2024-2025 FAFSA Changes

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; or
• The spouse of a remarried parent who is on the FAFSA--the stepparent

Contributors will receive an email informing them that they've been identified as such, and will need to log in using their own FSA ID (if they don't already have one) to provide the required information on the student's FAFSA.

Being a contributor does not mean they are financially responsible for the student's education costs, but it does mean the contributor must provide information on the FAFSA or the application will be incomplete and the student will not be eligible for federal student aid.

Effective the 2024-25 award year, parent of record on the FAFSA is noted below. You will notice that the parent with whom the student lived the most in the past 12 months prior to filing the FAFSA, is no longer a criterion in cases of divorced or separated parents. For divorced or separated parents, income and assets are reported for the parent who provides the most financial support even if the student does not live with that parent or lives with the other parent.

Parental Income on FAFSA

• Parents who live together
  Parental income and assets in the case of student whose parents are married and not separated, or who are unmarried but live together, shall include the income and assets of both parents.
• Divorced or separated parents
  Parental income and assets for a student whose parents are divorced or separated, but not remarried, is determined by including only the income and assets of the parent who provides the greater portion of the student's financial support.
• Death of a parent
  Parental income and assets in the case of the death of any parent is determined as follows:
  (A) If either of the parents has died, the surviving parent shall be considered a single parent, until that parent has remarried.
  (B) If both parents have died, the student shall not report any parental income or assets.
• Remarried parents
  If a parent whose income and assets are taken into account under paragraph (2), or if a parent who is a widow or widower and whose income is taken into account under paragraph (3), has remarried, the income of that parent's spouse shall be included in determining the parent's assessment of adjusted available income if the student's parent and the stepparent are married as of the date of application for the award year concerned.
• Single parent who is not divorced or separated
  Parental income and assets in the case of a student whose parent is not described in paragraph (1) and is a single parent who is not divorced, separated, or remarried, shall include the income and assets of such single parent."

Pell Grant eligibility will be determined in three steps:

1. Maximum Pell Grant – Applicants may qualify for a Maximum Pell Grant based on family size, adjusted gross income (AGI), and poverty guidelines. Students qualifying for a Maximum Pell Grant will have an SAI between negative $1,500 (-$,1500) and $0.

2. Student Aid Index (SAI) – Applicants who do not qualify for a Maximum Pell Grant may still qualify if their calculated SAI is less than the maximum Pell Grant award for the award year. The applicant’s Pell Grant award for full-time enrollment will be equal to the maximum Pell Grant for the award year minus SAI. The Pell Grant will be adjusted (prorated) if an applicant enrolls in less than full time, or if the applicant’s Cost of Attendance (COA) is less than the calculated Pell Grant award.

3. Minimum Pell Grant – Applicants whose SAI is greater than the maximum Pell Grant award for the award year may still qualify for a Pell Grant, based on family size, AGI, and poverty guidelines.

• Non- Filers – Independent student (and spouse, if applicable) tax non-filers and dependent children of non-filing parent (s)

• Children of certain deceased veterans and public safety officers- Students under age 33 whose parent died in the armed forces after September 11, 2001, and or students under age 33 whose parent (s) died in the line of duty as a public safety officer

Automatic Pell Grants based on income household and size: Families making less than 175% and single parents making less than 225% of the federal poverty level will see their students receive a maximum Federal Pell Grant award. Minimum Pell Grants will be guaranteed to students from households below 275%, 325%, 350%, or 400% of the federal poverty level, depending on household structure. Pell awards between the maximum and minimum amounts will be determined by SAI.

Once the annual Federal Pell Grant is determined, half of the award will be offered in each semester of the award year and will be prorated by Enrollment Intensity instead of Enrollment Levels.

Year-Round Pell Grant

Previously, a Pell Grant-eligible student must have been enrolled at least half-time in a payment period during which they received more than 100% of their scheduled award. Beginning with the 2024-2025 award year, half-time enrollment is no longer required.

Students with unusual circumstances are defined as:

A student for whom a financial aid administrator makes a documented determination of independence by reason of unusual circumstances which prevent the student from contacting parents. These circumstances could include—

• human trafficking, as described in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.)
• legally granted refugee or asylum status and are separate from their parents, or their parents are displaced in a foreign country
• parental abandonment or estrangement and have not been adopted
• abusive or threatening environment or
• student or parental incarceration and contact with parents would pose a risk to the student.

Other students will continue to qualify as independent on their FAFSA form and not required to provide parental information if they:

• Are active-duty military
• Are a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces
• Were an orphan, ward of the court or in foster care at the age of 13 or older
• Are or were a legally emancipated minor or in a legal guardianship as determined by a court in the student’s state of legal residence or
• Are a student unaccompanied and either homeless or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless

Starting with the 2024-25 Award Year, both first-time and renewal applicants who indicate on their FAFSA form that they have an unusual circumstance will be granted provisional independent status. They will be able to complete the form without providing parental information. They will also receive an estimate of their federal student aid eligibility, which will be subject to a final determination by the institution they attend. If a student's institution approves their unusual circumstances, their independent status will carry over when they renew their FAFSA form in future award years, and they will be considered independent for as long as they remain at the same institution and their circumstances remain unchanged.

• Create an FSA ID on the Federal Student Aid website and assist your contributors, such as your parent(s) or spouse in creating an FSA ID.
  • If you already have an FSA ID there is no need to create a new one. Your existing FSA ID will continue to work.
• Gather required Information
  • Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and other personal information for all contributors
    • Parents without a SSN will be able to apply for an FSA ID and will be able to complete the form online for the first time
    • Other Information for Contributors
      • Name
      • Date of Birth
      • Email Address
  • 2022 Federal Income Tax Return: 
    • You and your contributors should have your tax returns on hand when you fill out the FAFSA form. Even though your tax information will be transferred directly into the FAFSA form, you may still need your tax records to answer certain questions.
  • Records of assets
  • Records of untaxed income
    • Child support information (if applicable)
    • Interest income (if applicable)
• University of Detroit Mercy School Code: 002323

This process outlines the steps needed in order for an individual without an SSN to have their identity verified and StudentAid.gov account created.

Step 1: An individual should visit StudentAid.gov, select “Create Account” and complete all steps, including answering 1-4 knowledge-based verification questions via TransUnion®.

Step 2: Upon completing the Create Account process, the individual will see a confirmation page with the results of their identity verification. If they fail the TransUnion® process, FSA will automatically assign a case number to the individual.

Step 3: Once the case number is created, FSA will send them a verification email in their preferred language (English or Spanish), which will include their case number, along with guidance on how to submit copies of unexpired acceptable documentation (listed below) to verify their identity. Individuals will also be required to submit an attestation and validation of identity form along with their approved identity documentation. This form will be available on https://studentaid.gov/forms-library.

Acceptable Documents to Establish an Individual’s Identity:

Provide one (1) of the following documents to establish identity:

• U.S. Driver’s License
• U.S. State/City Identification Card
• Foreign Passport

One (1) set of documents below to establish identity:

• Municipal Identification Cards + utility bill
• Community ID + utility bill
• Consular Identification Cards/Matricula Consular + utility bill

The Net Price Calculator is designed to help you estimate your financial aid options at University of Detroit Mercy. This calculator provides information about federal, state, and UDM grants and scholarships. If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Admissions at 313-993-1245 or admissions@udmercy.edu.

If you have completed the 2024-25 FAFSA already, you can use the SAI provide to you. If you have not completed the FAFSA or received an SAI, you can either use the SAI estimator linked to above or provide more details about you and your family's financial situation.