®
2015-2016 FAFSA Updates
Applicant Products Team
Agenda
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Introduction
Enhancements for January 1, 2015
IRS Website Updates
Q&A Session
Scheduled enhancements for
January 1, 2015
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Foster Care Youth
Issue:
Legislation now requires the FAFSA to ask applicants if they’ve
ever been in foster care.
Solution:
A new question will display in FAFSA on the Web, and students
who answer “Yes” will receive messaging about potential resources
available to them.
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Foster Care Youth (Cont’d)
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Foster Care Youth (Cont’d)
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Foster Care Youth (Cont’d)
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Freely Associated States
Issue:
Students from the Freely Associated States often use a new
pseudo-SSN each year. This became problematic with the
implementation of Pell LEU.
Solution:
FSA will provide guidance to returning students who are from the
Freely Associated States to use the pseudo-SSN already assigned
to them when they complete the FAFSA in subsequent years.
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Freely Associated States (Cont’d)
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Freely Associated States (Cont’d)
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Freely Associated States (Cont’d)
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Text Updates
Issue:
Members of the financial aid community have identified specific FAFSA
questions that are particularly troublesome for applicants.
Solution:
Question labels and help text will be modified to provide clearer
guidance.
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Date of Legal Residence
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Select Foreign Country from the “In what state is your high school located?” dropdown box if you received a foreign school diploma that is equivalent to a U.S.n international high school diploma.
Neither Citizen Nor Eligible Noncitizen
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High School Diploma
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Parents’ Number in College
Question 74:
How many people in your parents’ household (from question 73) will be
college students between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016?
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Legal Parent
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Legal Parent (Cont’d)
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Legal Parent (Cont’d)
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Separated
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Gender
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School Selection
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School Selection (Cont’d)
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School Selection (Cont’d)
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Amended Return
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Availability of IRS DRT
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IRS DRT Clarification
Issue:
There is a desire in the community to improve the clarity and completeness
of the help and authentication pages related to the IRS DRT.
Solution:
FSA enhanced the Help topics, switched the position of action buttons to
improve customer experience and modified the authentication text to clarify
the correct format for data entry such as address.
IRS DRT Clarification (Cont’d)
Get My Federal Income Tax Information
See our Privacy Notice regarding our request for your personal information.
Enter the following information from your <YYYY> Federal Income Tax Return.
First Name*
Joe
Last Name *
Smith
Social Security Number *
*** - **- 6789
Date of Birth
Required fields*
*
Filing Status *
01
/
04
/
1990
Select One
Address - Must match your <YYYY> Federal Income Tax Return.
Street Address *
P.O. Box (Required if entered on your tax return)
Apt. Number (Required if entered on your tax return)
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IRS DRT Clarification (Cont’d)
Technical Difficulties
A technical problem has occurred. Return to the FAFSA and enter your responses to the financial questions
using the information provided on your Federal tax return.
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IRS DRT Clarification (Cont’d)
The information you entered does not match the IRS records.
What went wrong?
•
Your name may have changed.
Use the name that matches your <YYYY> Federal Income Tax Return.
•
Check your filing status.
Use the filing status that matches your <YYYY> Federal Income Tax Return.
IRS DRT Clarification (Cont’d)
The address you entered does not match the IRS records.
What went wrong?
•
Your address may have changed.
Enter the address that matches your <YYYY> Federal Income Tax Return. Don’t forget to
include your apartment number if applicable. The number symbol (#) is not valid for identifying
an apartment number. Entering abbreviations (St, Ln, Ave, Crt, Ct, Rd) in the ‘street address’
field will not impact the retrieval of your Federal Income Tax Information.
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IRS DRT Clarification (Cont’d)
Help – Microsoft Internet Explorer
Address
?
Enter the address that matches your Federal
Income Tax Return. Entering abbreviations
(St, Ln, Ave, Crt, Ct, Rd) in the ‘street
address’ field will not impact the retrieval of
your Federal Income Tax Information.
• Your current address may not be the same as
the address we have on record for you.
• Your school address may not be the address
you entered on your tax return.
• Don’t forget to include your apartment number if
youInternet
entered Explorer
it on your tax return. The number
Help
Help –
– Microsoft
Microsoft
Internet
Explorer
symbol (#) is not valid for identifying an
apartment number.
Use the following examples as a guide:
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Q&A
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