Is It Conflicting Information If an Admissions Record Indicates a Different Race/Ethnicity/Gender Identity Than the FAFSA?

No. Effective with the 2024-25 FAFSA, applicants are asked their gender, race, and ethnicity. Applicants are advised that their answers to these questions will not affect their eligibility for federal student aid, and will not be used in any financial aid calculations. Schools will not receive this information.

Note that students are given the option of selecting "prefer not to answer" for the gender, race, and ethnicity questions. Based on the 2024-25 FAFSA prototype, a student does not have the option to leave the answers to these questions blank when completing the online FAFSA. That is, if the student does not want to provide the information, they must choose "prefer not to answer." However, a student who completes a paper FAFSA could leave all answer options blank. If that happens, the ISIR will include Reject Code "9" indicating that demographic information is missing from the FAFSA.

Per the FAFSA Specifications Guide, Volume 5 – Edits and Rejects, resolution is required and either the student can make the correction in the online FAFSA or on the FAFSA Submission Summary, or the financial aid administrator (FAA) can make the correction in the FAFSA Partner Portal (formerly FAA Access). That said, the comment code tells the student to correct the answer themself. And, since the gender, race, and ethnicity answers are not shared with the school on the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) for privacy reasons, it would be a best practice to only allow the student to correct the answer themself.

For guidance on the 2024-25 changes related to information required to complete the FAFSA, reference Section 483 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) as amended, [20 USC 1090].

Student Aid Reference Desk: For additional information, try the Student Aid Reference Desk. It is a central hub of all the important financial aid resources you need with direct links to legislation, regulation, Dear Colleague Letters, and other ED and NASFAA references. It is updated on a rolling basis with the latest news and changes.