FAFSA Updates

The Department of Education has now opened access to everyone to submit their 2025-26 FAFSA form. Be sure to complete your FAFSA as soon as possible for maximum financial aid consideration.

Students who complete the FAFSA by our Priority Completion Deadline of Feb. 15 are eligible for our $2,000 FAFSA Completion Incentive if you deposit by May 1. 

Getting Started:

1. Visit studentaid.gov to access the FAFSA form.
2. Create your Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID.
3. Begin the form. UHart's Federal school code is 001422. It is important that you include this information on your application so we receive a copy of your FAFSA.

Please let us know if we can help in any way!

All FAFSA contributors must create a FSA ID. This username and password will be used as your electronic signature for the FAFSA, and as your login for all federal sites. It takes one to three days for your information to be confirmed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) before you are able to use your FSA ID, so we encourage you to take that step now so that way you are not delayed when the FAFSA opens.

Creating Your FSA ID

• Social Security Number
• Full Name
• Date of Birth
• Email
• Cell Phone Number

To start this process, visit studentaid.gov. Once created, be sure to save this information somewhere safe as you will use this each year of your college journey! 

Parent Information

If you already have an FSA ID from completing the FAFSA for yourself, or another student, you do not need to create a new one. If you are unsure of your username and password, you may retrieve it by clicking "forgot username and password" on this page. If you have not created an FSA ID previously, you will have to follow the same steps as your student listed above.

You may be familiar with the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) as a result of the FAFSA form. The EFC will be replaced with the Student Aid Index (SAI). The Student Aid Index (SAI) is an eligibility index number that a school uses to determine how much federal student aid you would receive if you attended. This number results from the information that you provide on your FAFSA form. We will use this to evaluate resources available to help cover educational expenses and to award need-based financial aid.

Returning Students: Due to potential changes to the need analysis criteria, you may see an adjustment to your financial aid award for the 2024-25 year and beyond. While we are hopeful this award change will be net positive, it is possible it will not yield additional aid. We want to work with you to determine what changes may have impacted your award, and the potential to appeal those changes. To appeal your current financial aid award, please email a written narrative to finaid@eraglobe.com. A submission of an appeal does not guarantee additional funds. 

The FASFA Simplification Act will grant Federal Pell Grants to more students. The University of Hartford will evaluate how institutional need-based grant funding is awarded as well.

The “new” FAFSA will mandate that families use federal tax information directly from the federal IRS to complete the required financial information portions of the form. This will help ensure accuracy in SAI and Federal Pell grant awards. All students and contributors must provide consent and approval to have their federal tax information transferred directly into the FAFSA form via direct data exchange with the IRS.

Removal of the number of family members in college from the eligibility calculation which may result in reduced need-based eligibility for current students with siblings in college.

With the change to use the Student Aid Index (SAI) to need-based financial aid, there is a possibility for an SAI to be a negative number, with a minimum SAI of -1,500 instead of zero. The lower the SAI the more need the family demonstrates.

The number of questions on the FAFSA has decreased overall. 

Who will need to contribute information on the FAFSA form will be determined when the student completes their portion. If your information is required to complete the FAFSA you will receive an email notification to complete your portion. 

The FAFSA will not be complete until all contributors complete their portion of the FAFSA form.

Contributors may be the student, the student's spouse, biological or adoptive parent, and the spouse of the remarried parent list on the FAFSA- the step parent.

For divorced or separated parents, income and assets are reported for the parent who provides the most financial support over the 12 months prior to filing the FAFSA even if the student does not live with that parent or lives with the other parent. The parent of record is self-reported on the FAFSA by the student/parent.

Everyone contributing to the FAFSA form online must have their own StudentAid.gov account. Each contributor, including the student, will access their account with their own FSA ID (account username and password). If you have completed the FAFSA before but are unsure of your FSA ID, you may retrieve from the log in screen by clicking forgot username or forgot password.