November 9, 2010

Proposed Changes to the 2011-12 FAFSA

The Department of Education (ED) proposed two significant changes to the FAFSA that could affect the way schools package aid. These proposed changes recommend:

• Elimination of the enrollment status question (formerly paper FAFSA question #31). ED believes schools are in a better position than the student to determine the correct enrollment status.
• Re-wording the aid preference question (current paper FAFSA question #31) by eliminating references to student loans and only inquiring about Work-Study. ED suggests student loan information may intimidate students, causing them not to complete the FAFSA.

Please note that ED posted a draft of the 2011-1012 FAFSA online. Schools are encouraged to submit comments and suggestions on either the paper FAFSA or FAFSA on the Web by e-mailing FAFSA.Comments@ed.gov. Comments are due by Nov. 15, 2010.