TASFA Notes 2026–2027
Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) — guidance from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)
These notes explain certain questions on the TASFA. You can also contact the financial aid office at the institution you attend, or plan to attend, for the 2026–27 award year if you need help completing the application.
Start with the FAFSA. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) lets you be considered for federal, state, and institutional aid, a broader range than the TASFA. If you complete the FAFSA, do not complete a TASFA.
Students who do not complete a FAFSA may complete a TASFA to be considered for state financial aid programs. Not filing a FAFSA means you will not be considered for any federal aid. State aid programs require Texas residency.
Section One: Student Information
Notes for Questions 1 and 2- Name
Enter your full, legal first and last name. Do not use nicknames or abbreviations. This information is used to match your application with your official student record if you enroll at a college.
Notes for Question 5- Social Security Number
If you have a Social Security card, enter your assigned number. If you have been approved for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), enter the SSN assigned through that program. If you have an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), enter it.
Note: An SSN is not necessary to be eligible for state financial aid. It is used to match your application with your official student record if you enroll at a college. Personal information on the TASFA is protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974.
Notes for Question 6- Mailing Address
Enter your permanent mailing address street number and street name, or PO Box. Include your apartment number, if applicable.
Notes for Question 11- Email Address
Enter an email address you check often and that has enough storage to receive application updates. Do not use an email issued by your high school, college, work, or another temporary organization.
Notes for Question 12- High School Completion Status
Select the answer that describes your high school completion status before your first date of enrollment in college:
- High school diploma: you have received, or will receive, a diploma before you first enroll in college.
- High School Equivalency Certificate (GED, HiSET, etc.): you have received, or will receive, the certificate before you first enroll in college.
- Homeschooled: you completed secondary-level homeschooling regulated by your state.
- None of the above: you do not or will not have a diploma, GED, or equivalent before you first enroll, and did not complete secondary school in a homeschool setting.
Notes for Questions 15 and 16- Gender at Birth and Selective Service
Enter your gender at birth. This is used only to determine items related to Selective Service.
Individuals born male must complete a Selective Service Statement of Registration Status (Texas Education Code, Title 3, Section 51.9095). If you are male and between ages 18 and 25, you can register or review requirements at sss.gov or by completing a form at a U.S. Post Office. If you are over 25, you can no longer register.
Notes for Questions 17 and 21- Marital Status and Spouse’s SSN
Question 17: Report your marital status as of the date you sign your TASFA. If it changes after you sign, check with your institution’s financial aid office.
Question 21: Enter your spouse’s Social Security number, DACA-assigned SSN, or ITIN, as described in Question 5.
Notes for Questions 22 and 23- 2024 Earnings
Enter 2024 earnings (wages, salaries, tips, etc.), even if you did not file a tax return. This may be on your W-2 forms or tax return: IRS Form 1040 (or 1040-NR) Line 1z + Schedule 1 lines 3 + 6. If you are married, include spouse earnings whether taxes were filed jointly or separately. If any individual earning item is negative, do not include it in your calculation.
If your family’s employment earnings are at or above IRS filing thresholds, the financial aid office will require that you file taxes before processing your TASFA. See IRS Publication 17, Table 1-1: 2024 Filing Requirements for Most Taxpayers.
Nontax filers: If you (and your spouse) did not file taxes, contact the financial aid office to see if more information is needed.
Notes for Questions 24-29- Tax Return Information
Question 25 – Foreign and territory returns
If you filed or will file a foreign return, IRS 1040NR, or a return with Puerto Rico, another U.S. territory (Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Swain’s Island, the Northern Mariana Islands), or a Freely Associated State, use that return to complete this form. Convert foreign currency to U.S. dollars using the published exchange rate nearest to today’s date at federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/current.
Question 26 – Filing status
If you filed or will file IRS Form 1040, select your 2024 filing status from the “Filing Status” field at the top of page one: Single, Head of household, Married filing jointly, Married filing separately, or Qualifying surviving spouse.
Question 28 – Adjusted gross income (AGI)
If you (or you and your spouse jointly) filed a 2024 return, AGI is on Form 1040, Line 11.
If you and your spouse filed separately, add line 11 from both returns.
If you have not yet filed but will, estimate what will appear on line 11.
If one of you filed and the other didn’t and won’t, add line 11 from the return to your spouse’s 2024 earned income (W-2s and other earning statements).
Question 29 – Income tax paid
Cannot be left blank if you (and your spouse) filed or will file a 2024 return. Income tax paid is on Form 1040, line 24. If negative, enter zero.
Line numbers refer to the IRS tax form, not the W-2.
Notes for Question 30- Cash, Savings, and Checking
Add the balances of your (and your spouse’s) cash, savings, and checking accounts as of today and enter the total. If the total is negative, enter zero.
Do not include student financial aid, retirement accounts, or investments. Round to the nearest dollar and do not use commas or decimal points.
Notes for Question 31- Investment Net Worth
Net worth is the current value, as of today, of investments, businesses, and/or investment farms, minus debts related to those same items. Use 0 for investments or properties with a negative value.
Investments include
- Real estate (not the home you live in) and rental property, including a unit in a family home with its own entrance, kitchen, and bath rented to a non-family member
- Trust funds, UGMA and UTMA accounts, money market funds, mutual funds, certificates of deposit
- Stocks, stock options, bonds, other securities, installment and land sale contracts (including mortgages held), commodities
- Qualified education benefits or savings accounts: Coverdell savings accounts, 529 college savings plans, and the refund value of 529 prepaid tuition plans
If you must report parent information, parents should not report education savings accounts for other children, and these accounts are reported as a parent asset. If you are not required to report parent information, they are reported as your asset. UGMA and UTMA accounts are always reported as the student’s asset, whether or not parent information is required.
Investments do not include
- The home you live in
- The value of life insurance
- ABLE accounts
- Retirement plans (401[k], pension funds, annuities, non-education IRAs, Keogh plans, etc.)
- Cash, savings, and checking accounts
- UGMA and UTMA accounts for which you are the custodian but not the owner
Investment value is the current balance or market value as of today. Investment debt means only debts related to the investments.
Notes for Question 32- Businesses and Investment Farms
Enter the net worth (current value minus debt) of current businesses and/or investment farms that you (and your spouse) own as of today.
These include businesses you own (including small or family-run businesses) and income-producing farms (including fair market value of land, buildings, livestock, unharvested crops, and machinery actively used in investment farms, agricultural, or commercial activities).
Do not include a family business with 100 or fewer full-time employees, farms where your family resides, or a commercial fishing business and related expenses.
Notes for Question 33- Child Support Received
Enter the total child support you (and your spouse) received in 2024 for all children in your household.
- If you received the same amount every month, multiply it by the number of months received.
- If the amount varied, add together each month’s amount.
- Note: Do not include foster care or adoption payments.
Notes for Questions 34-37- Tax Credits, Taxable Aid, Retirement Deductions, and Tax-Exempt Interest
Question 34 – Education credits
You will only have this if you (or your spouse) submitted a 2024 federal return. If you filed separately, add IRS Form 1040 Schedule 3 line 3 + Form 1040 line 29 from both returns. If you haven’t yet filed, estimate those amounts.
Question 35 – Taxable grant and scholarship aid
Enter the total grant and scholarship aid reported to the IRS as part of your (and your spouse’s) 2024 AGI. In most cases this aid is not part of AGI unless it exceeds educational expenses (tuition, fees, books, supplies, equipment). See IRS Publication 970. Types to report may include:
- Grants, scholarships, and waivers/remissions
- Fellowships/assistantships (grant or scholarship portions)
- AmeriCorps education awards
- AmeriCorps living allowances (not insurance or childcare payments)
- AmeriCorps interest accrual payments (for student loan interest that accrued during AmeriCorps service)
Question 36 – IRA and retirement plan payments
Enter IRA deductions and payments to self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh, and other qualified plans in 2024. Round to the nearest dollar with no commas or decimals.
Question 37 – Tax-exempt interest income
Enter total tax-exempt interest income received in 2024. If you filed Form 1040, use line 2a.
Line numbers refer to the IRS tax form, not the W-2.
Notes for Questions 38-41- Untaxed Income
Enter the total untaxed income or portions you (and your spouse) received in 2024. If the total is negative, enter zero (0).
A rollover is when funds move from one eligible retirement plan to another, for example from a 401(k) to a Rollover IRA. Check with the IRS for rollover guidance.
Section Two: Student Status Determination
Notes for Questions 44-54:
These questions determine whether you must provide parental information. If you answer yes to any, you do not need to include parental information. If you answer no to all, you must include parental information and your parent must sign your application.
Notes for Questions 44 and 45- Age and Marital Status
Question 44: If you were born on January 1, 2003, enter “No.”
Question 45: Report your marital status as of the date you sign your TASFA. Enter married if you are separated but not divorced. If it changes after you sign, check with the financial aid office at the institution you plan to attend.
Notes for Questions 46 and 47- Military Service and Veteran Status
Question 46: Answer “Yes” if you are serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, or are a National Guard or Reserves enlistee on active duty for other than state or training purposes. Answer “No” if you are a National Guard or Reserves enlistee on active duty for state or training purposes.
Question 47: Answer “Yes” (you are a veteran) if you:
- engaged in active duty (including basic training) in the U.S. armed forces, or are a National Guard or Reserves enlistee called to active duty for other than state or training purposes, or served on active or inactive duty for training and were disabled by an injury incurred or aggravated in the line of duty; and
- were released under a condition other than dishonorable.
Also answer “Yes” if you are not a veteran now but will be one by June 30, 2027.
Answer “No” if you:
- have never engaged in active duty (including basic training)
- are a current ROTC student, or a cadet or midshipman at a service academy
- are a National Guard or Reserves enlistee activated only for state or training purposes
- were released from active duty under dishonorable conditions
- are currently serving in the U.S. armed forces and will continue through June 30, 2027
Notes for Question 50- Orphan, Foster Care, or Ward of the Court
Answer “Yes” if at any time since you turned 13:
- you had no living parent, even if you are now adopted; or
- you were in foster care, even if you no longer are; or
- you were a dependent or ward of the court, even if you no longer are. (Someone who is incarcerated is not considered a ward of the court.)
If you are unsure whether you were in foster care, check with your state child welfare agency at childwelfare.gov/nfcad. Your school’s financial aid administrator may require proof.
Notes for Questions 51 and 52- Emancipated Minor or Legal Guardianship
Legal guardianship does not include your parents, even if a court appointed them as your guardians. You are also not your own legal guardian. An emancipated minor is someone a court in their state of residence has legally deemed an adult.
Answer “Yes” if you can provide a copy of the court’s decision that, as of today, you are an emancipated minor or in legal guardianship. Also answer “Yes” if you can provide a court decision showing you were an emancipated minor or in legal guardianship immediately before reaching adulthood in your state. The court must have been in your state of legal residence when the decision was made.
Answer “No” if you are still a minor and the decision is no longer in effect, or it was not in effect when you became an adult.
Your school may require additional information, such as a copy of the court’s decision.
Notes for Questions 53 and 54- Homeless or At Risk of Homelessness
Answer “Yes” if you received a determination on or after July 1, 2025, that you were an unaccompanied youth who was homeless or at risk of being homeless.
- Homeless means lacking fixed, regular, and adequate housing. You may be homeless if you live in shelters, parks, motels, hotels, public spaces, campgrounds, cars, or abandoned buildings, or temporarily live with others because you have nowhere else to go. If you are in any of these situations and fleeing an abusive parent, you may be considered homeless even if your parent would otherwise provide housing.
- Unaccompanied means you are not living in the physical custody of your parent or guardian.
Answer “No” if you are not homeless or at risk, or do not have a determination. Even then, contact your college’s financial aid administrator if you are (1) homeless and unaccompanied, or (2) at risk of being homeless, unaccompanied, and providing for your own living expenses. The college can determine that you are “homeless” and not required to provide parental information. The administrator may ask for a copy of your determination if you answered “Yes.”
Section Three: Parent Information
Notes for Questions 55-91:
Questions 55–91: If you answered no to all student status questions in Section Two, you must include parental information and have your parent sign your application.
Who counts as a parent? Special Circumstances:
Legal parents are biological or adoptive parents (regardless of gender), or as determined by the state (for example, a parent listed on the birth certificate). Grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, widowed stepparents, aunts, uncles, and siblings are not parents on this form unless they legally adopted you.
If you believe you have a special circumstance that prevents you from entering parental information, notify and work closely with your institution’s financial aid office. In limited circumstances, you may be able to submit without parental information, such as when:
- You left home due to an abusive or threatening family environment.
- You were abandoned by or estranged from your parents.
- You have refugee or asylee status and are separated from your parents, or your parents are displaced in a foreign country.
- You are a victim of human trafficking.
- You or your parents are incarcerated and contact would pose a risk to you.
- You are otherwise unable to contact or locate your parents.
In these cases, financial aid staff may ask for more information to determine whether a Student Aid Index (SAI) can be calculated without parental data.
Notes for Question 55- Parents’ Marital Status (whose information to report)
Report your legal parents’ marital status as of the date you sign your TASFA (enter married if they are separated but not divorced).
- If a parent was never married and does not live with your other legal parent, or is widowed and not remarried, answer about that parent.
- If your legal parents are not married to each other but live together, select “Unmarried and both legal parents living together” and provide information about both, regardless of gender. Do not include anyone who is not married to your parent and is not a legal or biological parent.
- If your legal parents are married, select “Married” or “Remarried.” If they are divorced but living together, select “Unmarried and both legal parents living together.” If separated but living together, select “Married” or “Remarried,” not “Divorced” or “Separated.”
- If your parents are divorced or separated, answer about the parent who provided more financial support in the past 12 months, or in the most recent year you received parental support. If support was exactly equal, or neither supports you, answer about the parent with the greater income and assets. If that parent has remarried, answer about that parent and your stepparent.
- If your widowed parent has remarried, answer about that parent and your stepparent.
Notes for Questions 57, 61-69- Education Level, SSN, and Email
Question 57: Select the answer that best describes your parents’ college completion status. Some aid is based on the level of schooling your parents completed.
Questions 61 & 67: Enter the parent’s Social Security number, DACA-assigned SSN, or ITIN.
Questions 63 & 69: Enter the parent’s email address. Choose one they check often with enough storage for updates, and not one issued by a college, work, or other temporary organization. Make sure it is accurate.
Notes for Questions 70-77- Parent Earnings and Tax Return
These follow the same rules as the student questions (22–29), applied to your parents and their 2024 information.
- Questions 70 & 71 (earnings): Enter Parent 1 and Parent 2 (if applicable) 2024 earnings, even if no return was filed, from W-2s or Form 1040 Line 1z + Schedule 1 lines 3 + 6. Do not include negative items. If earnings meet IRS filing thresholds, the financial aid office will require parents to file before processing. Nontax filers should contact the financial aid office.
- Question 72: If your parents are married or living together, answer as a couple; otherwise answer about the parent reporting financial information. If a parent “Will file” and 2024 income is similar to 2023, use the 2023 return to estimate. Tax transcripts: irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript.
- Question 73: Foreign, 1040NR, or U.S. territory returns follow the Question 25 rules, including converting currency to U.S. dollars.
- Question 74: Select the 2024 filing status from the “Filing Status” field on Form 1040.
- Question 76 (AGI): Form 1040, line 11. If parents filed separately, add line 11 from both. If not yet filed, estimate. If only one parent filed, add line 11 to the other parent’s 2024 earned income.
- Question 77 (income tax paid): Cannot be blank if parents filed or will file. Form 1040, line 24. If negative, enter zero.
Line numbers refer to the IRS tax form, not the W-2.
Notes for Questions 78-80- Parent Cash, Investments, and Businesses
Question 78: Add your parents’ cash, savings, and checking balances as of today. If negative, enter zero. Do not include student financial aid, retirement accounts, or investments. Round to the nearest dollar with no commas or decimals.
Question 79: Net worth rules are the same as Question 31: current value minus related debt, using 0 for negative values. Investments include non-primary real estate, rental property, trusts, UGMA/UTMA, money market and mutual funds, CDs, stocks, bonds, securities, land sale contracts, commodities, and qualified education savings (Coverdell, 529, prepaid tuition refund value). Parents should not report education accounts for other children; accounts are reported as a parent asset when parent information is required. UGMA and UTMA accounts are the student’s assets regardless. Exclusions: the home you live in, life insurance, ABLE accounts, retirement plans, cash/savings/checking already reported, and UGMA/UTMA accounts where you are custodian but not owner.
Question 80: Enter the net worth of businesses and investment farms your parents own as of today, as described in Question 32. Do not include the value of crops grown solely for consumption by you and your family, or the home in which you live. If your home is on a farm you own, exclude the principal residence (the home, structures, and adjacent land not used, stored, or sold for farming or commercial activities).
Notes for Questions 81-89- Child Support, Credits, Aid, Deductions, Interest, and Untaxed Income
- Question 81 (child support): Total child support your parents received in 2024 for all children in the household, calculated as in Question 33. Do not include foster care or adoption payments.
- Question 82 (education credits): Only available if a 2024 federal return was submitted. If parents filed separately, add Form 1040 Schedule 3 line 3 + Form 1040 line 29 from both. If not yet filed, estimate.
- Question 83 (taxable grant and scholarship aid): Total grant and scholarship aid reported to the IRS as part of your parents’ 2024 AGI, following the Question 35 rules and aid types. See IRS Publication 970.
- Question 84 (IRA and retirement plans): IRA deductions and payments to self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, and Keogh plans received in 2024. Round to the nearest dollar with no commas or decimals.
- Question 85 (tax-exempt interest): Total tax-exempt interest income received in 2024. If a return was filed, use Form 1040, line 2a.
- Questions 86–89 (untaxed income): Total untaxed income or portions received in 2024. If negative, enter zero (0). Rollovers (for example, 401(k) to Rollover IRA) are not income; check with the IRS for guidance.
Line numbers refer to the IRS tax form, not the W-2.
Notes for Submitting a Paper Copy TASFA
- Each institution may handle paper TASFAs differently. Some want a mailed copy sent directly to the Financial Aid Office; others prefer you upload or email a copy through a secure platform. Contact your institution’s financial aid office before submitting or mailing.
- If you fill out a paper TASFA, do not fill out the online TASFA. Do one or the other, not both.
- To estimate college costs and aid, use the State Net Price Calculator to see how much students paid to attend college last year.
- To confirm your TASFA was received, or with any questions about submission, contact your institution’s financial aid office directly.
For more information and frequently asked questions, visit highered.texas.gov/studentsfamilies/tasfa.