Ken Ferreira featured in US 新闻 - FAFSA Changes: 什么是学生援助指数?
2024年2月10日
美国新闻提供
莎拉·伍德(Sarah Wood), 2009年2月. 9, 2024
The first step prospective and current college students can take toward receiving financial aid is filling out the Free 应用程序 for Federal Student 援助, known as 联邦助学金免费申请表. But due to the bipartisan FAFSA简化法案 passed in 2020, families are seeing major changes on the 2024-2025 form.
One major change is replacement of the expected family contribution – a formula to determine need-based financial aid eligibility based on answers families provide on FAFSA,有学生资助指数. Here's what to know about the new calculation 以及它与支付大学学费的关系.
什么是学生援助指数?
The EFC caused confusion for years, experts say, because many families believed the
calculation was the amount they were required to pay for college. 然而,事实并非如此
真正的. 大学 determine financial need by subtracting the student's EFC, now the
SAI,从出席的总费用.
"Changing it to the student aid index is a more appropriate use of terminology because...it helps the student to understand that the college is going to use that number to determine their eligibility for financial aid," says Kenneth Ferreira, vice president for institutional planning and effectiveness, and director of student financial services at Franklin 皮尔斯大学在新罕布什尔州.
学生资助指数如何计算?
The analysis formula is based on a family's taxed and untaxed income, including adjusted
gross income; deductible payments to individual retirement accounts like SEP, SIMPLE,
Keogh, or other qualifying plans; tax-exempt interest; untaxed portions of IRA distributions
and pensions; and foreign income exclusion. 收到的资产和福利,如社会福利
安全 or unemployment, are also considered.
根据美国.S. Department of Education, the SAI formula for a dependent student combines parents' and the student's contributions from income and assets. 独立 students, only the student's contributions from income and assets are totaled.
学生资助指数vs. 预期家庭贡献
There are a few differences between SAI and EFC, such as elimination of the number
of family members in college from the calculation.
Previously, if a parent indicated on 联邦助学金免费申请表 that they had multiple children in college at the same time, their EFC would be divided among those enrolled. 然而, 现在情况已经不同了. Because of that, "families could experience an increase in their (calculation), which means that they are going to get less aid than they had last year," says Raymond Nault, president and CEO of College 援助 Services, a higher 教育咨询公司.
He says this concerns many financial aid administrators because it will increase the amount of professional judgments – the process of appealing an aid package –they receive. “这是否意味着学生可能不会回来...? 澳门线上真人博彩公司都在等着看 下一次迭代会是这样的."
Assets that weren't previously considered in the EFC, like farms and small businesses, are also now considered in the SAI calculation.
Additionally, unlike the EFC – where the lowest number was 0 – families can receive 负SAI,这表明更高的需求. SAI指数低至- 1500点. Students with an SAI between negative 1,500 and 0 are likely to qualify for the maximum 佩尔助学金.
"So what that's doing, it's taking into account families who, for instance, may have experienced a job loss, had a disruption in pay or a situation where there's a divorce," Ferreira说. "Where all of that in the past could be documented and gone through 上诉程序. But the hope is that 联邦助学金免费申请表 itself is catching some of that 现在它正在研究SAI和EFC."
关于计算的问题?
Anyone with questions about the SAI can contact the Federal Student 援助 Information
中心,被称为FSAIC. The Federal Student 援助 Estimator is also available online,
which gives an estimate of how much federal aid students may be eligible for based
在他们的SAI上.
A college's financial aid office can be another resource and help families understand the differences between SAI and EFC, Ferreira说.
Due to the delays and complications related to the 2024-2025 FAFSA, colleges are being flexible with their priority filing deadlines. 在教育部宣布之后 1月. 30 that the first batches of FAFSA data wouldn't start being sent to schools until the first half of March, schools like Monmouth College in Illinois decided to push back the typical May 1 enrollment deadline – when students have to put down a deposit to confirm their spot – until at least June 1.
Even though there are delays, "that doesn't mean (students) shouldn't attend college this year," says Kay Lewis, assistant vice provost for enrollment and executive director of financial aid and scholarships at the University of Washington.
"Things are going to get worked out and there will be time for them to get their offers to decide which school to go to and then to have their funds available to pay when 他们去注册. So we are just hoping that students don't get discouraged from 申请或拒绝上大学. It really is, I think, a temporary problem that 澳门线上真人博彩公司正努力帮助学生解决问题."