Student Electronic Entry Summary of Enhancement

Summary of Enhancements to the electronic versions of the FAFSA form for 2023-2024

This document describes changes specific to the electronic versions of the FAFSA form.

Most applicants fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form online. Because we are unable to create an online experience that allows the public to view the 2023-2024 changes during the public comment period, reviewers are encouraged to utilize the 2022-2023 FAFSA Demonstration Site to view the current application experiences.

When viewing the FAFSA form online, please keep the following in mind:

• Experiences will vary based on how each FAFSA question is answered due to the dynamic display of text and extensive built-in skip logic. For example, some questions are worded differently based on marital status, tax filing status, etc. Also, certain questions are hidden depending on the selected state of legal residence and whether the answers to relevant questions make an applicant eligible for an automatic zero EFC.

Changes to fafsa.gov for 2023-2024 start-up will not be available for viewing until the 2023-2024 Demonstration Site becomes available on September 25, 2022. You can access the 2022-2023 version of the FAFSA Demonstration Site at https://fafsademo.test.ed.gov The changes described in this document do not impact the PDF FAFSA.

To fully understand the changes to the entire application process, we recommend that you also read the Summary of Enhancements to the 2023-24 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form.

Section 1: Planned changes resulting from public comments

FAFSA landing page

• All state deadlines that refer to “As soon as possible after October 1, 2022” will be updated to “As soon as possible on or after October 1, 2022.”

Student Demographics section

• The tool tip for the citizenship question will be updated in the second bullet of the second paragraph to add hyphens to the visa types and to add the M1 visa type

Parent Financials section

• “Parents’” will be replaced with “Parent’s” in the Parent email address question and tool tip

• All questions and help text that refer to IRS forms will be updated to include the word “Form” between “IRS” and the form number and to insert a dash between “1040” and “NR” (e.g., IRS Form 1040-NR).

• The “Learn more about Schedule 1” link for the “Did you file a Schedule 1” question will be updated with tax line references for 2021:

  • Unemployment compensation (line 7)

  • Alaska Permanent Fund Dividends (line 8f)

  • Educator expenses (line 11)

  • IRA deduction (line 20)

  • Student loan interest deduction (line 21)

• The IRA deductions question will be updated to reference 2021 tax line numbers: IRA deductions and payments to self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh and other qualified plans from IRS Form 1040 Schedule 1 total of lines 16 + 20”

• The word “paid” will be emphasized in the child support paid question

• The word “received” will be emphasized in the child support received question

• The tool tip for the “Other untaxed income” question will be updated to read “Enter the total amount of any other untaxed income or benefits, such as workers compensation, Black Lung Benefits, untaxed portions of Railroad Retirement Benefits, untaxed foreign income not earned from work, disability benefits, etc., that your parents received in 2021. Also include untaxed portions of health savings accounts from IRS Form 1040 Schedule 1 – line 13.”

Student Financials section

• All questions and help text that refer to IRS forms will be updated to include the word “Form” between “IRS” and the form number and to insert a dash between “1040” and “NR” (e.g., IRS Form 1040-NR).

• The “Learn more about Schedule 1” link for the “Did you file a Schedule 1” question will be updated with tax line references for 2021:

  • Unemployment compensation (line 7)

  • Alaska Permanent Fund Dividends (line 8f)

  • Educator expenses (line 11)

  • IRA deduction (line 20)

  • Student loan interest deduction (line 21)

• The IRA deductions question will be updated to reference 2021 tax line numbers: IRA deductions and payments to self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh and other qualified plans from IRS Form 1040 Schedule 1 total of lines 16 + 20”

• The word “paid” will be emphasized in the child support paid question

• The word “received” will be emphasized in the child support received question

• The tool tip for the “Other untaxed income” question will be updated to read “Enter the total amount of any other untaxed income or benefits, such as workers compensation, Black Lung Benefits, untaxed portions of Railroad Retirement Benefits, untaxed foreign income not earned from work, disability benefits, etc., that you received in 2021. Also include untaxed portions of health savings accounts from IRS Form 1040 Schedule 1 – line 13.”

Section 2: Enhancements communicated in the Federal Register posted February 25, 2022

Planned Changes for 2023-2024 Start-up

Removal of Selective Service and drug conviction questions: Following up on our commitment announced in GEN-21-04 related to the implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act, we have removed the Selective Service and drug conviction questions.

Income Earned from Work (Questions 35, 36, 83 & 84): we’ve changed the instructions to be clearer and they now read “This information may be found on the W-2 forms or by adding up the following items: IRS Form 1040 – line 1 (or IRS Form 1040NR – line 1a) + Schedule 1 – lines 3 + 6 + Schedule K-1 (IRS Form 1065) – Box 14 Code A).”

Homeless questions (Questions 52-54): These three questions will now be renewal eligible. This will allow for answers from the previous year to be carried forward into the 2023-24 FAFSA form.