January 2012 is Over – What’s New with FAFSA?

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Alright, so the first month of the new year is over. The early-bird FAFSA applicants have submitted their applications, others are still rushing for the deadline, while the rest are just letting things slide for the moment – unaware of how FAFSA can help them out with their college funding.

The FAFSA itself, however, has seen a couple of rather significant changes this 2012. Nothing epic or ground-shaking, but there are some nifty changes designed to make life a bit easier for applicants:

Smoother and more accessible online navigation is made possible thanks to a couple of changes in the online application process. Certain sections and questions have been reordered for easier website navigation, but the biggest plus is a new ‘save state’ feature. This feature teaches the system to ‘remember’ where you last worked out on your application; allowing you to quickly jump back to the sessions you need to work on without having to go through the entire process all over again.

Improved “skip logic” is a pretty straightforward addition. The questions have been designed in such a way that answering a question at one step will better eliminate any unnecessary questions. This saves more time and energy from you, the applicant.

Better notification systems are put into place by including various reminder emails that depend on how applicants file their applications. For example, filing an application using only tax estimates will cause you to receive an email somewhere in March reminding you to fill out the solid numbers to replace the tax estimates earlier submitted.

Enhancements to IRS Data Retrieval makes life a whole lot easier for applicants by auto-filling the related sections in the FAFSA with information filed away with the IRS. Anyone who is eligible for it (aka those who have filed for taxes already) can use this tool starting February 1.

Updates to the correction process make it less difficult for applicants to file corrections. The previous correction section was a bit ‘detached’ from the whole FAFSA process, but updates to the section has streamlined it to the rest of the FAFSA; making it easier to correct any mistaken updates.

Whether you’re enrolling in college for the first time or returning to school after a period of time off, you should first apply for FAFSA – even if you think you don’t qualify for financial aid.