Riverland Community College

Due to the passing of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Simplification Act on December 27, 2020, as a part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, the FAFSA is changing for the 2024 - 2025 aid year.

• Availability
• Require Username & Password
• Federal Tax Information
• Contributors
• Parent of Record
• Enrollment Intensity - Pell Grant

Availability

Require Username & Password

New for the 2024-2025 FAFSA:

• All individuals on the FAFSA; students, parents, spouses, will need to create a Federal Student Aid (FSA) Account Username and Password at www.studentaid.gov.
• Individuals that do not have a Social Security Number will be able to create an account using an alternative verification method using information through a credit reporting bureau. If identity cannot be verified through this method, the individual will be able to work directly, via e-mail, with a Federal Student Aid (FSA) representative to complete verification. Once the individual’s identity has been verified, the FAFSA can be completed.  OR a student can submit a paper FAFSA.  View our ‘Creating an FSA Account without an SSN’ tutorial.
• User accounts without an SSN will need to manually enter their tax data on the FAFSA.
• User accounts, with an SSN, need to be setup a few days prior to filling out the FAFSA in order for verification to be completed with the Social Security Administration so that tax data can be transferred from the IRS. See how to check that your verification is complete.

Federal Tax Information

• Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX) Replaces the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) to transfer data from the federal tax returns.
• FAFSA Privacy Act Consent requires each student and contributor to give consent to have their tax data transferred from the IRS. If consent is not provided, the student will not be eligible for federal student aid.

Contributors

New for the 2024-2025 FAFSA:

• A contributor is a person required to provide consent and approval for Federal Tax Information (FTI) to be used on the FAFSA as well as sign the FAFSA. Contributors include the student, student spouse (if married), parents and parent spouses.
• How a student responds to questions at the beginning of the FAFSA will determine if any contributors need to be ‘invited’ to complete information on the application. The student then enters the needed information for an invitation to be emailed to the contributor, providing a link to them to access the application.

Parent of Record for 2024-2025 FAFSA:

For Dependent Students whose parents were never married, are divorced or separated; they will need to choose one as their Parent of Record. This is the parent whose income and assets will be reported on the FAFSA.

NOTE: Section 1, Personal Circumstances, of the FAFSA will ask the student questions to assist in determining who the Parent of Record is. This series of questions is also referred to as the ‘Parent Wizard’.

The Parent of Record should be :

• The parent who provided the most financial support in the 12 months prior to filing the FAFSA, even if the student does not live with the parent. (i.e. the child support paid by the parent is more than half of the student’s support)
• If neither parent provided support in the 12 month period listed above, the parent of record is the parent who provided the greater support during the most recent year that the student received financial support from a parent.
• If equal support is given, the parent of record is the one with the higher income and/or assets.

REMINDER: If a parent has married/re-married, and is chosen as the Parent of Record, the parent spouse (stepparent of the student) needs to be included on the FAFSA. Their income and assets also need to be included.

Enrollment Intensity - Pell Grant:

Pell Grants will NO longer be banded by enrollment levels of full-time, three-quarter-time, half-time or less than half-time.

Full-time is still considered 12 credits (per term), the grant will be prorated for every credit below 12.

• For enrollment less than 12 credits, divide the number of credits by 12 to calculate enrollment intensity
  • 7 credits / 12 = 58% enrollment intensity the student will receive 58% of their maximum Pell Grant eligibility for the semester