The Free Application for Federal Student Aid has been made easier for the upcoming year.
Gary Bateman, assistant director of financial aid at OU, said that the federal government has tried to simplify the FAFSA.
“There are fewer questions than there used to be,” he said.
Bateman said that one of the changes to the new online application is what is known as skip logic.
“Skip logic is designed to help students avoid questions you don’t need to answer,” he said. “If you’re female, women don’t register for selective service.”
Freshman psychology and elementary education major Aaprara Mills said that she did notice the differences in the FAFSA.
“It was a whole lot easier,” she said. “It took less time and it was very helpful.”
Freshman Autumn Romig, from Garnett said that she didn’t notice anything different.
Bateman said that since the differences which are cosmetic could cause confusion, but that the changes serve to make the application more user-friendly, and that the student information remains the same.
“More drop down boxes, and looks like a little better format as far as I can see,” he said.
“Helpful hints like preventing use of nicknames that can cause a problem with your FAFSA.”
Bateman said the OU financial aid department does not get directly into helping people with their FAFSA, and that the number to call for application help is 1-800-4-FED-AID.
“Folks should not be embarrassed to do that, most people these days don’t do their own taxes,” he said. “This is not as difficult as a tax form, but there is some information on here that is somewhat confusing.”