[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 4, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8929-8930]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02191]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket No.: ED-2025-SCC-0011]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 2026-
2027 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA[supreg])
AGENCY: Federal Student Aid (FSA), Department of Education (ED).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ED is
proposing a revision of the existing information collection.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before
April 7, 2025.
ADDRESSES: To access and review all the documents related to the
information collection listed in this notice, please use http://www.regulations.gov by searching the Docket ID number ED-2025-SCC-0011.
Comments submitted in response to this notice should be submitted
electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov by selecting the Docket ID number or via postal
mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. If the regulations.gov
site is not available to the public for any reason, the Department will
temporarily accept comments at ICDocketMgr@ed.gov. Please include the
docket ID number and the title of the information collection request
when requesting documents or submitting comments. Please note that
comments submitted after the comment period will not be accepted.
Written requests for information or comments submitted by postal mail
or delivery should be addressed to the Manager of the Strategic
Collections and Clearance Governance and Strategy Division, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, LBJ, Room 4C210,
Washington, DC 20202-1200.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to
collection activities, please contact the FAFSA Product Team at
fsa_fafsa_team@ed.gov or Beth Grebeldinger, (202) 570-8414.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department, in accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)),
provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to
comment on proposed, revised, and continuing collections of
information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its
information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting
burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's
information collection requirements and provide the requested data in
the desired format. The Department is soliciting comments on the
proposed information collection request (ICR) that is described below.
The Department is especially interested in public comment addressing
the following issues: (1) is this collection necessary to the proper
functions of the Department; (2) will this information be processed and
used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden accurate; (4)
how might the Department enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; and (5) how might the Department
minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, including
through the use of information technology. Please note that written
comments received in response to this notice will be considered public
records.
Title of Collection: 2026-2027 Free Application for Federal Student
Aid.
OMB Control Number: 1845-0001.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved ICR.
Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 31,791,647.
Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 20,412,753.
Abstract: Section 483, of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as
amended (HEA), mandates that the Secretary of Education ``. . . shall
produce, distribute, and process free of charge common financial
reporting forms as described in this subsection to be used for
application and reapplication to determine the need and eligibility of
a student for financial assistance. . .''.
The determination of need and eligibility are for the following
Title IV, HEA, federal student financial assistance programs: the
Federal Pell Grant Program; the Campus-Based programs (Federal
Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) and Federal Work-
Study (FWS)); the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan)
Program; the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher
Education (TEACH) Grant; the Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship; and
the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant.
Federal Student Aid (FSA), an office of the U.S. Department of
Education, subsequently developed an application process to collect and
process the data necessary to determine a student's eligibility to
receive Title IV, HEA program assistance. The application process
involves an applicant's submission of the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA[supreg]). After submission and processing of the
FAFSA form, an applicant receives a FAFSA Submission Summary, which is
a summary of the processed data they submitted on the FAFSA form. The
applicant reviews the FAFSA Submission Summary, and, if necessary, will
make corrections or updates to their submitted FAFSA data. Institutions
of higher education listed by the applicant on the FAFSA form also
receive a summary of processed data submitted on the FAFSA form which
is called the
[[Page 8930]]
Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR).
ED and FSA seek OMB approval of all application components as a
single ``collection of information.'' The aggregate burden will be
accounted for under OMB Control Number 1845-0001. The specific
application components, descriptions, and submission methods for each
are listed in Table 1.
Table 1--Federal Student Aid Application Components
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Component Description Submission method
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Initial Submission of FAFSA form
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fafsa.gov............................... Any applicant with a Federal Student Aid Submitted by the
ID (FSA ID) can complete the electronic applicant.
version of the FAFSA form.
Printed FAFSA form...................... The printed version of the FAFSA PDF for Mailed by the applicant.
applicants who are unable to access the
internet or complete the form using
fafsa.gov.
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Correcting and Reviewing Submitted FAFSA information
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fafsa.gov--Corrections.................. Any applicant with an FSA ID--regardless Submitted by the
of how they originally applied--may make applicant.
corrections to their own data. Note that
no user will be able to make corrections
to any federal tax information (FTI) that
was obtained from the IRS.
Electronic Other--Corrections........... With the applicant's permission, The FAA may be using their
corrections can be made by an FAA mainframe computer or
(Financial Aid Administrator) using the software to facilitate
Electronic Data Exchange (EDE). the EDE process.
Paper FAFSA Submission Summary.......... The paper summary is mailed to paper Mailed by the applicant.
applicants who did not provide an email
address. Applicants can write corrections
directly on the paper FAFSA Submission
Summary and mail for processing. Note
that users for whom federal tax
information (FTI) was obtained from the
IRS will not be able to make corrections
to that data.
FAFSA Partner Portal (FPP)--Corrections. An institution can use FPP to correct the Submitted by an FAA on
FAFSA form. behalf of an applicant.
Internal Department Corrections......... The Department will submit an applicant's These corrections are
record for system-generated corrections system-generated.
to the FAFSA Processing System. There is
no burden to the applicants under this
correction type as these are system-based
corrections.
FAFSA Submission Summary--electronic.... The electronic FAFSA Submission Summary is Cannot be submitted for
an online version of the FAFSA Submission processing.
Summary that is available on fafsa.gov to
all applicants. Notification for the
FAFSA Submission Summary is sent to
students who applied electronically or by
paper and provided a valid email address.
These notifications are sent by email and
include a secure hyperlink that takes the
user to the fafsa.gov site.
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This information collection also documents an estimate of the
annual public burden as it relates to the application process for
federal student aid. The Applicant Burden Model (ABM) measures
applicant burden through an assessment of the activities each applicant
conducts in conjunction with other applicant characteristics and, in
terms of burden, the average applicant's experience. Key determinants
of the ABM include:
The total number of applicants that will potentially apply
for federal student aid;
How the applicant chooses to complete and submit the FAFSA
form (e.g., by paper or electronically);
How the applicant chooses to submit any corrections and/or
updates (e.g., the paper FAFSA Submission Summary or electronically);
The type of FAFSA Submission Summary document the
applicant receives (paper or electronic);
The formula applied to determine the applicant's student
aid index (SAI); and
The average amount of time involved in preparing to
complete the application.
The ABM is largely driven by the number of potential applicants for
the application cycle. The total application projection for 2026-2027
is based on the projected total enrollment into post-secondary
education for Fall 2026. The ABM is also based on the application
options available to students and parents. ED accounts for each
application component based on analytical tools, survey information and
other ED data sources.
For 2026-2027, ED is reporting a net burden decrease of 2,004,707
hours.
Dated: January 30, 2025.
Kun Mullan,
PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and Clearance, Governance and
Strategy Division, Office of Chief Data Officer, Office of Planning,
Evaluation and Policy Development.
[FR Doc. 2025-02191 Filed 2-3-25; 8:45 am]
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