to file the FAFSA. In the parent section, have your parent list his or her Social Security number as 000-00-0000. Your parent should not list his or her taxpayer identification number in that field.

Prior to the 2024-2025 FAFSA, individuals without a Social Security number were unable to create an FSA ID. Starting with the release of the 2024-2025 FAFSA, individuals without a Social Security number will be able to create an FSA ID. The process for creating FSA ID under these circumstances has not yet been defined but we expect to learn more by early fall. We will update the answer to this question at that time.

All contributors on the FAFSA form will provide consent and approval to share their tax information in the application using the direct data exchange (DDX) so that the IRS can share this information with Federal Student Aid (FSA).

If your parents file a tax return outside the U.S., convert the amounts on the foreign tax return into U.S. dollars and manually enter the information on the FAFSA.

In this situation the student completing their FAFSA form will have the option to state that they only want to apply for a “Direct Unsubsidized Loan Only”. This will not require a parent to complete the FAFSA form, but the student will only be eligible for the Direct Unsubsidized Student Loan from Federal Student Aid.

When a student selects “homeschooled” as their high school completion status, the high school question is automatically skipped and not required on the FAFSA.

Use the “Previous” and “Next” buttons on the bottom of your FAFSA. DO NOT use your browser’s back and forward arrows at the top left of your screen.

Use your “tab” key to move from one question to the next or use your mouse to left-click into an answer field. DO NOT use your “enter” key.

Yes. You can save what you have and log back into the FAFSA to make changes any time before your FAFSA is submitted.

The 2024-2025 FAFSA requires income information from the 2022 tax year.

When completing the 2024-2025 FAFSA, there will be a check box to grant permission known as consent and approval to have your IRS data transferred using the Direct Data Exchange (DDX) module. Your eligibility will be calculated in this module. No tax information will be displayed within the FAFSA.

It is critical that the consent and approval box is checked. If the consent and approval box is not checked, the student will be ineligible for federal aid until a correction is made and the box is checked.

Everyone must check the consent and approval box including those who do not file taxes.

Yes, even though the current income is less, 2022 income will still be required on the FAFSA. But, after you file your FAFSA, you will want to follow up with the financial aid office at any school you are applying to attend to let them know about the change in income and discuss submitting a special circumstance.

Assets that must be reported include your current total balance of cash, savings, and checking accounts; college investing accounts; net worth of investments; a family farm or family business; real estate you don’t live on such as rental property.

Assets that are NOT reported include the value of your retirement accounts, the home you live in, personal possessions, pensions, and whole life insurance.

UCC’s Financial Aid Office is available to answer your FAFSA-filing questions Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can call UCC’s Financial Aid Office at (541) 440-4602. You can also email a question to [email protected]. Emails are answered during business hours. Additionally, there is an option to schedule a one-on-one appointment with our Financial Aid Specialist either In-Person, Over Zoom or By Phone. To schedule an appointment with a financial aid professional, click here.

Help is also available at StudentAid.gov.

• The help button at the top of each page will redirect you to a list of searchable questions, provide you with information on accessing a FAFSA specialist via live online chat, and provide FAFSA’s email address. If you prefer to speak with someone directly, FAFSA’s toll-free number is 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243).
• The help button is also located next to each question and provides more information about how to answer that question.