How New FAFSA Will Change What Students Pay

The upcoming overhaul to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the underlying formula that determines how aid is dispersed will mean thousands more students will be eligible for the Pell Grant and higher-value Pell Grants than under the current formula, a new Brookings report finds. All the changes in the 2020 FAFSA Simplification Act could mean that Pell Grant eligibility increases by about $2.6 billion from the current formula. However, students with siblings in college likely will lose billions in institutional aid, according to the report, which analyzed how FAFSA simplification will affect students’ eligibility for financial aid.