Student Financial Aid

FAFSA changes for 2024-25

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is changing due to the FAFSA Simplification Act.

What does this mean for you?

  • The FAFSA - usually available October 1 each year - will be available by December 31, 2023.
  • Ohio State’s priority filing date for the 2024-25 FAFSA is extended to March 15.
  • The FAFSA will be simplified by including fewer questions and eligibility for federal financial aid is expected to expand.

What’s changing?

  • Contributors could include the student, the student's spouse, a biological or adoptive parent, or the parent's spouse. Secure FSA IDs now to get ready to file.
  • Tax information will be retrieved through a direct data exchange with the IRS once consent has been granted.
  • The Student Aid Index (SAI) is a new calculation that will replace the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).

Have questions?

Check out 2024–25 FAFSA Help

Common FAFSA-Related Questions

The FSA ID (account username and password) allows individuals to access Federal Student Aid websites and complete the FAFSA form online.

For the 2024-25 FAFSA, students and contributors (parents or spouses) are required to have an FSA ID to complete and sign the form online. See who is a contributor on your FAFSA.

You will receive an email confirmation upon successfully submitting your FAFSA. Once your FAFSA is processed, you will receive an email from the U.S. Dept. of Education with instructions to access an online copy of your FAFSA Submission Summary. Learn more here.

Check your status by logging into your StudentAid.gov account. Select your FAFSA submission from the My Activity section of your account Dashboard. Look for an email from the U.S. Dept. of Education to learn when your FAFSA information has been sent to Ohio State.

  • Review your FAFSA Submission Summary emailed by the U.S. Dept. of Education beginning in mid-March.
  • You will also receive an email from Ohio State once your FAFSA data has been received from the federal processor.
  • You may be selected for verification of your FAFSA information. Check your Ohio State email and To Do List at My Buckeye Link.
  • You will receive an email once your financial aid notification letter is available to view online at My Buckeye Link.

Ohio State remains committed to access and affordability and understands how important financial aid is to our students and their families. We will provide aid notifications as quickly as possible once we receive and process the data from the U.S. Department of Education.  Please monitor your To Do List at My Buckeye Link for any pending items needed to finalize your aid.

Some scholarships require data from the FAFSA. If you believe you have financial need, we encourage you to self-report this in your ScholarshipUniverse profile so that you can be matched with need-based scholarship opportunities. (Financial need is the difference between the cost of attendance at Ohio State and your ability to pay, as determined by the information you provide on your FAFSA.) Please note: Your responses related to need in ScholarshipUniverse will be confirmed by FAFSA data once it becomes available. Check your ScholarshipUniverse dashboard regularly for additional scholarship matches. New scholarships matches may become available throughout the year.

You can correct your FAFSA online once you receive your FAFSA Submission Summary from the U.S. Dept. of Education beginning the first half of April.