MOCAN – Missouri College & Career Attainment Network

Increasing equity in college and career for Missouri students

Cherelle Washington

The Latest News and Updates about the 2024-2025 FAFSA

by

Federal Student Aid (FSA) announces a phased release for the 2024-2025 form. Here are the latest updates:  

  • The 2024-2025 form will open by December 31, 2023 
  • After FAFSA submission, students will receive a confirmation email with their Pell Grant eligibility and estimated Student Aid Index (SAI).  Colleges and universities will not begin to receive Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) until later in January. This will likely delay financial aid offers to mid-to late-February at the earliest.  
  • Contributors without an SSN will be able to begin creating their FSA IDs on the same day the FAFSA opens. Read more about this process from our colleagues at NCAN.  
  • The paper FAFSA will be available on the same day the online FAFSA application becomes available. The online and paper FAFSA applications will be available in both English and Spanish. 

Read the full Federal Student Aid Announcement here.

Continue to check MOFAFSA.org for updates and resources.  

The FAFSA Hasn’t Opened, But You Can Already Get Started

by

Matthew Odom, National College Attainment Network

With the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), or “Better FAFSA,” delayed until December 2023, the completion events typically scheduled for the fall and early winter will need to be pushed back as well. College access professionals should start planning now and inform the students (and by extension, families) they serve of this change.

The National College Attainment Network (NCAN) recommends that organizations and individuals assisting in FAFSA completion plan two types of events: FSA ID creation events and FAFSA completion workshops. As the Better FAFSA opening date approaches, NCAN will delve more into the “nitty-gritties” of FAFSA completion workshops, but they should be scheduled for January 2024 after the 2024-25 FAFSA opens.

However, while you’re waiting for the new form to open, you can host FSA ID creation events. Since everyone inputting information into the new FAFSA (called “contributors”) will need to have an FSA ID to login-in and complete their section, this is an ideal activity to help contributors get ready to fill out the form. 

While it is possible to create an FSA ID and fill out the FAFSA in the same day, it is not recommended (more on that later). That’s why NCAN is urging our members to host FSA ID creation events before the new form opens.

Furthermore, since some states and institutions have yet to push back their financial aid deadlines, students will need all the time they can get to complete the FAFSA. FSA ID creation is a “low-hanging fruit” of sorts that can be done prior to the opening date.

What to Know About the New FSA ID Process

An updated FSA ID process will be launched sometime before the Better FAFSA opens. Contributors attempting to create a new FSA ID will need to have a verified email address. Therefore, staff at your workshop may need to be prepared to help students or family members with setting up an email account before they attempt to create an FSA ID. Gmail is a free, intuitive platform that anyone can use.

For contributors with existing FSA IDs that do not have an email address, they will need to add one to their account and have it verified in the process. You and your staff should be aware of this as well.

There will be a new process for contributors without Social Security Numbers that will be launched this fall before the Better FAFSA opens. NCAN will share details of that process with our members once we learn more from the Office of Federal Student Aid.

The identity of contributors will need to be verified prior to an individual completing the FAFSA. If this is not done, they will have the option to manually input information that would otherwise be automatically uploaded, but this is a tedious process that leaves room for mistakes. For this reason, while it is possible to create an FSA ID and fill out the FAFSA on the same day, NCAN does not recommend it given FSA has said it will take three to seven days for a documented student’s FSA ID to be verified.

Lastly, while FSA IDs are normally first used to complete a FAFSA, they have other uses down the road for students, including logging into their studentaid.gov account, loan counseling and repayment, and more. Creating an FSA ID is the first step in many students’ postsecondary education journey.

NCAN recommends you host multiple FSA ID completion events to give your students and families options. These events can also be used to spread the word about the delay in the Better FAFSA and associated changes (you can find out more about that here). Although the delay in opening date throws a wrench in a lot NCAN members’ plans, let’s do everything we can to get students and their families ready for when the FAFSA opens.

Welcome Back to School: Resources that Can Kick Off a Successful Year for the the Class of 2024

by

Bill DeBaun, National College Attainment Network

Welcome to the 2023-24 academic year! As school staff and students file into classrooms across the country, it’s a time of promise, potential, and, sometimes, problems that need to get sorted out. Seniors starting their final year of high school will need to figure out their postsecondary plans in no time, and freshmen, sophomores, and juniors all have college and career milestones they can be working toward.

It’s good to keep these three truths in mind now at the start of the year:

  1. It’s also one of the busiest times of year for school personnel.
  2. High school seniors have a scant 10 months before graduation and a lot of advising to receive and activities to complete before then.
  3. Keeping all of these in mind, it’s good to highlight the tools and tactics that can promote postsecondary readiness for this year’s seniors, the class of 2024.

NCAN has a 15-month college and career readiness calendar that helps K-12 districts, schools, and the partners who work with them plan ahead and find the best resources to support their college and career readiness work. The interactive resource provides a series of college and career readiness activities sortable by time of year and category (data, financial aid/FAFSA, etc.). It’s also available in PDF form.

There’s no need to strictly follow every step and activity in the calendar, but it’s a good reference to keep in mind as the year progresses. College and career readiness activities have a lifecycle, and it’s good to know when to plan and execute them. Only interested in financial aid activities? Filter down to those and go for it from there. More worried about the winter than the fall? You can filter down to that, too.

Want more school-focused resources? Check out NCAN’s K-12 Resources page!

One big difference in this coming academic year is that the FAFSA is changing. The revamped FAFSA, which Federal Student Aid is calling the “Better FAFSA,” will expand eligibility for financial aid to many more students but also require districts and schools to change some of what they’ve done before.

One key thing to know: the FAFSA will not open on October 1 and will be delayed until sometime in December.

The National College Attainment Network (NCAN) is maintaining as many resources as possible related to the Better FAFSA, including training opportunities, FAQs, and more.

Now is the time to start planning for the Better FAFSA’s arrival later this year. Talk with your colleagues and make them aware of the forthcoming changes. Then plan to learn more through an NCAN training webinar! Whatever FAFSA assistance workshops and advising sessions you were planning for October and November should be pushed back to December (depending on opening date) and January.

NCAN will be sending out monthly reminder emails aimed at helping districts and schools prepare for the Better FAFSA. Anyone can subscribe to this newsletter!

May and June commencement ceremonies will somehow still be here before we know it, same as it ever was. The resources above hopefully provide a jumpstart to the academic year that can help students make their best choices around their postsecondary pathways.

10 Things to Know About the 2024-2025 FAFSA

by

The 2024-2025 FAFSA will bring big changes that will impact your seniors and their families as they begin the application this fall. Here’s what you need to know as you’re planning for the upcoming school year:

  1. The 2024-2025 FAFSA form will be available December 2023. The significant changes to the form have delayed its opening from the usual October 1. No specific date has been announced yet. In future years, the form open date will return to October 1.
  2. The Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID will be more important than ever. Students and parents are highly encouraged to create an FSA before beginning the form (including parents without a social security number). FSA IDs can no longer be created and used on the same day.
  3. Questions are different. There have been questions removed, added, and reordered. The questions on the 24-25 form are more aligned with the federal income tax form.
  4. The Parent included on the form could be different. For dependent students with separated parents, the parent who provides the most financial support must be included on the upcoming FAFSA form. In previous years, the form required that the custodial parent’s information was included. In most cases this will be the same parent but could differ for others.
  5. There are significant terminology changes. All of us will be challenged with changing the terminology we have used when referring to the FAFSA. Our colleagues at NCAN have compiled all the New Jargon we must all learn to use.
  6. Direct Data Exchange (DDX) will replace IRS Data Retrieval Tool. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool is being retired and replaced by Direct Data Exchange. With DDX, IRS will share federal tax information with the Department of Education and colleges listed on the FAFSA. Every contributor on the form is required to consent to DDX or the student will not be eligible for federal financial aid.
  7. Student Aid Index (SAI) will replace Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The Student Aid Index (SAI) will be used to determine eligibility for financial aid. The SAI can be as low as -1,500. The switch in the formula is expected to increase the number of students eligible for the Pell Grant.
  8. Financial aid eligibility could decrease with SAI formula. While it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of students eligible for the Pell Grant, there will be some students who see a decrease in financial aid eligibility. This likely due to the SAI formula not including siblings in college and requires the net worth of all businesses and farms, regardless of size. More to come about net worth!
  9. Fall preparation is key! Fall is a great time to prepare students and parents for what’s to come. Host FSA ID Creation Events and make them aware of the information required for the FAFSA. Missouri’s priority deadline for state aid is February 1st with a tentative filing deadline of April 1.
  10. Support will be available. MOCAN and its partners are offering in-person and virtual workshops this fall and spring. All Fall events are currently posted on our Events Page. NCAN, uAspire, and Federal Student Aid will all have resources available for professionals as well as students and their families.

Students Are Taking Their Next Steps; Do You Know Where They’re Headed?

by

Bill DeBaun, National College Attainment Network

There are few more poignant moments than when students cross the stage and receive their high school diplomas. At that moment, families, district and school administrators, teachers, and everyone else who has helped the student get to this point see so much of their time and effort realized.

Borrowing a page from every commencement speech ever written, that K-12 culmination is also a new beginning and, for many, a new pathway toward college and/or career.

As students take their first steps toward that new pathway, do district and school personnel really know where their students are going? Unfortunately, the answer too often is “no” or “not really.”

Sure, most schools monitor acceptances and conduct senior exit surveys to better understand students’ post-high school plans, but that knowledge is too infrequently paired with practice that ensures students fulfill those plans.

NCAN often writes about summer melt (and publishes resources about the same). Summer melt is a phenomenon that affects 10-40% of high school students intending to matriculate to a postsecondary institution. We offer suggestions like making sure to measure summer melt, creating college transition checklists, building a summer melt program, and using our summer melt toolkit to be proactive.

One key practice left unconsidered was how to forge stronger connections between K-12 districts and school and the postsecondary institutions to which their students matriculate. When we talk about the “silos” between the K-12 and higher education sectors, what that looks like in practice is that districts and institutions don’t have consistent, meaningful, or productive contact that could benefit students. Existing connections might include scheduling tours for students to visit a campus or getting more posters for the counselors’ suite, but K-12 and higher ed need outreach to build deeper, sustained, less transactional relationships.

Our sense from talking with districts and schools across the country is that substantial proportions of their students matriculate to a handful of institutions, with a long tail of additional institutions getting one or just a few students each year. Our other sense, unfortunately, is that few districts and schools have close professional contact with the institutions welcoming most of their graduates. That lack of contact makes it so there is no formal hand-off of students, and they can fall through the cracks, or “melt” as described above.

Now is the time for school district administrators to look at their senior exit survey data or, even better, their previous National Student Clearinghouse StudentTracker data to see which combination of institutions comprises the largest proportion of students’ destinations. (By the way, summer is the best time to update your StudentTracker Graduates file so that it is ready to go when fall enrollment data become available).

Next, conduct outreach to those institutions, through the admissions or financial aid offices or student support services. See how district and college or university staff can work together to ease students’ transitions. Maybe that is as simple as the university co-creating or developing a college transition checklist (or reviewing an existing one for accuracy and making any needed additions). But maybe it’s a more intensive partnership that includes personalized outreach to students that can answer their matriculation questions. The possibilities are endless, but none of them will come to fruition without there being contact between K-12 and higher ed.

Summer is the right time to do this because both sectors know this is a perilous time of year in a particularly perilous moment for many students, and there is a concrete goal for both sides: making sure students achieve their postsecondary aspirations. Let’s break down the K-12/higher ed silo and forge the connections that can help students in the class of 2023 and beyond.

Planning for the New FAFSA

by

When the 2024-25 FAFSA opens in December 2023, it will include the greatest changes to the process since 1997. The goal is a more simplified form and process, as well as expanded Pell grant eligibility. MOCAN is working with partners across the country and state to ensure Missouri counselors, advisers, students, and families are prepared for the new form and process.  

Below are just a few of the changes we can expect to see:

  • New format/questions
  • New process – each contributor (student and parents) will need their own Federal Student Aid ID
  • New calculation of what students/families should expect to pay
  • More families will be required to submit financial information on net assets (e.g. farms and small businesses)
  • No benefit for having multiple students in college
  • Delayed opening–expected to open December 2023, not October

Here’s what you can expect to see from MOCAN and its partners:

  • Train-the-Trainer approach: Over a dozen people from across Missouri will participate in a training session with Federal Student Aid (FSA) and National College Attainment Network (NCAN) this July. There will be a well-trained person in each region of the state that will help train others in Missouri through Professional Development Institute workshops and its partners.
  • In-person and Virtual Training of Counselors/Advisors: MOCAN’s Professional Development Institute will host FREE in-person and virtual workshops focused specifically on FAFSA completion with our financial aid partners, MASFAP and uAspire. We’re planning 14 in-person workshops this fall across Missouri, plus virtual workshops that will be recorded for later viewing. Once the FAFSA is open, we’ll have a series of FAFSA walk-through workshops.
  • Online Resources for Counselors and Advisors: MOCAN will continue to post content from all of its Professional Development Institute workshops on the PDI Portal, free for all PDI participants. This will include FAFSA preparation resources from national and state partners.
  • Online Resources for Students and Families: MOCAN will create a single online portal that will include updates and links to Journey to College’s FAFSA Frenzy events and other activities to support FAFSA completion. This portal will also include one-pagers and walkthrough guides.
  • Communications Campaigns: MOCAN will coordinate a communications campaign to incentivize early FAFSA completion and fall creation of FSA IDs so students and families are ready when the FAFSA opens.

If you missed our last PDI workshop, Change is Coming: What We Know about the 2024-25 FAFSA, you can view the recording along with presentation materials on the PDI Portal.

For the latest updates about MOCAN’s events, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.