FAFSA Simplification

Contributor is a term that refers to anyone asked to provide information on a student's FAFSA form, i.e., the student, the student's spouse, a biological or adopted parent, or the parent's spouse (stepparent). A contributor is not a grandparent, foster parents, legal guardian, brother or sister, aunt or uncle, even if they helped provide for or raise the student. A contributor on the FAFSA form does not mean they are financially responsible for the student's educational costs.

The student's or parent's answers will determine which contributors (if any) will be required to provide information on the FAFSA form.

Contributors are invited to complete their portion of the FAFSA form by entering their name and email address. Contributors provide personal and financial information in their own sections of the FAFSA form.

• Contributor receives an email informing them that they've been identified as a contributor.
• Contributor creates a Federal Student Aid Account if they don't already have one.
• Contributor logs in to their account and reviews information about completing their section of the FAFSA form.
• Contributor provides the required information on the student's FAFSA form.

Being a contributor does not implicate financial responsibility. However, if a required contributor refuses to provide their information, it will result in an incomplete FAFSA form, and the student will become ineligible for consideration of any need-based federal student aid.

Students who live with a single/divorced/widowed parent and receive most of their support from that parent, report only one parent on the FAFSA form. The parent included on the FAFSA Form as a contributor must be the parent that provides the greater portion of the student's financial support. If the parent who provides most of the financial support is remarried, the income of that parent's spouse (stepparent) will also be required.

According to the Future Act, all students and contributors must provide consent to the following:

• Have their federal tax information transferred directly into the FAFSA form via direct data exchange with the IRS;
• Have their federal tax information used to determine the student's eligibility for federal student aid; and
• Allow the U.S. Department of Education to share its federal tax information with postsecondary institutions and state higher education agencies for use in awarding and administering financial aid.

Important: Even if students or contributors don't have a Social Security Number (SSN), didn't file taxes, or filed taxes outside the U.S., they must still provide consent.

• If a student or required contributor does not provide consent to have their federal tax information transferred into the FAFSA form, the student will not be eligible for federal student aid—even if they manually enter tax information into the FAFSA form.
• Information about how federal tax information will be used and the consequences of not providing consent will be included on the FAFSA form.
• Legal parents must provide consent to transfer federal tax information, even if one of the parents didn't file or had no income. If parents fail to provide consent, the student won't be eligible to receive federal student aid.

All students and contributors must create a Federal Student Aid account to complete the FAFSA form. Students and contributors will use their Federal Student Aid Account username and password to log in to their accounts. Even if a parent or spouse contributor doesn't have a Social Security Number, they can still get an FSA ID using their ITIN to fill out their portion of the student's FAFSA form online or by going through an alternative identification process.

To create a Federal Student Aid Account, you will need your Social Security number (SSN). Other information required is full name and date of birth. You will also need to create a username and password and complete challenge questions and answers to retrieve your account information if you forget it. You will be required to provide your email address or mobile phone number when you create your Federal Student Aid Account. Providing a mobile phone number and/or email address that you have access to will make it easier to log in to Federal Student Aid online systems and allow you to verify your account before using it on the FAFSA form and additional account recovery options.

Yes. Parents and/or spouses who are not U.S. Citizens or eligible non-citizens can use their Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to create a Federal Student Aid Account. If they do not have an ITIN, there are alternative identify verification processes.

If the parent you indicate on the FAFSA Form is the parent who remarried, it'll depend on how they filed taxes. If they filed jointly, only one parent needs a Federal Student Aid Account. If they filed separately, both parents would need their own account.

No. You can retrieve your existing Federal Student Aid Account if you forgot your username and password.

Two-step verification, a form of multi-factor authentication (MFA), helps protect your Federal Student Aid Account with additional protection from fraud.

Yes. For example, a student and parent cannot use the same phone number for multi-factor authentication.

The Future Act requires that every contributor on the FAFSA form provide consent to share their tax information so that the IRS can share this information with the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA). All parties whose Federal Tax Information (FTI) is included on a student's FAFSA form must consent annually. The consent isbe required when a student submits a FAFSA form, chooses Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) when starting loan repayment, or submits the Total and Permanent Disability discharge (TPD) within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The consent is necessary not only for the U.S. Department of Education to request federal tax information from the IRS but also to use that FTI in the federal student aid application process, as well as do other things such as redisclose that information to certain eligible entities, such as higher education institutions.

If a student, spouse, or parent doesn't provide consent on the FAFSA Form, the Student Aid Index (SAI) will not be calculated, and the student will not be eligible for any federal aid.

According to the IRS, there are thresholds for tax filing status. If an independent student (and spouse, if married), or a parent of a dependent student, were not required to file a federal income tax return, then the student will automatically receive a Student Aid Index (SAI) equal to –1,500. They still need to provide consent when submitting the FAFSA form, so the IRS can confirm to Federal Student Aid (FSA) the student, parents, and spouse didn't file taxes.

Students determine which parent to report on the FAFSA form based on which parent provides the most financial support. It is okay if the parent or parents reported do not claim the student on their taxes or do not live together. The reported parents will provide consent to transfer their tax data even if they do not claim the student on their taxes.

Yes. If the parent providing more financial support is remarried, the stepparent's tax information is required.

Husker Hub can offer to speak directly with the parent or stepparent to explain why the information is needed and answer any questions, which sometimes puts them at ease about how their sensitive information will be used. However, we cannot provide tax advice.

When the student, spouse, parent, and/or stepparent provides consent, the IRS's Federal Tax Information (FTI) will include the information from an amended tax return.

After you provide consent on the FAFSA form, if the IRS cannot transfer your Federal Tax Information (FTI) to your FAFSA application, the application will allow you to self-report it. Self-reporting one's tax information on the FAFSA does not override the requirement for each required contributor to provide consent on the FAFSA form. So, they need to provide consent, and their tax information must be reported, either directly from the IRS or self-reported manually on the FAFSA form.

Any individual who is a contributor to the FAFSA Form must provide consent. This includes parents, and independent students, regardless of their tax filing status. Generally, the parents of independent students are not contributors and would, therefore, not need to provide consent.

Once an application is started online, all parties must complete it online. So that means if a signature is missing, the parent or the contributor that needs to complete their section and/or sign the application must obtain a Federal Student Aid Account and get into the application and complete their section. Students and parents are required to have an Federal Student Aid Account to complete the FAFSA application online. If they choose to mail a paper FAFSA, both will need to provide consent on the paper FAFSA, and both will need to provide signatures and mail the application to the U.S. Department of Education address on the paper application. This method is NOT recommended due to complexity and very lengthy processing time.

Cases of fraud or identity theft are the most likely reasons for the IRS not providing tax information to the applicant or the contributor. If the contributor has been flagged by the IRS, possibly due to identity theft or a breach of some sort to their information, then an IRS response code will be enabled to provide an explanation.

The SAI is a number used to determine eligibility for need-based aid. It is calculated using information the student (and contributors, if required) provides on the FAFSA form. A student’s SAI can be a negative number down to –1,500.

Students may qualify for a maximum Pell Grant based on family size, adjusted gross income, poverty guidelines, and tax filing status. Students qualifying for a maximum Pell Grant will have a Student Aid Index (SAI) between –1,500 and 0. Students who don’t qualify for a maximum Pell Grant may still be eligible if their calculated SAI is less than the maximum Pell Grant award for the award year. The student’s Pell Grant award will be equal to the maximum Pell Grant for the award year minus their SAI. Students whose SAI is greater than the maximum Pell Grant award for the award year (up to double the SAI) may still be eligible for a minimum Pell Grant level based on family size, adjusted gross income, and poverty guidelines.

Students with a negative or 0 SAI will be eligible for the maximum Pell Grant. The difference is that the negative -1,500 SAI indicates the student has a higher need than the student with 0 SAI, being eligible for other grants, if available, like Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) or institutional need-based aid.

The SAI will be based on the family size that the family entered, if different from the taxes. Students may have to provide additional information if selected for verification.