As Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story. More changes to the 2009-10 FAFSA. 

Other changes:

• Adds the question about interest in TEACH Grant (remember, schools are not required at this time to participate in this program)
• Qualified Education Benefits (529 plans) are reported as parent Investment Net Worth regardless of who owns the plan. Even if the plan is in the student's name, the parent reports it. This is good because more assets are protected for the parent than the student.
• Qualifed Education Benefits (529 plans) that the student receives are not counted as financial aid. This is also good because the benefits won't impact other financial aid received.
• Simplified Needs Test changes-students probably don't know what this is because it's an internal process to determine if parent/student assets are required to be reported on the FAFSA. If you qualify for the Simplified Needs Test and complete parent/student assets anyway, that information will not be used to determine financial aid eligibility. Changes are:
• Dislocated Worker added- instructions as to who qualifies as a dislocated worker will be printed on page 3 of the FAFSA paper application and available online as well.
• Adjusted Gross Income less than $30,000 (increased)

Revised FAFSA form:

• No more Worksheets. Woo hoo! Those pesky Worksheets A, B, and C are gone. Instead, some questions have been eliminated while others are incorporated into the FAFSA application.
• What's not used any longer:
• Untaxed Social Security benefits received
• Welfare payments
• Earned Income Credit
• Foreign income and special fuel tax credits
• Taxed combat pay that is included in the Adjusted Gross Income is now reported to offset that income.

I still have a problem with the FAFSA counting child support as income. Child support is awarded to a parent to use for daily living expenses and shouldn't have to be counted as saveable income for college.

Lastly, another major change is for schools who perform a dependent override. Let me explain. A dependent override is where a student has appealed to their school to be independent based on extreme extenuating circumstances, usually parental abuse or abandonment. Before 2009-10, that override to file the FAFSA as an independent student did not transfer to any other college you added to the FAFSA. Now it does. However, that does not mean that your other school will accept that override at face value. You may still be required to submit appeal documents to the other school. Because these overrides are based on a specific school's professional judgment criterion, what school A accepts as extenuating circumstances and/or documentation, may not be the same as that required by school B.

Hopefully you'll have an easier time completing the FAFSA for 09-10.

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