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DOE proposes reinstating FAFSA requirement for three scholarship regulations after FAFSA is operational
Summary
Juliet Murawski told the State Board the higher education office is proposing amendments to regulations 12.11, 12.16 and 12.17 to reinstate FAFSA requirements now that the 2025-26 FAFSA is operational; she reported the office had received 934 applications and that 718 (about 77%) had completed FAFSA.
Juliet Murawski, director of the higher education office, presented proposed amendments to three Delaware scholarship regulations to reinstate FAFSA completion as part of eligibility and awarding criteria now that the U.S. Department of Education's 2025-26 FAFSA is functioning.
Murawski said the proposed changes affect regulation 12.11 (career-based scholarship program), regulation 12.16 (educator support scholarship program) and regulation 12.17 (mental-health services scholarship). "The purpose of these amendments is to reinstate the free application for federal student aid, the FAFSA requirements for these scholarships, so that the higher education office can consider an applicant's financial need as part of the eligibility process for those scholarships," she said.
She told the board that, as of that morning, the higher education office had received 934 applications across the three scholarship programs and that 718 applicants had already completed a FAFSA, which she said equates to roughly 77% of applicants. Murawski described DOE outreach steps (biweekly updates to counselors and principals, lists of seniors by FAFSA completion status) and a partnership with StandBy Me (a United Way financial-empowerment organization) to provide one-on-one FAFSA assistance to students at no cost.
Board members asked whether the career-based scholarship should explicitly state that need is a component of eligibility. Murawski said need is a component and explained the award process: the department first verifies eligibility for program majors (for example, accounting, business, computer science and finance for career-based scholarships) and then ranks applicants using the FAFSA-derived Student Aid Index (SAI). She acknowledged a technical correction in the regulation language to replace the term "expected family contribution" with the new "student aid index." "That was an error on 02/11, which will be corrected," she said.
A board member asked about possible AI impacts on FAFSA completion; Murawski said she had not yet seen guidance about AI'assisted application completion and observed that FAFSA already imports IRS data in many cases. There was no formal vote on the regulation amendments during the meeting; the presentation was informational and staff will return with corrected text and follow-up as needed.
