Confused about FAFSA income reporting - did I miss something?

You're not missing anything! The FAFSA was completely redesigned for 2024-2025 and now carries over to the 2025-2026 application cycle. The new FAFSA uses direct data sharing with the IRS, so when you provided consent during the application, it automatically pulled your tax information using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. This eliminates the need to manually enter all those income details. The new process also doesn't require manual entry of bank account balances for most applicants. It's designed to be simpler and reduce errors. So if you authorized the IRS data retrieval, your application likely has all the information it needs!

The redesigned FAFSA has greatly simplified the process as the previous commenter mentioned. For most families, asset information has much less impact on aid eligibility now because they've increased the Asset Protection Allowance. Many families don't even need to report their assets anymore depending on their financial situation and whether they meet certain criteria. The new SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation puts more emphasis on income than assets for most applicants. Did you get any specific prompts about assets during your application? If not, you likely qualified for the simplified needs assessment.

dont worry too much! i did mine last month and it was WAY easier than before. never asked for my bank stuff either. my cousin works in financial aid office and said thats normal now, its all about the IRS connection thing. u probably did it right!

I had THE EXACT SAME PANIC ATTACK when I submitted mine!!! Literally texted my sister at 1am freaking out that I'd messed it all up. But then I got my SAI score about 5 days later, so it must have been fine. The whole process is different now. My son's high school counselor said they changed everything to make it easier but honestly it just confused us parents who did it the old way before!!

I got an email saying they received it, then another one when the SAI was ready to view. Just check your account every couple days. The waiting is the WORST!

The simplified FAFSA should have asked about assets if your family didn't meet the criteria for the simplified formula. At an AGI of $78,000, you might qualify for simplified needs assessment if you're eligible to file a 1040A/EZ (even though those forms don't exist anymore, they still use that criterion) or if you received certain means-tested federal benefits. If you did qualify, then no asset questions is normal. If you should have gotten asset questions but didn't, it could be a technical issue. After you get your SAI, if it seems unexpectedly high, that might be worth investigating.

I'm going through this same thing right now except I'm divorced and have to submit special circumstances documentation because my ex won't provide his info. When I called FSA about the asset questions, they told me the simplified formula applies to more families now and that's why I didn't see those questions either. But I spent THREE DAYS trying to get through to them on the phone before I finally got a human being.

To follow up on your concerns - within 3-5 business days you should receive an email that your SAI has been calculated. That means the application was complete and processed successfully. If there are any issues requiring correction, you'll receive a separate notification about that. The system will also flag your application if something critical is missing, so no need to panic. Your experience is completely normal for the redesigned FAFSA process. The simplified formula now applies to many more families, which is why you likely didn't get asked about assets.

Update: I got my SAI score today! It was processed without any issues or additional information needed. Thanks everyone for reassuring me that I wasn't going crazy. The new system is definitely different but I guess that's a good thing if it makes the process faster. Now to figure out what this SAI number actually means for financial aid...

Congratulations on getting your SAI! That's such a relief when you've been worried about whether everything went through correctly. For anyone else reading this thread who might be in a similar situation, Oscar's experience is a perfect example of how the new FAFSA process is supposed to work. The streamlined system with automatic IRS data retrieval has eliminated a lot of the manual data entry that used to cause so many errors and headaches. While the change confused those of us familiar with the old process, it's actually working as intended for most families. Thanks for sharing your update - it's helpful for other parents who might be experiencing the same anxiety!