What FAFSA Simplification Provisions Are Effective For the 2023-24 Award Year?

See Dear Colleague Letter GEN-22-15, which outlines each of the FAFSA Simplification provisions that are effective for the 2023-24 award year. These include changes in the following areas:

• Cost of attendance (COA);
• Professional judgment (PJ);
• Unusual circumstances related to dependency status, including but not limited to the homelessness and foster care provisions;
• Federal Pell Grants for confined or incarcerated students; and
• Restoration of Pell Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) in certain circumstances.

Although the 2023-24 award year runs from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, the school must implement the 2023-24 provisions related to COA, PJ, and dependency status whenever it is calculating Title IV awards using the COA for the 2023-24 award year; when performing PJ adjustments for the 2023-24 award year; and when establishing a student’s dependency status for the 2023-24 award year. This must be done even if such activities occur prior to the beginning of the 2023-24 award year on July 1, 2023. For example, if the school is performing a 2023-24 PJ adjustment or making a homelessness determination for a student earlier than July 1, 2023, the school must follow the new statutory provisions and the guidance in GEN-22-15. Likewise, while you are not required to immediately implement the changes to the cost component terminology, you still must implement the other COA provisions such as including the equivalent of three meals a day within the living expenses allowance for food and using average or median costs for students residing in institutionally owned or operated housing.

Even though the U.S. Department of Education (ED) cannot regulate COA until the 2024-25 award year, the school still must implement the statutory provisions in Section 472(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, [20 USC 1087LL(a)] as they are written and detailed in GEN-22-15 for the 2023-24 award year. This leaves schools free to develop their own methodologies and policies and procedures in accordance with the law. ED may later regulate COA, but any resulting regulatory provisions would only be effective at a later date and not for the 2023-24 award year.

Important Note: The Dear Colleague Letter only summarizes the statutory requirements. If you question a certain component, you really do need to refer to the statutory language in the following sections of the HEA, especially for COA:

• Section 472 [20 USC 1087LL] for COA;
• Section 479A [20 USC 1087TT] for PJ and homelessness;
• Section 484(t) [20 USC 1091(t)] for confined and incarcerated students;
• Section 401(d)(5) [20 USC 1070a] for Pell LEU restoration.

See also NASFAA's Today's News article, FSA Issues Guidance on 2023-24 Implementation Items from FAFSA Simplification Act, and search the FAFSA Simplification category within the AskRegs Knowledgebase.