Two years ago, the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) announced the Next Gen Federal Student Aid (Next Gen FSA) initiative to take steps toward improving the way students, families, and borrowers interact with and access federal student aid programs. In recent research, FSA found that students and families were frustrated and confused by FSA’s multiple and inconsistently branded websites. In December 2019, FSA introduced the new, consolidated studentaid.gov, which combined the four most visited sites: studentaid.gov, studentloans.gov, fsaid.gov, and nslds.gov. Each year, these websites are visited more than 120 million times. This centralized website provides a singular place where students and families can access federal student aid program data as well as student-specific loan and grant information.
Most notably, the new StudentAid.gov website provides access to:
- FAFSA form
- Student loan consolidation
- Entrance counseling and Exit counseling
- Master Promissory Note
- PLUS loan applications
- Income-driven repayment plan application
In addition to consolidating the website, students and borrowers can now access the FSA’s contact center for all federal student aid questions through the 1-800-4-FED-AID hotline. FSA has also introduced a digital assistant named “Aidan” to 10% of federal student aid borrowers. Aidan uses artificial intelligence to answer more than 800 frequently asked questions. The chatbot will become available to more students and families on a rolling basis and .
FSA plans to implement additional features to the new, consolidated website throughout the year to provide a better experience for students, families, and borrowers. According to an announcement last month, these features include access to:
- Personalized information about aid
- Loan repayment options
- Counseling about remaining loan and grant eligibility and make informed borrowing decisions
- Information about eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
Eventually, FSA plans to provide access to repay federal loans through StudentAid.gov. For more information about the Next Gen FSA initiative, FSA created a 4-minute video about the future of Federal Student Aid.
Sources:
ED Blog: Keeping the Promise: Announcing a New StudentAid.gov
FSA: StudentAid.gov Now Offers Aid Resources All in One Place
FSA: Newest Next Gen Launch
ED Review: 1/10/2020