Last week, President Barack Obama announced changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid set to take effect for the 2017-18 academic year.
Starting in 2016, FAFSA filing will begin Oct. 1 instead of the traditional Jan. 1 start date. In addition, the form will calculate financial award based on family income information from two years prior to the aid year, rather than only one year prior. Obama noted that the change will allow the financial aid process to better correspond to the timeline of the college admissions cycle.
“Learning about aid eligibility options much earlier in the college application and decision process will allow students and families to determine the true cost of attending college—taking available financial aid into account—and make more informed decisions,” stated a White House fact sheet detailing the changes.
Alison Rabil, assistant vice provost and director of financial aid, noted that the changes give prospective students more time to fill out the documentation and earlier access to information about what their family's contribution could look like in some cases.
Although the new FAFSA filing date applies to all schools, Duke has yet to decide whether it will implement the change to two years of family income information, she said, adding that the official decision will be made sometime this Fall.
Rabil noted that, should the University elect to adopt the changes, there are several items that will have to be addressed.
“In two years, you could be handing in a tax return for a person who is not in the family financial picture anymore,” she said.
She noted that Duke Financial Aid will have to discuss how the appeals process—which allows students to petition for a larger aid award—would change to accommodate students whose financial situations have dramatically changed in two years, such as through a death in the family or a divorce.
In addition to examining the appeals process, Rabil added that the University would need to make technological changes to the Oracle PeopleSoft software it uses to process FAFSA forms. Communications materials on the Duke Financial Aid website, as well as admissions and financial aid representatives' presentations to high schools, would also need to be revamped in order to reflect the new policy.
“We need to be clear in terms of our communication,” Rabil said. “When you don’t understand how the information you’re providing is going to be used, it can be very unsettling.”
The announcement comes as Obama has begun focusing on a higher education agenda, including the recent unveiling of the College Scorecard.
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