This guide is intended for college financial aid administrators and counselors who help students begin the aid process—filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA ® ) form, verifying information, and making corrections and other changes to the information reported on the FAFSA form.
Throughout the Federal Student Aid Handbook, we use “college,” “school,” and “institution” interchangeably unless a more specific use is given. Similarly, “student,” “applicant,” and “aid recipient” are synonyms. “Parents” in this volume refers to the parents of dependent students, and “you” refers to the primary audience of the Handbook: financial aid administrators at colleges. “We” indicates the U.S. Department of Education (the Department, ED), and “federal student aid” and “Title IV aid” are synonymous terms for the financial aid offered by the Department.
We appreciate any comments that you have on the Application and Verification Guide (AVG), as well as all the volumes of the FSA Handbook. We revise the text based on questions and feedback from the financial aid community, so please reach out to us about how to improve the Handbook through the “Contact Customer Support” feature in our Partner Connect Help Center clicking on “FSA Handbook” under the Topic section.
The Department of Education recognizes that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created many unique challenges for postsecondary institutions. The Department has provided a variety of special guidance and regulatory flexibilities due to the President’s declaration of the COVID-19 national emergency on March 13, 2020. In addition, Congress has passed legislation offering relief from certain statutory requirements related to the Title IV, HEA programs.
In general, the COVID-19 flexibilities and waivers remain in effect until the COVID-19 national emergency is declared over. As of the date of publication of this Volume of the FSA Handbook, the COVID-19 national emergency is still in place. For more details, see the Electronic Announcement of January 15, 2021, and the websites listed below.
For COVID-19 related guidance, including waivers and exemptions of normally applicable Title IV rules, please see the following webpages:
The Department of Education’s COVID-19 Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel: https://www.ed.gov/coronavirus
Throughout the AVG, all dates, pertinent tax return and schedule information, along with various resources and references have been updated to support the requirements associated with the 2023-2024 processing year and the 2021 base tax year. Also, where appropriate, links and publications associated with FSA’s Partner Connect and Knowledge Center have been properly updated.
We removed references to the myStudentAid mobile app throughout the AVG as it was retired on June 30, 2022, due to low usage .
Some sections were moved to better align topics and assist with narrative flow. Use the search feature to find sections that may have been relocated.
Chapter 2:
Questions regarding gender, Selective Service registration, and drug conviction were removed from the 2023-24 FAFSA form. Therefore, guidance on those questions were removed from the AVG.
The FAFSA Simplification Act (Act) includes a substantive list of documentation you MUST accept as adequate documentation that an applicant was in foster care. This list was added to Chapter 2, under “Step 3: Dependency Status”.
The Act also includes a list of documentation you MUST accept as adequate documentation that an applicant was an unaccompanied youth who is homeless or is self-supporting and at risk of being homeless. This list is also included in Chapter 2, under “Step 3: Dependency Status” and discussed further in Chapter 5 (see below).
Chapter 4:
The Act established Pell Grant eligibility for confined or incarcerated individuals enrolled in prison education programs, beginning with the 2023-24 award year. Subsequently, confined or incarcerated individuals may be selected for verification. Chapter 4 includes guidance on completing verification for this population of students, under “Applications and Information to be Verified”.
The formula for calculating untaxed portions of IRA distributions and pensions (excluding rollovers) was clarified and updated in the “Line items from the 2021 1040 tax return” table.
Chapter 5:
The FAFSA Simplification Act made significant changes to the HEA regarding special and unusual circumstances. The following is included in chapter 5:
Guidance on the use of professional judgment to adjust the data elements used to calculate the EFC based on an applicant’s special circumstance.
Guidance on the use of professional judgment to adjust the dependency status of an applicant based on unusual circumstances, including the ability to carry forward determinations from year-to-year.
Expanded guidance on acceptable documentation and timing for making an unaccompanied homeless youth determination.
Codification of the guidance regarding professional judgment during emergencies or natural disasters.
For additional information on these changes being implemented for the 2023-24 award year, see DCL GEN-22-15.
We added an example regarding a student named Sam under “Unusual Circumstances” that may be considered for a dependency override.
We updated guidance on documentation required to offer Direct Unsubsidized Loans to dependent students without parental support.