Information on the 2024-2025 FAFSA
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Financial Aid Office
Room: C-Building, C-107
Phone: (718) 482-5242
financialaid@lagcc.cuny.edu
Virtual Office Hours
Monday- Thursday 10 a.m.- 3 p.m.
In-Person Office Hours
Monday and Thursday 9 a.m.- 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday 9 a.m.- 5 p.m.
What To Know About The 2024-2025 FAFSA
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is an important resource in funding your college education.
Several simplifications have been made to the FAFSA for the 2024-2025 school year, making the application easier for students and their families to complete. You can access the application here.
We know these changes can be challenging for students who have grown accustomed to previous versions of the application. Here’s a brief breakdown of what to expect when completing your FAFSA this year:
- Applicants should create a Federal Student Aid ID (FSA) ID, i.e., a username and password) before accessing the FAFSA form.
- Additional family members (contributors) will need to create their own separate FSA ID depending on whether or not an applicant is a dependent or married.
- Contributors without a Social Security Number can now create an FSA ID.
- The number of questions on the FAFSA has been reduced from 108 to 46, allowing students and their families to complete the application more quickly.
- Students may be able to skip certain questions according to their unique circumstances.
- The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) has been replaced with the Student Aid Index (SAI), a new calculation to determine how much financial aid students are eligible for.
Read on for more detail or visit StudentAid.gov to learn more about the new, simplified FAFSA.
2024-2025 FAFSA For LaGuardia Students
If you’ve filled out a FAFSA prior to the 2024-2025 cycle, you’ll notice that this year’s version looks quite a bit different.
For starters, the application is much shorter — with 46 questions, it’s less than half as long as previous versions of the application. The 2024-2025 FAFSA also features dynamic skip logic, meaning that students will be able to skip certain questions based on their unique financial situation.
Any individual reporting federal tax income can also transfer their information directly from the IRS into the form, making it easier to find and submit tax info.
If you are a dependent student or married, one or more of your family members will also need to be added to your application as a contributor. Contributors may include any of the following family members:
- Biological or adoptive parent
- Step-parent
- Spouse
To add contributors, simply identify your family member and add their full name, SSN (if they have one), date of birth, and email address to the application form when directed. They’ll receive an email notifying them that they’ve been added to your application as a contributor. They will need to create their own FSA ID, after which they are able to fill out their portion of the application and sign off on it.
Your FAFSA is only considered complete when you and all additional contributors have filled out the required information and signed off on the application within 45 days. If a contributor refuses to provide the required information by the deadline, your FAFSA application will be canceled and you will not be considered for federal or state aid.
Learn more at StudentAid.gov, or contact the Financial Services team for help with your application.
For more personalized support with filing your 2024-2025 FAFSA, we encourage you to contact the Financial Services team at financialaid@lagcc.cuny.edu or (718) 482-5242, or visit us during our virtual or in-person office hours.
2024-2025 FAFSA For Families
If your child, step-child, or spouse is completing the 2024-2025 FAFSA, they may need your help to complete the application.
Here are some important steps to keep in mind as you complete the application as a family contributor:
- After receiving an email invitation, you’ll have to create an FSA ID using the instructions sent to your inbox.
- Once your identity has been verified (this can take up to three days), you’ll be able to log into StudentAid.gov to complete your portion of the application.
- Upon completing the required part of your form, you’ll need to provide consent and sign the student’s FAFSA form.
If you report federal income taxes, your data will be transferred from the IRS directly to the form, making the application process much easier than in prior years.
Applicants will not be able to complete and submit their FAFSA until you’ve provided all of the necessary information and signed it, so be sure to complete your part of the application as soon as possible.
Learn more at StudentAid.gov, or have your family member contact the Financial Services team for help with your application.
Frequently Asked Questions
In 2020, Congress voted to pass the FAFSA Simplification Act in an attempt to streamline the process of applying for federal student aid. After three years of developing a new and improved version of the application, the 2024-2025 cycle will be the first in which the simplified application is available.
Yes. Students must submit the FAFSA every year for which they wish to receive federal aid.
The 2024-2025 TAP application will not be linked to your FAFSA. Students will need to access and submit their application for the New York state aid separately. The state aid application for this cycle has been open since November 2023.
In addition to simplifying the questions asked in the FAFSA application, FAFSA Simplification also includes some changes to the ways in which aid eligibility is calculated. For example, your aid eligibility will no longer factor in the number of other individuals in your household who are attending college. However, the new calculations are anticipated to expand eligibility for student aid.
Continuing students may remember receiving an Expected Family Contribution, or EFC, after completing their application. This number has been replaced by the SAI, or Student Aid Index. The SAI can be as low as -1,500 and will be used by schools to calculate the amount of aid a student is eligible for (the lower the number, the more aid a student is eligible for).
If somebody lists you as a dependent when filing their taxes with the IRS, you will need to add them as a contributor on your application (if your parents are married and file taxes jointly, you only need to add one parent as a contributor; if your parents are divorced, you may need to add both parents and/or a step-parent). If you are an independent student who is married, your spouse will also need to be added as a contributor. Single and independent students do not need to add any additional contributors.
If you are unsure of whether or not you should add a family member as a dependent, visit StudentAid.gov or contact the Financial Services team for help.
A Social Security Number is no longer necessary to complete the FAFSA. If a contributor does not have a Social Security Number, they will be able to create an FSA ID without one by providing the following information:
- An email address
- A mailing address
- Answers to a series of questions to verify their identity
In most cases, the identity verification process will be completed in a matter of minutes; if further verification is needed, contributors will be provided with information on next steps.
If a parent or other contributor refuses to provide their consent, the student will be unable to receive an SAI, making them ineligible for federal aid. Therefore, it is imperative that all of the required contributors complete the application in a timely manner so that students can receive their aid.