2024-2025 FAFSA and CADAA Are Changing: Key Terms and Systems – Citrus College

Introduction

The FAFSA Simplification and FUTURE Acts made significant changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) process, multiple Department of Education (the Department) systems, and various Title IV policies and procedures.

The phased implementation of these changes, which culminate in the upcoming 2024-25 FAFSA processing year, has created new terminology that often replaces older, well-known terms. This announcement lists and defines many of the key terms and systems created or changed under the FAFSA Simplification and FUTURE Acts. Where appropriate, definitions include both the old and the new or updated terminology.

FAFSA Processing

Account Username and Password

Old Term: FSA ID
Description: username and password used to log in to all Federal Student Aid products and tools on StudentAid.gov.

Contributor

Old Term: N/A
Description: any individual required to provide consent and approval for federal tax information (FTI) along with their signature on the FAFSA^®form, including the student; the student’s spouse; a biological or adoptive parent; or the parent’s spouse (stepparent).

FAFSA FTI Approval

Old Term: N/A
Description: formal approval granted by an applicant and any applicable contributors for a given FAFSA cycle (e.g., December 2023 to September 2025 for the 2024-25 FAFSA form) to retrieve and use FTI to determine an applicant’s federal financial aid eligibility as well as permit the redisclosure of FTI by the Department to an eligible institution; state higher education agency; or a designated scholarship organization for the application, award, and administration of student aid programs. An applicant and contributor (if applicable) must provide approval once each year. If FAFSA FTI approval is not provided, the student will not be eligible for any Title IV aid until the approval is provided by each contributor.

FAFSA Privacy Act Consent

Old Term: N/A
Description: formal consent provided by an applicant and any applicable contributor(s) for a given FAFSA cycle (e.g., December 2023 to September 2025 for the 2024-25 FAFSA form) that meets the statutory requirements of collecting and using an individual’s personally-identifiably information (PII) under the Privacy Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. § 552a). PII provided on the FAFSA (e.g., name, date of birth, social security number) with consent of the individual, will be provided to the IRS to conduct a match in order for the Department to receive FTI for purposes of determining an applicant’s federal financial aid eligibility and permit further redisclosure of FTI by the Department. For more information, see FAFSA FTI Approval above.

FAFSA Submission Summary

Old Term: Student Aid Report (SAR)
Description: replaces the Student Aid Report (SAR) as the student’s output document providing a summary of data input on the FAFSA form.

Family Size

Old Term: Household Size
Description: captures the appropriate number of family members and dependents in the applicant’s household, within the meaning of section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or an eligible individual for purposes of the credit under section 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

Federal Tax Information (FTI)

Old Term: N/A
Description: is the data and information related to federal tax paying. It includes a return or return information received directly from the IRS or obtained through an authorized secondary source such as the U.S. Department of Education pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6103(l)(13). FTI also includes any information created by the recipient that is derived from a federal return or return information received from the IRS or obtained through an authorized secondary source. Other return information considered FTI includes the taxpayer's name; mailing address; identification numbers including Social Security number or employer identification number; any information extracted from a return, including names of dependents or the location of a business; information on whether a return was, is being, or will be examined or subject to other investigation or processing; information contained on transcripts of accounts; the fact that a return was filed or examined; investigation or collection history; or tax balance due information.

Manually Provided Taxpayer Information

Old Term: N/A
Description: information from a tax return or the return itself that is provided and entered by a taxpayer, applicant, or contributor on the FAFSA, either because the tax information was not received from the IRS, or because the contributor filed a foreign tax return.

Negative Student Aid Index (Negative SAI)

Old Term: N/A
Description: the Student Aid Index (SAI) can be a negative number (down to -1500) which can be used by institutions in determining students who have the most financial need. Note that when packaging a student for Title IV need-based aid, a negative SAI is converted to a 0 SAI in the packaging formula. For more information, see Student Aid Index (SAI) definition below.

Primary or Custodial Parent

Old Term: N/A
Description: for a dependent student whose parents are divorced or separated, the primary or custodial parent is the parent who provides the greater portion of the student’s financial support and is required to provide their information (and if applicable their spouse’s information) on the FAFSA form.

Provisionally Independent Student

Old Term: N/A
Description: if a student indicates they have unusual circumstances or indicates for the first time they are unaccompanied and homeless, or at risk of being homeless (without a designation from a specified entity), the FPS will consider the student to be provisionally independent and will allow them to fill out the FAFSA form as an independent student. The SAI will remain provisional and not official until the student’s college or career school makes a final determination. The ISIR will have a specific reject code that will require the financial aid administrator (FAA) to review, and if applicable, confirm the student’s independent status. The FAA will determine if the student’s circumstances make them eligible to apply independently and, if so, make any necessary updates to formally make the student independent.

Student Aid Index (SAI)

Old Term: Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
Description: a formal evaluation of a student’s approximate financial resources to contribute toward their postsecondary education for a specific award year.

Packaging Aid

Food and Housing

Old Term: Room and Board
Description: a component within a student’s Cost of Attendance (COA).

Federal Pell Grant Program Eligibility

Enrollment Intensity

Old Term: N/A
Description: the percentage of full-time enrollment at which a student is enrolled, rounded to the nearest whole percent used to determine a student’s annual Pell Grant award. For example, if full-time enrollment is 12 or more credit hours and the student is enrolled in 7 hours, the enrollment intensity would be (7 ÷ 12) × 100% = 58%.

Maximum Pell Grant Eligibility

Old Term: N/A
New Term:
Description: ability of a student to receive a maximum Pell Grant (amount determined annually by Congress) which depends on annually published federal poverty guidelines; the U.S. tax return adjusted gross income (or the equivalent for foreign tax filers); state of legal residence; family size; and tax filing status.

Minimum Pell Grant Eligibility

Old Term: N/A
Description: ability of a student to receive a minimum Pell Grant depending on annual published federal poverty guidelines, Adjusted Gross Income (or the equivalent for foreign tax filers), state of legal residence, and family size.

Student Aid Index Calculated Pell Grant Eligibility

Old Term: N/A
Description: maximum Pell Grant minus the Student Aid Index rounded to the nearest $5 (not to exceed COA). For applicants with a calculated SAI that is greater than the corresponding award year’s maximum Pell Grant award or the calculated Pell Grant amount is less than the award year’s minimum Pell Grant, the applicant is not eligible for a Pell Grant unless they qualify for a minimum Pell Grant award.

Professional Judgment (PJ)

Special Circumstances

Old Term: N/A
Description: special or extenuating situations (such as the loss of a job) that impact a student’s financial condition and support a financial aid administrator adjusting data elements in the COA or in the SAI calculation on a case-by-case basis.

Unusual Circumstances

Old Term: N/A
Description: conditions that justify a financial aid administrator making an adjustment to a student’s dependency status, commonly referred to as a dependency override, based on an unusual situation (e.g., human trafficking or parental abandonment).

Department of Education Systems

FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX)

Old Term: N/A
Description: the system replacing the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) to transfer an individual’s FTI to the Department. FA-DDX allows the Department to request, and the IRS to transfer, FTI to the FTIM system for use in determining a student’s federal financial aid eligibility. For more information see Federal Tax Information Module (FTIM) definition above.

Conclusion

The Department has provided or will be providing more information, policies, and procedures related to the new terms and systems listed above through a variety of communication methods including the FSA Handbook, Dear Colleague Letters, Electronic Announcements, and System Technical References.