Guidelines for data sharing practices had changes go into effect with the 2024-2025 award year as a result of the FUTURE Act and the FAFSA Simplification Act. Information from a processed FAFSA are divided into two categories-Federal Tax Information(FTI) which is information brought directly from the IRS into the FAFSA and Non-FTI data which is information provided directly by the student/contributors into the FAFSA.

Non-FTI FAFSA Data is defined as:
  • The fact that the FAFSA was submitted;
  • Applicant and contributor information provided on the FAFSA, Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR), and FAFSA Submission Summary, including:
    • Personally identifiable information (PII); Demographic information; Student eligibility information; the list of colleges receiving the FAFSA; manually provided income and asset information; Student aid index (SAI); and Federal Pell Grant eligibility (Yes/No).
FTI FAFSA Data includes:
  • Tax year (e.g., 2022 tax year information for the 2024-25 FAFSA); tax filing status; Adjust Gross Income (AGI); number of dependents; income earned from work; Taxes paid; educational tax credits; untaxed individual retirement arrangement/account (IRA) distributions; IRA deductions and payments; untaxed pension amounts; Tax-exempt interest; Schedule C net profit/loss; Indicators for Schedules A, B, D, E, F, and H; and IRS response code.
Have questions or comments about this survey? Contact Catherine Brown, Senior Director, Policy & Advocacy, NCAN at brownc@ncan.org.

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* 1. Has your organization received student-level non-FTI FAFSA data in the past from higher education institutions, school districts, and/or state agencies?

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* 2. For each purpose in the lefthand column below, indicate:

(1) if, starting during the 2024-2025 award year, whether you have been able to continue to receive this non-FTI FAFSA data

(2) if you can receive that data, whether you can do so by providing written student consent to the institution/agency sharing the data or whether can you receive that data without student consent

  Continue to Receive Not Sure Whether We Can Receive With Providing Student Consent Without Providing Student Consent
Receive data for purpose of assisting students with applications, awards or administration of financial aid
Receive data for purpose of promoting college attendance, persistence or completion
Our organization awards scholarships using non-FTI data as an eligibility requirement
Receive data for purpose of conducting outreach to students for means-tested benefits

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* 3. Has your organization received student-level FTI FAFSA data in the past from higher education institutions, school districts and/or state agencies?

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* 4. For each purpose in the lefthand column below, indicate:

(1) if, starting during the 2024-2025 award year, whether you have been able to continue to receive this FTI FAFSA data

(2) if you can receive that data, whether you can do so by providing written student consent to the institution/agency sharing the data or whether can you receive that data without student consent

  Continue to Receive Not Sure Whether We Can Receive With Providing Student Consent Without Providing Student Consent
Receive data for purpose of assisting students with applications, awards or administration of financial aid
Receive data for purpose of promoting college attendance, persistence or completion
Our organization awards scholarships using non-FTI data as an eligibility requirement
Receive data for purpose of conducting outreach to students for means-tested benefits

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* 5. What sources do you use to locate and understand data-sharing guidance for Non-FTI and FTI FAFSA data? Check all that apply.

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* 6. If your organization is no longer receiving Non-FTI or FTI FAFSA data, have you adopted or considered adopting any of the following items as a proxy for identifying financial need? Check all that apply.

  Already Adopted Considering Adopting
Income data from CSS Profile or other application
Student home ZIP code
Student Aid Index
Pell-Eligible Status
Means-Tested Benefit Recipient
Free/Reduced Lunch Recipient

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* 7. If your organization must sign any type of data-sharing agreement to receive the data types referenced above, please indicate the type of organization with which you have agreements. Check all that apply.

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* 8. Your Name

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* 9. Your Organization

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* 10. Your Email

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