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FAFSA:
Students must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) every year to be considered for federal aid: grants, work-study, and student loans. The 2025-2026 FAFSA will be available in December 2024 - UIC’s priority filing deadline is March 15.
FSA ID:
Students and a parent, if applicable, must have a Federal Student Aid ID (login) to sign the electronic FAFSA.
UIC’s School Code: 001776
Include UIC’s school code on the FAFSA - (001776)
Student Dependency Status:
Students are considered dependent or independent based on information provided on the FAFSA. Most undergraduate students are dependent. All graduate and professional students are independent. Dependent students must report parental income information on the FAFSA. Dependency Status is not based on whether a student lives with a parent, is financially self-supportive, or is claimed as dependent on a parent’s taxes.
Student Aid Report (SAR):
After receiving an FAFSA, the Federal Processor will send you an electronic Student Aid Report (SAR). The SAR lists all information submitted on the FAFSA and displays your Student Aid Index (SAI). The SAI determines your grant eligibility. Be sure to review the SAR for accuracy and log on to the FAFSA website to make corrections.
FAFSA - Simplification
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Big changes are coming to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application for the upcoming 2024-2025 aid year! The office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships (SFAS) will update this page as additional information is made available so that we can continue to educate students, families, and our campus community on the new processes.
Why is it changing?
“FAFSA® Simplification Act: On Dec. 27, 2020, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act. The law includes provisions that amend the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act and includes the FAFSA Simplification Act—a sweeping redesign of the processes and systems used to award federal student aid. Specifically, the law makes it easier for students and families to complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form and expands access to federal student aid.”
What does this mean for you?
The 2024-2025 FAFSA process is going to look a bit different than it was in the past. Don’t worry, we’re here to help keep you informed!
What’s Changing?
- 2024-2025 FAFSA completion date
- Normally the FAFSA becomes available October 1st each year, the 2024-2025 FAFSA became available on December 31, 2023.
- The 2024-2025 Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid, an option for students who qualify under the Retention of Illinois Students & Equity (RISE) Act, is available.
- The term “EFC” (expected family contribution) is changing
- With the 2024-2025 FAFSA, the term Expected Family Contribution (EFC) will be replaced with the Student Aid Index (SAI) – this is a new need analysis formula that we will use when awarding need-based grants and scholarships.
- Streamlined application
- You’ll notice fewer questions when completing the 2024-2025 FAFSA and an easier way to transfer tax information directly from the IRS.
- New terminology
- You’ll notice a few new terms like contributor (anyone who is asked to provide information on the FAFSA, a parent or student spouse for example) and consent (each contributor will need to consent to their information being included on the FAFSA).
What Information will you need to complete the 2024-2025 FAFSA?
- Collect or create your FSA ID. New to 2024-2025, contributors who do not have a Social Security Number will be able to establish an electronic FSA ID.
- Determine if or which parent is considered a Contributor for the FAFSA.
- Collect 2022 federal tax information for the student and Contributor(s), including net business and/or farm values.
Post-Processing Experience for Students
- Students will receive an email informing them that their FAFSA form has been fully processed and their FAFSA information has been sent to the schools they listed on their form.
- Students who applied using the online FAFSA form will receive an email that they can access their FAFSA Submission Summary by logging in to StudentAid.gov using their account username and password.
- The Department will send an email reminder to previous FAFSA applicants who have not yet submitted a 2024-25 FAFSA form.
- Students will be able to make corrections to their FAFSA once their eligibility has been calculated and ISIR generated. Students may view their eligibility calculation by logging back into their Studentaid.gov account.
- The Department will fully process paper applications in the weeks following.
Current Issues
Current Issues the U.S. Department of Education is working to resolve:
- Student who incorrectly selects “eligible noncitizen” on fafsa form prevented from completing and submitting form after correction.
- Student or parent who returns to saved fafsa form requiring contributors has signature removed upon return without changing any information.
- Some school names are truncated on college search page.
- Student with no ssn that exited fafsa form before “state of legal residency” question unable to continue form or start new form.
- Parent with no ssn unable to start fafsa form for student or contribute to an existing form.
- Parent with foreign legal residence unable to submit fafsa form when parent has not filed taxes due to earning no income.
- Married student or parent who does not provide their spouse’s information before leaving 2024-25 fafsa form will not be able to complete and submit form upon re-entry.
- Federal school codes for inactive schools or locations presented to students on fafsa form prior to Jan 6, 2024.
- Graduate students with pell-eligible SAI presented incorrect pell grant eligibility information on fafsa submission confirmation emails and pages.
- Contributors are unable to enter an invited form from roles page.
- Spouse contributor invitation page does not appear after the user changes marital status from married filing jointly to married filing separate.
- Student unable to proceed past student identity and information page when mailing address section is blank.
- Parent unable to access fafsa despite starting application on behalf of student.
- Fafsa application status is “in progress” even when user is ready to submit fafsa.
- Confirm account settings does not continue past first page for user with foreign address and no error message shown.
- Unable to add spouse or other parent as non-required contributor if spouse or other parent does not have ssn#.
For help with Current Issues, see studentaid.gov help center website
Next Steps:
Check back often for updates – this is the biggest update to the FAFSA in 40 years! We will update here as more information becomes available.
Retention of Illinois Students & Equity (RISE) Act and Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid
The RISE (Retaining Illinois Students and Equity) Act was signed into law at UIC on June 21, 2019 and allows state and institutional financial aid eligibility to a subset of students who were previously ineligible. The Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid provides a pathway for students to apply for the MAP Grant and institutional funding at UIC.
Students impacted by the RISE Act include:
- Undocumented students who are Illinois residents
RISE
If you are unable to submit your application, please contact the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) for more information.