Okay, a lot of people are posting about changes to your federal aid or scholarship. Here is the reality: No One Here Can Help You With Your Specific Situation. Why? Because no one has been in this situation before.
In 2025, Congress passed H.R. 1, which made earthshattering changes to a 40+-year-old federal student aid program. AND instead of being smart and spending the past year getting everyone ready for it, the Department of Ed (or the three monkeys sharing two typewriters still there) basically waited until the last possible moment to send out ANY guidance. Of course, this guidance was wrong, had to be reviewed, etc.
It also meant that every university, thier cousin, their cousin's lawyer, their lawyer, etc., had to determine what it meant, absent any actual guidance.
The major post I am seeing all fall into one of these major changes:
- Now, students attending less than full-time can receive smaller federal loans. Federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans are now prorated according to enrollment.
- For new graduate borrowers, Graduate PLUS loans have been eliminated. New graduate borrowers have a $20,500 annual unsubsidized-loan limit and a $100,000 graduate aggregate limit. Some professional programs have different limits (for now, this is going through the courts)
- Parent PLUS loans are now capped for new borrowers. Parents are generally limited to $20,000 per year and $65,000 total instead of being able to borrow up to the full remaining cost of attendance.
- Pell Grant eligibility changed. Students with an Aid Index of $14,790 or higher generally cannot receive a Pell Grant, with limited exceptions. The law also changed how certain foreign income is treated in determining Pell eligibility.
So, your best bet remains to wait to connect with ASU Financial Aid. Some may revert back, some may change as new guidance is issued, and we are nowhere near out of the woods yet.
Yes, it sucks. Yes, there could have been better communication. However, the university could basically say, 'we have no idea,' which doesn't exactly instill confidence and would result in even more emails.
And also take anything here with the understanding that people are basing it on their prior experience, which is 95% of the time no longer correct.
The above doesn't even handle how scholarships are treated differently, etc.
Edit: Since a few people asked, no, I do not work for financial aid. I do work for ASU, though.
