On Feb. 5, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) released a FAFSA College Support Strategy to provide additional personnel, funding, resources, and technology to help schools and students complete the better FAFSA® form, and to help colleges prepare to package students’ financial aid as quickly and accurately as possible. The Department’s top priority is to ensure students can access the maximum financial aid possible to help them pursue their higher education goals and bring college in reach for more Americans. Since the new 2024–25 FAFSA form became available at the end of December 2023, more than 3.6 million forms have been successfully submitted.
The Department’s FAFSA College Support Strategy includes:
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Deploying federal personnel and expertise to help colleges process FAFSA forms and package federal student aid;
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Directing funding for technical assistance and on-the-ground support for the colleges most in need of support; and
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Releasing tools to help colleges prepare to quickly and accurately process student records and deliver financial aid packages.
The Department’s FAFSA College Support Strategy will particularly focus on lower-resourced schools that may have a lower number of administrative staff and may utilize older software systems. The Department’s priority is to deploy resources for colleges to accelerate the development of financial aid packages, send students their financial aid offers, and make sure students have adequate time to make important decisions about their higher education options. Supported by several external partners, the Department welcomes institutions providing students and families as much flexibility as possible to review aid offers and make enrollment decisions.
Deploying federal personnel and expertise to colleges
The Department will be deploying federal financial aid experts to a group of high-need colleges to ensure they have the tools and information needed to train and support staff; process financial aid packages; understand the steps they need to take to prepare; and provide direct on-campus support. Through this effort, the Department expects to serve Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Tribal Colleges and Universities; and colleges that have access to fewer resources.
The Department is also launching a new concierge service within Federal Student Aid, which will provide a broad set of colleges direct contact with financial aid experts to provide them personalized support based on an institution’s needs. These federal liaisons, many of whom are former financial aid professionals, will answer questions and connect colleges to available resources.
Providing funding for technical assistance and on-the-ground support
The Department is allocating $50 million in federal funding that will be provided to non-profit groups specialized in financial aid support and services. These groups will use these funds to recruit financial aid professionals to provide additional technical assistance and support, beyond the federal teams deployed by the Department, for under resourced colleges. Participating colleges will receive additional staff support to deliver services such as assessing financial aid system readiness and implementing necessary updates, training staff, developing aid packages, and carrying out other student aid compliance requirements. The federal funding will be administered by the Educational Credit Management Corporation and will engage experienced nonprofits like the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and the Partnership for Education Advancement.
Releasing data and tools to help colleges prepare
The Department will begin releasing test versions of institutional student financial aid information records (ISIRs) within the next two weeks and will be actively working with financial aid system developers so that colleges and states can prepare their systems. These test ISIRs will enable colleges to prepare their own systems and processes to efficiently assemble aid packages.
In addition, the Department has begun releasing FAFSA completion data at the end of last week, and a new resource, posted to StudentAid.gov, provides applicants and contributors tips for successfully completing and submitting the 2024–25 FAFSA form.
We encourage all institutions to take advantage of these additional resources to support FAFSA completion efforts for the 2024–25 award cycle.
Schools may submit their request for resources via the new concierge service via e-mail. We will be sharing additional detail in a subsequent electronic announcement on Friday, February 9. We anticipate sharing additional information about how schools may access the additional resources outlined in the FAFSA College Support Strategy in the coming weeks on the Knowledge Center.