The National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) operates the U.S. Department of Education's technical assistance and information center for the federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program. NCHE is based at The SERVE Center at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). NCHE hosts this Homeless Education Mailing List to share information and resources with educators, service providers, and other interested stakeholders about meeting the educational needs of children and youth experiencing homelessness. The ideas on this listserv do not necessarily reflect the views of NCHE, The SERVE Center, UNCG, or the U.S. Department of Education. ALL LOBBYING ACTIVITIES ARE STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. |
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FSA Announces 2018-2019 FAFSA Change
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Good afternoon colleagues:
The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) confirmed in a webinar today that the 21 or younger age restriction for the purposes of defining unaccompanied homeless youth on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) was removed for the 2018-2019 FAFSA.
Context
Under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA), unaccompanied homeless youth (UHY) are considered independent students for purposes of applying for federal student aid on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Independent students do not need to include parental information on their FAFSA (no parent signature, no information on parental income and assets). As such, independent students' federal student aid package is calculated based only on the income and assets of the student. This is an important support for UHY as, without independent student status, many UHY would not be able to complete their FAFSA and receive federal aid to help pay for higher education. For more information on dependent and independent student status, visit https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/filling-out/dependency.
Why the change?
Prior to the 2018-2019 FAFSA, previous FAFSAs defined "youth" as "21 years of age or younger or still enrolled in high school as of the day the student signs the FAFSA". This meant that unaccompanied students experiencing homelessness aged 22 or 23 often experienced difficulty obtaining independent student status, as it required a manual dependency override by a college financial aid adminstrator (FAA). The removal of the definition of "youth" on the 2018-2019 FAFSA will enable UHY aged 22 or 23 to be deemed an independent student without the need for a manual dependency override. (As a reminder, all students aged 24 and older automatically qualify as independent students).
The 2018-2019 FAFSA
The U.S. Department of Education will release the 2018-2019 FAFSA on October 1, 2017. It is recommended that students complete the FAFSA as soon as possible.
For more information
For more information, see slide 8 in the
attached U.S. Department of Education slide deck, or contact the NCHE homeless education helpline at 800-308-2145 or homeless@serve.org. Additionally, NCHE will offer its
Paving the Way to College for Students Experiencing Homelessness webinar in early October to coincide with the release of the 2018-2019 FAFSA. October webinar registration will be posted at https://nche.ed.gov/web/group.php in early September.
Best regards,
Christina Dukes, Federal Liaison
National Center for Homeless Education |
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National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) | http://nche.ed.gov
Operating the U.S. Department of Education's technical assistance center for the federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program |
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