By: Zoe Strickland
Managing Editor

Last year, President Barack Obama announced that there would be changes made to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. According to the FAFSA website, there are two changes that students should be aware of.

Starting this year, the FAFSA will be available to fill out starting Oct. 1. However, the completion deadline of June 30 has remained the same.

In addition to the new opening date, President Obama has announced that students and families will report earlier income information. In the past, students have been required to report their tax information for the current school year as a part of the FAFSA application process. Starting this year, students will report their tax information from the previous year.This means that for the 2017-18 FAFSA application, applicants use their tax information from 2015.

According to the FAFSA website, these changes have been implemented so that “more students and families will be able to complete their FAFSA using income information imported electronically from the IRS […] rather than submitting applications with income estimates that may need correcting, or […] waiting until the previous year’s tax return has been filed.”

Western will be hosting FAFSA completion workshops in room 108 of Hamersly Library from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Oct. 3-6. If you’re interested in attending one of the workshops, bring your FAFSA username and password, as well as your 2015 tax information.

To begin your FAFSA application independently, visit fafsa.ed.gov.

More information about the changes to the FAFSA can be found at studentaid.ed.gov/sa.

Contact the author at journalmanaging@wou.edu