Julia Chen (MSB ’29) was working in her parents’ small Chinese restaurant in rural Maryland last spring when she received her financial aid package. She turned to tell her parents, leading with how much aid she was rewarded, rather than how much her family was expected to contribute.
Chen was hoping to postpone any disappointment, considering how expensive Georgetown remained, even with financial aid.
“This is kind of a lot to ask from my parents,” Chen said. “They literally work every single day of their lives just so that me and my sister can have a good education.”
Each year, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) provides students with the opportunity to apply for federal aid in the form of grants, work-study funds, and loans. Georgetown utilizes students’ FAFSA, federal tax returns, and College Scholarship Service Profile, another online application used for non-federal aid, to calculate financial need. For the 2025-2026 academic year, the undergraduate tuition rate was $71,136, a 4.9% increase from the previous year, not including living expenses.
In the 2026-2027 FAFSA a few notable changes were made to the criteria for receiving financial aid. These shifts are due in large part to the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which President Trump signed into law in July 2025. OBBBA made over $1 trillion in cuts to social safety-net programs, while making changes to federal financial aid.
OBBBA updated the Student Aid Index (SAI), a formula-based number generated from information in the FAFSA form that indicates financial need. Starting this cycle, the SAI will no longer account for the net worth of family-owned businesses with 100 or fewer full-time employees. These small businesses will not be counted as assets that are considered when calculating expected family contributions.
For Chen, these new guidelines could significantly change her SAI and potentially decrease expected family contribution, as her family’s restaurant falls within this newly defined category.
“It’s been a hard year for us,” she said. “I think this could be really helpful for [my parents].”
Following her sister’s acceptance to Cornell University, where her tuition cost was “basically zero,” Chen’s family assumed she would receive a similar financial aid package at Georgetown. She didn’t.
“My tuition here is pretty high for my family,” she said. “They were going to retire last year. Now they’ve had to work for four more years without me and my sister helping them.”
Chen hopes that a reduction in her expected family contribution, and the subsequent increase in her financial aid, would take some of the pressure off her parents.
OBBBA also tightened Pell Grant eligibility, a grant awarded to undergraduate students displaying exceptional financial need. The grant offers between $740 and $7,395. Moving forward, if an applicant has an SAI greater than or equal to twice the value of the maximum Pell Grant, they will be ineligible, creating a definitive cap. For the 2026-2027 award year, the cutoff will be $14,790.
Alessia Castro Garcia (CAS ’29) is a member of the Georgetown Scholars Program, which provides support and guidance for first generation, low-income students. She is Pell Grant eligible.
“I’m constantly worrying about whether my Pell Grant is going to get affected for this next cycle,” she said, talking about the challenges of federal aid guidelines changing year to year. “I stress endlessly about how I can help my parents pay for my tuition, even though it’s not a lot compared to everyone else.”
“The last thing I want to be for my parents is a burden,” Castro Garcia said.
Mia Rich (SFS ’28), a Pell Grant recipient, shares Castro Garcia’s unease.
“I think that the cap on the Student Aid Index could be very harmful to a lot of students,” she said. “Many families may be classified as sitting above the Student Aid Index, but now need to scramble and contribute all of their income to their child’s education, or the burden may be on the student themselves.”
As of now, Rich has “no clue” whether she will continue to qualify for the Pell Grant this upcoming aid cycle. She hasn’t yet filled out her FAFSA, as the process has “historically been pretty difficult” for her. Rich’s parents were never married but are now separated, and the form makes it complicated to account for different family situations.
Like Castro Garcia, Rich recognizes that FAFSA guidelines have changed repeatedly in recent years, and with them, the amount of aid students can count on receiving.
“If your ability to pay for college is dependent on federal aid, but that aid could possibly be reduced or revoked year to year, it makes you feel as though your education could be easily taken away at any moment,” said Rich.
With recent changes, Rich believes that the university’s financial aid office should do more to prioritize stability for dependent students, including by making the financial aid award process more transparent.
“Obviously they have a job and can’t pull money out of thin air, but the financial aid office’s inability to understand that, with federal changes, students are experiencing a lot of uncertainty, is very disheartening,” she said.
In a statement, a university spokesperson wrote to the Voice that Georgetown is committed to “ensuring that all students and families can afford the cost of a Georgetown education,” and will consider adjustments to financial aid packages when alerted to new family circumstances.
Students can visit the Office of Student Financial Aid website for more information, including graduate-specific changes that place caps on loans and eliminate the Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan program.
