Vital FAFSA changes in October

GAGANDEEP KAUR
GRAPHIC DESIGNER

GAGE MITCHELL
STAFF WRITER

10/20/2025

FAFSA – the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – is an important part of many college students in America’s educational experience, and Alma College is no exception. The 2026/2027 school year application opened on Oct. 1: here are the official and unofficial changes you need to know about.  

Official changes:  

Students with full ride scholarships are no longer eligible for the Pell Grant. Students with full ride scholarships would commonly use the Pell for room and board, school supplies, and textbooks.   

Farms, fisheries, and small businesses can be excluded from household assets when applying. Students who no longer need to report these assets will have a lower Student Aid Index, increasing the amount of money they are eligible for. This change applies to businesses with less than 100 employees, farms that are also the primary place of residence, and all commercial fisheries.  

Foreign income sources must be reported during the application process. In previous years, families were only required to report income from US sources.   

Students with over twice the maximum allowed Student Aid Index score are no longer eligible for the Pell Grant. The new SAI threshold is $14,790, meaning no aid can be earned by students measured beyond that amount. This amount is lower than previous years, removing Pell Grant eligibility for many middle-class students.   

The SAI threshold is calculated using Adjusted Gross Income and the number of dependents in a household. The AGI is calculated using all forms of income, including pay, investments and assets. As the number of dependents increases, aid eligibility increases.  

If the applying student is the only dependent and the AGI is $95,000 or less, the student is eligible for Pell Grant Money. If the applying student is one of four dependents, the AGI can be as high as $125,000 per year and the student can still be eligible for the Pell Grant.  

The FAFSA form has been reduced to 36 questions as opposed to the previous 100+.   

Unofficial changes:  

The federal government shutdown presents challenges to the Department of Education’s (ED) ability to process applications for student aid. With workers unpaid and mostly at home, expect significant delays for all applications.  

Mass layoffs and firings currently taking place in the ED further strain the ability of student aid employees to go through applications in a timely manner. The most recent wave of layoffs was Oct. 10. The layoffs targeted all branches of the ED but primarily affected the Office of Special Education Programs.   

Since President Trump took office, the ED has reduced in size by over 50%, with the Oct. 10 layoffs reducing its remaining size by an entire fifth. This is part of the President’s plan to slowly shut down the department.  

The Dept of Ed is also currently in negotiations to hand student loan programs over to the Treasury Department, further complicating the student aid process. Several other programs are being moved or shut down as well, including special needs education and adult education programs.  

While these were all the changes currently affecting the federal student aid environment, more are likely to come. The evolving FAFSA landscape can be difficult to follow, but even with the difficulties, don’t forget to file your FAFSA, Alma.