FAFSA Simplification Act

The FAFSA Simplification Act was designed to remove outdated restrictions to make Federal Student aid more accessible to all students. This Act represents a significant overhaul of federal student aid, including the information requested on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Form, financial aid need analysis calculations, and other policies and procedures for schools to continue to participate in Title IV Federal financial aid.

Mount Mary University will continue to monitor the impacts on students and update this website as more information becomes available. A few key changes are noted below.

The 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Aid (FAFSA) is now available! If you are a student who would like to be considered for financial aid for the 2024-2025 school year, please complete the FAFSA form if you haven't already done so.

Previously the FAFSA was released October 1st. The changes this year have resulted in a delayed timeline for schools to receive student FAFSA information. This will delay the timeframe students are notified of their 2024-2025 Financial Aid Offers from Mount Mary. New students for Fall 2024 can expect to receive their offers in April 2024. Continuing students in May of 2024. 

Complete the 2024-2025 FAFSA Now 

FSA ID

All students and contributors must have an FSA ID (Federal Student Aid ID) and password to fill out the 2024-2025 FAFSA. Even those without a Social Security Number (SSN) will be required to have an FSA ID. Having a verified FSA ID prior to completing your FAFSA is recommended.

Are you creating an FSA ID without an SSN? Click here for more information!

Processing your FSA ID can take up to 5 business days, so we recommend creating it now to get started! To get started visit: https://studentaid.gov/fsa-id/create-account/launch

FAFSA application changes

• The number of questions has decreased from around 100 down to around 35
• Students will be asked to report their sex, race, and ethnicity on the FAFSA itself, but students will be offered a choice of “Prefer Not to Answer”. Mount Mary will not see responses to these questions
• Students can now list up to 20 schools on the FAFSA
• The parent reported on the FAFSA will no longer be the parent whom a student has lived with the most in the past year but rather the parent who provided the most financial support
• Students, spouses, parents, and stepparents will now need to provide their consent in the new Consent to Retrieve and Disclose Federal Tax Information (FTI) section of the FAFSA for federal student aid eligibility
• Consent will allow the IRS to share FTI
• If any party does not provide consent, submission will be allowed; however, the FAFSA will not be able to calculate a student’s Student Aid Index, and therefore the student may not be eligible for aid. The Financial Aid & Veterans Services Office will reach out to students who complete their FAFSA without an SAI and assist with processing.
• There are expanded definitions of the requirements to report the net worth of businesses and family farms

Eligibility changes in how Financial Aid is calculated

Students may see changes due to how financial aid is calculated by either an increase or decrease in their Federal and/or State aid. Below are some key reasons why students may see these changes in financial aid:

• To determine aid eligibility, the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) has been removed and replaced with the Student Aid Index (SAI). Students with the highest need may see a negative number (up to -1500) as their SAI. The SAI will be used to calculate many forms of Federal, State, and Institutional Financial aid.
• The simplified calculation and reduced number of questions are designed to increase the number of Federal Pell Grant recipients.
• SAI will no longer consider the number of students in the household who are in college.
• Families who own businesses/small family farms will now have assets included in the SAI calculation.
• Schools will no longer see the housing status that students report on the FAFSA. This affects our ability to appropriately award students based on the type of housing they have. For new students, Mount Mary will use the information noted on their housing application. For Continuing students Mount Mary will use the same housing status as last year. If your housing status will be different than what it was in the prior school year, please contact the Financial Aid Office & Veterans Services Office.

Net Price Calculator

To assist with getting an early estimate of what Financial Aid may be received, students and families can complete Mount Mary’s Net Price Calculator. This is not a substitute for the 2024-2025 FAFSA, however, it will give students an idea of their potential aid eligibility. You can find Mount Mary’s Calculator here.

For more information on the FAFSA Simplification Act, please visit studentaid.gov.