FAFSA FAQs

A contributor is anyone who is asked to provide information on an applicant’s FAFSA including:

• The student;
• The student's spouse (if applicable);
• A biological or adoptive parent; and/or
• The spouse of the married/remarried parent who is on the FAFSA (if applicable)

A Contributor is NOT a grandparent, foster parent, legal guardian, brother or sister, aunt or uncle, even if they helped provide for or raise the student, unless they have legally adopted the student.

Students should determine which parent to report based on which parent provided the most financial support during the past 12 months prior to submitting the FAFSA - even if the reported parent does not claim the student on their taxes.

Example: Allison lives with her biological mother, who is divorced and not remarried. Her father provides child support and claimed Allison on his taxes but overall, her mother provided most of her financial support during the past 12 months before she submits the FAFSA. Allison will invite her mother to be a contributor on her FAFSA. If Allison's mother had remarried, she would include both her mother and step-father on the FAFSA as contributors.

If neither parent provided support in the 12-month period, the parent of record is the parent who provided the greater portion of support during the most recent year that the student received financial support from a parent.

Students need the following contributor information to invite them to complete their required portion of the FAFSA:

• Name
• Date of Birth
• Social Security Number (SSN), if applicable
• Email Address

Contributors need to provide personal and financial information on their section of the FAFSA.

Contributors will be invited to complete their portion of the FAFSA form by entering their name, date of birth, Social Security number (if they have one), and email address. They must also provide personal and financial information in their own sections of the FAFSA form.

1. All students and contributors must create a StudentAid.gov account to complete the FAFSA form online. When contributors have filed taxes jointly, only one contributor will need an FSA ID.
2. Returning FAFSA filers and contributors do not need to create a new FSA ID if they already have one.
3. If a parent or spouse contributor does not have a Social Security number (SSN), they will still need to create an FSA ID to fill out their portion of the student's FAFSA form online. Currently, users are not able to create an FSA ID if they do not have a Social Security number, but the new process is expected to be released soon.

No. You can retrieve your existing FSA ID if you forgot your username and password.

If the parent you indicate on the FAFSA is currently married or re-married, it'll depend on how they filed taxes.

• If they filed taxes as married filing joint, only one parent needs an FSA ID.
• If they filed separately, both parents would need their own FSA ID (and both need to give consent).

According to the Future Act, all students and contributors must provide consent to the following:

• Have their federal tax information transferred directly into the FAFSA form via Future Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX) with the IRS;
• Have their federal tax information used to determine the student's eligibility for federal student aid; and
• Allow the U.S. Department of Education to share its federal tax information with postsecondary institutions and state higher education agencies for use in awarding and administering financial aid.

Important: Even if students or contributors don't have a Social Security number, didn't file taxes, or filed taxes outside of the U.S., they still need to provide consent.

If a student, spouse, or parent contributor doesn't provide consent on the FAFSA, the Student Aid Index (SAI) will not be calculated, and the student will not be eligible for any federal aid, including federal grants, loans and Work-Study.

Contributors need to provide consent when submitting the FAFSA so the IRS can confirm to Federal Student Aid (FSA) the student, parents, and/or spouse did not file taxes.

No. The IRS DRT was replaced with a more seamless tax transfer process after giving consent.

After you provide consent on the FAFSA and if the IRS cannot transfer your Federal Tax Information (FTI) to your FAFSA application, the application will allow you to self-report it. Self-reporting one's tax information on the FAFSA does not override the requirement for each required contributor to provide consent on the FAFSA form.

Contributors are no longer able submit a signed paper FAFSA signature page to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships at SUNY Oneonta as previously allowed. All signatures must either be submitted via the online FAFSA or by mail directly to the FAFSA Processing Center (FPS).

Contributors without a Social Security Number who previously could not electronically sign, will be able to create an FSA ID and therefore will be able to electronically sign the FAFSA.

Option 1: The student applies using the paper FAFSA and obtains wet signatures from all contributors, including the parents who also affirm their consent. The form must be mailed to the address on the application. This method is not recommended due to complexity and increased processing time.

Option 2: The student completes their section and self-reports information for the parent section on the online FAFSA. When the student submits their FAFSA without the parent signature, it will be placed in rejected status. The parent can then provide their signature and consent on a paper copy of the FAFSA Submission Summary. This method is not recommended due to complexity and increased processing time.

If the contributor denies consent and submits the FAFSA without a signature, they can correct this by adding consent at a later date. It does not matter what that contributor's role is; they can go online and submit a correction, or they can submit the correction using the FAFSA Submission Summary and mailing it to the FAFSA Processing System (FPS).

Making this correction to provide consent and to add a signature to the FAFSA must be done by the contributor, not the financial aid administrator.

SAI, or Student Aid Index, replaced the term Expected Family Contribution, known as EFC. The SAI represents a change in the methodology used to determine aid:

• The number of family members in college is not a factor in determining aid eligibility, but it is still a required question on the FAFSA form for information only.
• The net worth of a business is not limited to those with more than 100 full-time employees. Applicants will be asked to report the net worth of all businesses, regardless of the size of business.
• The net worth of a farm includes the value of a family farm, however; the value of a family's primary residence is excluded.
• Child support received counts as an asset instead of untaxed income.

Students with a negative or 0 SAI will be eligible for the maximum Pell Grant. The difference is that the negative SAI indicates the student has a higher need than the student with 0 SAI, being eligible for other grants, if available, like Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG).

Applicants must complete the FAFSA with the required tax year information. Families who have experienced a change of income may have their situation re-evaluated by the Office Financial Aid and Scholarship by providing supporting documentation. See the Eligibility section on our Financial Aid Awards page for information on starting a special circumstances review.

While the "number in college" question may still be on the FAFSA, it does not impact the formula that determines aid eligibility.

If additional family members in college creates a financial hardship that can be documented, families should email their assigned Financial Aid Advisor or finaid@oneonta.edu. This will be reviewed by the Office Financial Aid and Scholarship to determine if the student may qualify for additional financial aid.

After the student and all contributors submit the FAFSA, if the Student Aid Index (SAI) is negative or a 0, there is no need to request the Special Circumstance review, as the student is already receiving the maximum Pell grant.