FAFSA

What are contributors on the FAFSA?
A contributor refers to the student, the student’s spouse, a biological or adopted parent, or the parent’s spouse (stepparent). A contributor is NOT a grandparent, foster parents, legal guardian, brother or sister, aunt, or uncle, even if they helped provide for or raise the student in some way. Please note, a contributor on the FAFSA form doesn’t mean they are financially responsible for the student’s education costs.

What do contributors need to provide?
These contributors will be invited to create an FSA ID and complete their portion of the FAFSA form by entering their name, date of birth, Social Security number, and email address. They must also provide personal and financial information in their own sections of the FAFSA form.

What are the steps contributors must follow?

1. The contributors receive an email informing them that they’ve been identified as a contributor.
2. The contributor creates a StudentAid.gov account if they don’t already have one.
3. The contributor logs in to account using their FSA ID account username and password.
4. The contributor reviews information about completing their section of the FAFSA form.
5. The contributor provides the required information on the student’s FAFSA form.

What if I am a contributor and don’t want to provide my information in my student’s FAFSA?
Being a contributor does NOT implicate financial responsibility. However, if a required contributor refuses to provide their information, it will result in an incomplete FAFSA form, and the student will become ineligible for federal student aid.

What if my parents are divorced? Who is the contributor to my FAFSA?
Students that live with a single/divorced/widowed parent and receive most support from that parent, will report only one parent on the FAFSA. The parent included in the FAFSA as a contributor must be the parent that provides the greater portion of the student’s financial support. If that primary parent is remarried, the income of that parent’s spouse (stepparent) will also be required.

Why does the FAFSA require consent from students and contributors?
According to the Future Act, all students and contributors must provide consent to the following:

• Have their federal tax information transferred directly into the FAFSA form via direct data exchange with the IRS.
• Have their federal tax information used to determine the student’s eligibility for federal student aid; and
• Allow the U.S. Department of Education to share its federal tax information with postsecondary institutions and state higher education agencies for use in awarding and administering financial aid.
• Important: Even if students or contributors don’t have a Social Security number, didn’t file taxes, or filed taxes outside of the U.S., they still need to provide consent.

What if I don’t want to provide consent as a student or a required contributor?
If a student or required contributor doesn’t provide consent to have their federal tax information transferred into the FAFSA form, the student will not be eligible for federal student aid — even if they manually enter tax information into the FAFSA form. Information about how federal tax information will be used and the consequences of not providing consent will be included on the FAFSA form. Legal parents must provide consent to transfer federal tax information, even if one of the parents didn’t file or had no income. If parents fail to provide consent, the student won’t be eligible to receive federal student aid.

Do parents without social security numbers also need to have an FSA ID?
Parents without social security numbers must create an FSA ID. When parents begin the FSA creation process, in the “Personal Information” section check the box to indicate “I don’t have a Social Security number” and click continue. When the warning appears, the parent should click “Continue Without SSN.” Parents can then proceed with the process. At the end of the process, they will be required to answer knowledge-based identity verification questions and will be instructed to provide additional information to Federal Student Aid. Identity verification will be confirmed within 1-3 days by email, after which the FSA ID will be created and ready.

What if my parents are not in the United States?
Your parents’ citizenship status doesn’t affect your eligibility for federal aid. They (your parents) cannot create a FSA ID if they’re not U.S. citizens but you can complete the FAFSA on paper and ask for their signatures. For FAFSA purposes, you must provide your parents’ income, no matter where they reside.

My parent(s) remarried. Is the parent’s spouse required to get an FSA ID as well?
If the parent you indicate on the FAFSA is the parent who remarried, it’ll depend on how they filed taxes. If they filed jointly, only one parent needs an FSA ID. If they filed separately, both parents would need their own FSA ID.

Will parents and students need to create a new FSA ID if they have had an FSA ID in the past?
You can retrieve your existing FSA ID if you forgot your username and password.

What if my parents (or spouse) had a low income and were not required to file taxes?
They still need to provide consent when submitting the FAFSA, so the IRS can confirm to Federal Student Aid (FSA) that the student, parents, and spouse didn’t file taxes.

Will non-custodial parents be contributors if they have not claimed the child on their taxes?
Students will determine which parent to report based on which one provides the most financial support. It is ok if the parent or parents reported do not claim the student on their taxes. The reported parents will provide consent to transfer their taxes data even if they do not claim the student on their taxes.

If parents that are remarried provide more support to the child than a biological parent, does the stepparent have to provide their taxes information?
Yes. If the parent providing more financial support is remarried, the stepparent’s tax information is required.

I, and/or my parents or spouse, amended our taxes. Will my Federal Tax Information (FTI) be transferred, or do I have to provide a 1040X later to the school?
When the student, spouse, parent, and/or stepparent provides consent, the IRS’s Federal Tax Information (FTI) will include the information from an amended tax return.

Can I self-report my income on FAFSA?
After you provide consent on the FAFSA, if the IRS cannot transfer your Federal Tax Information (FTI) to your FAFSA application, the application will allow you to self-report it. Self-reporting one’s tax information on the FAFSA does not override the requirement for each required contributor to provide consent on the FAFSA form. So, two pieces – they need to provide consent and share their tax information, either directly from the IRS or self-reported manually, on the FAFSA form.

If a parent of a dependent student or an independent student is a non-filer and has zero wages, do they have to provide consent?
Any individual who is a contributor to the FAFSA application must provide consent. This includes parents, and independent students, regardless of their tax filing status. Generally, the parents of independent students are not contributors and would, therefore, not need to provide consent.

What is the Student Aid Index (SAI)?
SAI, or Student Aid Index, is a number used to determine eligibility for need-based aid. It is calculated using information the student (and contributors, if required) provides on the FAFSA form.

• Important: Your federal award equates to the following formula:
  • Need = Cost of Attendance (COA) – Student Aid Index (SAI) – Other Financial Assistance (OFA).

How is Pell Grant eligibility determined?
Maximum Pell Grant – Students may qualify for a maximum Pell Grant based on family size, adjusted gross income, poverty guidelines, and tax filing status. 

Student Aid Index (SAI) – Students who don’t qualify for a maximum Pell Grant may still be eligible if their calculated SAI is less than the maximum Pell Grant award for the award year. The student’s Pell Grant award will be equal to the maximum Pell Grant for the award year minus their SAI.

Minimum Pell Grant – Students whose SAI is greater than the maximum Pell Grant award for the award year may still be eligible for a Pell Grant based on family size, adjusted gross income, and poverty guidelines.

If the family size is manually adjusted, will the SAI only be calculated based on the size drawn from the taxes?
It will be based on the family size that the family entered, if different from the taxes. Students may have to provide additional information if selected for verification.

What constitutes unusual circumstances on the FAFSA?

• Unusual circumstances are when a student is unable to contact a parent or where contact with the parent poses a risk to the student.
• Applicants who indicate on their FAFSA form that they have unusual circumstances will be granted provisional independent status.
• Examples of unusual circumstances include human trafficking, legally granted refugee or asylum status, parental abandonment or estrangement, and student or parental incarceration.
• What else do you need to know:
  • Students with unusual circumstances will be granted provisional independent status and can complete the FAFSA form without providing parental information.
  • Students with this provisional independent student status will receive an estimate of their federal student aid eligibility.
  • A financial aid administrator will make the final determination of a student’s unusual circumstances based on the documentation that the student submits to the school, or the financial aid administrator may perform their own personal assessment.
  • If a school approves a student’s unusual circumstances, their independent student status will remain if the student stays at the same school and their circumstances don’t change.
  • All unusual circumstances must be documented.

How can I be considered an independent for the FAFSA?
An independent student is one of the following:

• born before Jan. 1, 2003
• married (and not separated)
• a graduate or professional student
• a veteran or a member of the armed forces
• an orphan
• a ward of the court
• someone with legal dependents other than a spouse
• an emancipated minor
• someone who is unaccompanied and homeless or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless

What are the other types of professional judgement appeals students and families can request?
Contact Student Financial Services (SFS) if any of the above applies to you.