FAFSA Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, a new FAFSA is necessary in order to be eligible for federal financial aid each academic year.

• The 2024-25 FAFSA includes fall 2024, spring 2025 and summer 2025
• The 2025-26 FAFSA includes fall 2025, spring 2026 and summer 2026

The 2025-26 FAFSA is scheduled to open on December 1 at fafsa.gov! We recommend you file as soon as possible. Many need-based grants, including the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) and the Oregon Opportunity Grant (OOG), are dependent on your filing date, as funding is limited and awarded on a first-filed basis.

You will need:

• Your FSA ID login
• Your tax information (in case the IRS Data Retrieval Tool does not work - in most cases, it will automatically retrieve your info when you grant consent)
  • 2024-25 FAFSA - 2022 tax return
  • 2025-26 FAFSA - 2023 tax return
• Records of untaxed income
• Cash, savings, and checking account balances
• George Fox University's school code: 003194

• The 2024-25 FAFSA uses your 2022 tax information
• The 2025-26 FAFSA uses your 2023 tax information

Most likely, you have already filed your taxes, as most of the deadlines to file have passed. If you have not filed yet, you must do so in order to be eligible for federal financial aid.

In the meantime, you can complete the FAFSA using estimated tax information. Any changes or corrections need to be updated on the FAFSA after your taxes are complete.

If you earned income and are not sure if you need to file, go to the IRS Interactive Tax Assistant to find out if you need to file taxes.

Every FAFSA question has an info icon next to the question. Click on the “i” icon and an info bubble will appear to clarify exactly what is needed. If you have further questions, reach out to our Financial Aid office.

Only select yes if your parent is unwilling to contribute information to your FAFSA. If you select yes, then you will only be eligible for unsubsidized loans. 

It is important to select No so that the FAFSA gathers parent information to determine eligibility for Federal Pell and FSEOG grants, student employment, state grants, and George Fox need-based grants. 

We've seen some students experience success by logging out, logging back in, and adding parent contact information on the parent invite section. Others have returned to the FAFSA at a later date and it accepted parent information. Others needed to contact the Department of Education's Help Center.

Some families experience trouble submitting their FAFSA when the parent tries to complete the FAFSA first, or the student tries to submit the FAFSA before the parent completes their part. While Federal Student Aid works to resolve this issue, here is the best way for dependent students to complete the FAFSA:

• Student starts the FAFSA form and works through all sections up to the parent invite
• Student invites parents to complete their section
• Student saves and stops (does not sign or submit)
• Parent completes their portion of the FAFSA, including signature
• Student returns to their FAFSA to sign and submit their section

The net worth of your current businesses is the amount left over after subtracting the debt from the value of the business. Business value includes the market value of land, buildings, machinery, equipment, inventory, etc. Business debt means only those debts for which the business was used as collateral.

The FAFSA asks about personal income which comes from your personal tax return. The business income is not reported. However, the FAFSA asks about business net worth, which would include the equity in your business (value of the business less any debts owed against that business).

Retirement income will transfer directly from the IRS using the IRS Direct Data Exchange (DDX). If you are unable to use the DDX, you will need to manually enter the untaxed amount of pensions and annuities. The taxed portion is already factored into your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) when entered on the FAFSA.

A 529 college savings plan should be listed as a parent asset for a dependent student. Only the 529 plan for that student should be listed as a parent asset. (i.e. a sibling’s 529 plan should not be listed as an asset for the student and parent completing the FAFSA. The sibling’s 529 plan should be listed on their own FAFSA.)

For dependent students, education savings accounts will only be counted as a parent asset if the account is designated for the student. 529 savings plans can only have one beneficiary. As such, it needs to be reported on that student’s FAFSA as a parent asset. If the student is independent, it would be reported as a student asset.

For certain unusual circumstances, your Financial Aid Counselor may be able to submit a Professional Judgment to make adjustments to your FAFSA. These include:

• Reduction of Income
• Multiple Students in College
• One-time Payment
• Student Marriage
• Elementary/Secondary School Expenses
• Medical Expenses
• Parent Divorce/Separation or Death

Please visit our Professional Judgments page for more information and to apply.  

The Department of Education also offers a Pro Tips page for help filling out your FAFSA.

At the very least, the student will be a contributor on their own FAFSA. Depending on family situation and dependency status, they may need other contributors as well, such as a parent, spouse, or step-parent. 

The FAFSA asks questions to determine who needs to contribute information. As part of the application, students invite any necessary contributors to create an account and supply the required information.

Students who can answer NO to every question below are considered dependent on the 2025-2026 FAFSA. This means that a student can be a dependent student even if they live away from home and/or contribute most or all of their own financial support.

• Were you born before Jan. 1, 2002?
• As of today, are you married? (Answer “no” if you are separated but not divorced.)
• At the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, will you be working on a master’s or doctorate program (such as an MA, MBA, MD, JD, PhD, EdD, graduate certificate, etc.)?
• Are you currently serving on active duty in the U.S. armed forces for purposes other than training? (If you are a National Guard or Reserves enlistee, are you on active duty for other than state or training purposes?)
• Are you a veteran of the U.S. armed forces?
• Do you have children or other people (excluding your spouse) who live with you and who receive more than half of their support from you now and between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026?
• At any time since you turned age 13, were you an orphan (no living biological or adoptive parent)?
• At any time since you turned age 13, were you a ward of the court?
• At any time since you turned age 13, were you in foster care?
• Are you or were you a legally emancipated minor, as determined by a court in your state of residence?
• Are you or were you in a legal guardianship with someone other than your parent or stepparent, as determined by a court in your state of residence?
• At any time on or after July 1, 2024, were you unaccompanied and either (1) homeless or (2) self-supporting and at risk of being homeless?

You must continue to use your parents’ income information as long as you are considered a dependent student according to the FAFSA. Refer to the question above to determine if you are a dependent or independent student.

The parent who will be a contributor on the FAFSA is the parent who contributed the most support to the student in the previous 12 months. Parent support for college is included in the overall support for a student. FSA created this infographic to help determine which parent is the contributor on the FAFSA in the case of separation or divorce.

All contributors are required to grant consent to the IRS to provide their Federal Tax Information (FTI) on the FAFSA. If any contributor to the FAFSA does not provide consent, submission of the form will still be allowed. However, a Student Aid Index (SAI) will not be calculated, and the student will not be eligible for federal, state, or some institutional aid.

Your FSA ID is a username and password that you must use to log in to certain U.S. Department of Education (ED) websites.

A student and parent may not share an FSA ID. Your FSA ID is your signature, so it has to be unique to you. If you are a parent of a dependent student, you will need your own FSA ID to sign your child’s FAFSA form electronically. If you have more than one child attending college, you will use the same FSA ID to sign all applications, but each child must have his or her own.

We highly encourage students and parents to create an FSA ID if you have not yet done so. You can start this process at studentaid.gov. It takes one to three days for an FSA ID to go through the verification process, so we recommend getting it done now.  

Yes. In this case, FSA utilizes TransUnion services to ask knowledge-based questions to help with identity verification. Examples of these questions may include current or former addresses, a previous phone number, an employer, or a home/auto loan. Answers are multiple choice (including “none of the above”). Please review this helpful guide for creating an FSA ID and filing a FAFSA without a Social Security Number.

For help troubleshooting FSA ID issues, visit studentaid.gov, and check out their FSA ID FAQs.

If you need to make a correction to your FAFSA after you’ve already submitted it, you can do so by logging in to studentaid.gov. Often, students need to make corrections such as providing a signature for a student or parent, granting consent to access IRS tax data, adding a school to the FAFSA, or correcting questions previously answered incorrectly.

Federal Student Aid has helpful guidance on how to complete the most common corrections.

George Fox University should receive the corrections within 1-4 days and provide an updated financial aid package in the following days. 

If a FAFSA has missing information, it will be rejected. You will receive information on what information is required before the Department of Education can process your FAFSA. Follow their guidance to update your FAFSA.

Depending on the reason you indicate on your FAFSA for your independent status, we may contact you to request additional information or documentation to finalize your dependency status.

If you included our school code on your FAFSA (003194), then we should receive a copy of your FAFSA. We will send a FAFSA confirmation email when we receive it. 

Students can log in and view their FAFSA dashboard to see information such as their FAFSA processing status and their contributor’s FAFSA application status. Students will also be able to nudge their contributors to complete the contributor portion of the FAFSA if they have not yet done so.