College Financial Aid Offers Must Be Standardized and Clear Starting in 2029

The College Financial Aid Clarity Act of 2025 is designed to stop the headache of comparing college financial aid offers that currently look like they were written in different languages. Starting July 1, 2029, any college that receives federal student aid will have to use a standardized, clear “Financial Aid Offer” form when communicating with students, making it much easier to compare apples to apples.

The End of the Shell Game

Right now, colleges have a lot of freedom in how they present costs and aid, which often leads to confusion. This new law cuts through that ambiguity by mandating consistent terminology and formatting (SEC. 2). For instance, aid must be clearly separated into grants/scholarships (money you don't repay) and loans (money you do). They can’t just lump them all together under a vague term like “Award Package.” The word “loan” must be used to describe any recommended loan amounts, and institutions must clearly distinguish between subsidized and unsubsidized loans.

Knowing Your True Cost

Perhaps the most important change is the requirement to clearly define and display the student’s actual cost (SEC. 2). Every offer must now include two specific ‘Net Price’ figures: the Annual Net Price for Completion and the Annual Net Price of Attendance. The first figure is the mandatory cost (tuition, fees, and required housing/meal plans) minus grants and scholarships. This tells you what you absolutely must pay to get the degree. The second figure adds in estimated non-required costs like books, transportation, and personal expenses, giving you the total budget needed for the year. By forcing colleges to separate “required costs” from the full “cost of attendance,” students can quickly see the difference between non-negotiable expenses and flexible budget items.

Loan Reality Check

If you’ve ever been offered a student loan, you know the fine print can be intense. The Act requires colleges to provide a serious reality check on every loan offered. They must disclose that loans need to be repaid, that interest affects the total cost, and that students can always choose to borrow less than the offered amount (SEC. 2). Furthermore, they must provide links to current interest rate and fee information and explain interest capitalization—that’s when unpaid interest gets added to your principal balance, making your loan grow faster. This level of mandated transparency should help prevent students from accidentally borrowing more than they need or misunderstanding their long-term debt burden.

What Happens Next?

Because we still have a few years before the July 2029 deadline, the Department of Education has a big task ahead: they must conduct consumer testing with students, families, and schools to figure out the absolute simplest and most understandable way to format these offers (SEC. 2). They have until July 1, 2028, to publish the final formatting rules. While the delay until 2029 gives colleges plenty of time to update their systems—a necessary administrative burden for them—it means students comparing schools now won't benefit from this clarity immediately. The effectiveness of this entire law hinges on the Department of Education actually nailing that consumer testing to produce a genuinely simple form, not just another bureaucratic document.