[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 157 (Wednesday, August 14, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66094-66096]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-18115]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2024-FSA-0099]


Request for Information (RFI) Regarding Ways To Support the 
Successful Completion and Submission of the 2025-2026 FAFSA Form

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Education (Department) requests 
information in the form of written comments that include feedback on 
ways to improve the ``help text'' of the 2025-2026 FAFSA form, as well 
as for the development of supporting materials including student and 
contributor tip sheets, counselor guides, or other direct communication 
tools to ensure applicants and contributors can successfully complete 
and submit the 2025-2026 Free Application for Federal Student Aid 
(FAFSA[supreg]) form. The Department also seeks feedback from financial 
aid administrators, counselors, and other members of the public on ways 
the Department can provide additional support to ensure applicants and 
contributors complete the FAFSA, and institutions of higher education 
and State grant agencies have support for the processing and packaging 
of student aid. Based on the suggestions submitted in response to this 
notice, the Secretary will consider changes to the 2025-2026 FAFSA 
supporting materials and develop a new Better FAFSA Better Future 
Roadmap (the Roadmap) that will outline the new tools the Department is 
making available, such as additional trainings, webinars, counselor 
guides, and student and contributor tip sheets.

DATES: Suggestions and comments must be submitted no later than 
September 13, 2024 to ensure their consideration.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at www.regulations.gov. However, if you require an accommodation 
or cannot otherwise submit your comments via regulations.gov, please

[[Page 66095]]

contact the program contact person listed below under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT. The Department will not accept comments by fax or 
by email, or comments submitted after the comment period closes. To 
ensure that the Department does not receive duplicate copies, please 
submit your comments only once. Additionally, please include the Docket 
ID at the top of your comments.
    The Department strongly encourages you to submit any comments or 
attachments in Microsoft Word format. If you must submit a comment in 
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), the Department strongly 
encourages you to convert the PDF to ``print-to-PDF'' format, or to use 
some other commonly used searchable text format. Please do not submit 
the PDF in a scanned format. Using a print-to-PDF format allows the 
Department to electronically search and copy certain portions of your 
submissions to assist in the 2025-26 FAFSA development process.
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: Please go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
regulations.gov, including instructions for finding a rule on the site 
and submitting comments, is available on the site under ``FAQ.''
    Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to generally make comments 
received from members of the public available for public viewing on the 
Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, 
commenters should include in their comments only information about 
themselves that they wish to make publicly available. Commenters should 
not include in their comments any information that identifies other 
individuals or that permits readers to identify other individuals. The 
Department will not make comments that contain personally identifiable 
information (PII) about someone other than the commenter publicly 
available on www.regulations.gov for privacy reasons. This may include 
comments where the commenter refers to a third-party individual without 
using their name if the Department determines that the comment provides 
enough detail that could allow one or more readers to link the 
information to the third party. If your comment refers to a third-party 
individual, to help ensure that your comment is posted, please consider 
submitting your comment anonymously to reduce the chance that 
information in your comment about a third party could be linked to the 
third party. The Department will also not make comments that contain 
threats of harm to another person or to oneself available on 
www.regulations.gov.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the program contact person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melanie Storey, Director, Policy 
Implementation and Oversight, U.S. Department of Education, Federal 
Student Aid. Telephone: (202) 377-3608. Email at: 
[email protected].
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and 
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 2024-2025 FAFSA cycle was the 
culmination of extraordinary changes to law and the entire FAFSA 
process. The passage of two bipartisan pieces of legislation--the 2019 
Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education 
(FUTURE) Act and 2020 FAFSA Simplification Act--resulted in the 
retirement and rebuilding of more than 20 technological systems within 
the agency, new Federal student aid eligibility formulas, a new data 
exchange that pulls tax data directly from the Internal Revenue Service 
into the FAFSA, and many other new requirements and innovations.
    The expansive scope, development process, and timeline of 
simplifying the 2024-25 FAFSA has been challenging for students, 
families, counselors, institutions, States, and organizations that 
support them. To minimize disruptions and ensure a smooth experience 
for students, families, and institutions, the Department will not be 
making major changes to the 2025-26 FAFSA form, including to the 
question flow, data collected to make eligibility determinations, and 
the ISIR layout.
    The Department recognizes that for every student who qualifies for 
Federal financial aid to have the opportunity to successfully complete 
the FAFSA, our partners will need effective tools and resources for 
both student and contributor outreach, ISIR processing, and packaging 
of Federal student aid. While the Department will not make substantive 
changes to the structure of the form in 2025-26, the Department will 
continue to develop tools and resources for students and families, and 
those that support them, including counselors and financial aid 
administrators, to ensure a successful 2025-26 FAFSA cycle.
    With the support of institutions of higher education, K-12 schools 
and local educational agencies, State agencies, and college access and 
community organizations, more than 13 million students have submitted a 
2024-25 FAFSA to date. Partner feedback and support have also 
contributed to improvements that have reduced error rates since the 
launch of the form. In our continued work with our partners, through 
this Request for Information (RFI), the Department solicits specific 
feedback on ways to improve supporting materials, including help text 
on the form, the creation of student and contributor tip sheets and 
tools, and other direct communication to ensure students and their 
contributors can successfully complete the 2025-26 FAFSA. The 
Department also seeks feedback from financial aid administrators, K-12 
and postsecondary counselors, State and local educational agencies, and 
others on ways the Department can provide additional support to them in 
their work.
    In conjunction with the feedback from this RFI and a series of 
listening sessions that the Department is conducting, the Department is 
developing a new Better FAFSA Better Future Roadmap. The Roadmap will 
outline new tools the Department is making available such as additional 
trainings, webinars, counselor guides, and student and contributor tip 
sheets.
    The Department particularly seeks answers to the following 
questions related to FAFSA completion and aid processing:

Student and Contributor Resources

    1. What informational resources or tools from the Department would 
most help students, families, and those who work with them better 
understand and navigate the FAFSA form?
    2. What is the most effective way for the Department to communicate 
with students and contributors (e.g., direct emails and text messages 
where contact information is available, social media) about the steps 
and actions to take to complete the FAFSA?
    3. What specific questions on the FAFSA form need additional help 
or guidance (e.g., revised help text, videos, tip sheets) for students 
or contributors to successfully complete the form?
    4. What specific populations, if any, would benefit most from 
additional support materials, such as tip sheets? What are the best 
ways to communicate this additional support to these populations?

[[Page 66096]]

Institutions of Higher Education, K-12, State Grant Agencies, Advisors, 
and Other Support Organizations

    1. What types of student or contributor support initiatives have 
you or your institution, school or school district, agency, or 
organization found to be most effective in supporting students and 
contributors to complete the FAFSA? What types of informational 
resources could the Department create to increase the impact of these 
activities?
    2. What informational resources (e.g., tip sheets, webinars, 
instructional videos) would be helpful for financial aid administrators 
at institutions and State grant agencies? Are there specific topics 
related to the FAFSA that could benefit from additional support from 
the Department (e.g., packaging aid)?
    3. What specific resources or tools would support counselors (K-12 
and higher education), college access organizations, and other student 
support professionals to help increase rates of FAFSA completion?
    The Department encourages comments from institutions of higher 
education, schools and school districts (including school and district 
leaders), State educational agencies, State higher education agencies, 
school counselors and college advisors, college access organizations, 
student support professionals, students and their families, 
stakeholders within the education community, and other members of the 
public.
    This is a request for information only. This RFI is not a request 
for proposals (RFP) or a promise to make significant changes or 
adjustments to the FAFSA form. This RFI does not commit the Department 
to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. We are not seeking 
proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. The Department 
will not pay for any information or administrative costs that you may 
incur in responding to this RFI. The documents and information 
submitted in response to this RFI becomes the property of the U.S. 
Government and will not be returned.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this 
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published 
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To 
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at 
the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

James Kvaal,
Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2024-18115 Filed 8-13-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P