NASFAA 2025: Exploring the Key Takeaways

It’s no secret that staff across higher education are being asked to do more with less. Institutions are juggling enrollment concerns, shifting student demographics, and increased demands for transparency, speed, and personalization. Nowhere is that pressure felt more acutely than in financial aid offices, where evolving regulations and heightened student expectations are adding pressure to resource-strapped teams. It’s against this backdrop that the NASFAA 2025 National Conference took place in Anaheim, California.

Thousands of financial aid leaders gathered at NASFAA 2025 to make sense of the current landscape, share real-word strategies, and explore technologies that can help their teams respond to financial aid changes with more agility. Below we explore some of the top themes and takeaways that emerged from this year’s event.

The FAFSA Simplification Rollout Was a Wake-Up Call

Although the FAFSA Simplification Act was passed a few years ago, its full implementation during the 2024–25 aid cycle proved to be one of the most disruptive events in recent memory. Delays in data delivery, technical breakdowns, and shifting guidance left institutions scrambling to respond—and left many students in the dark about their financial aid status. Even now, in mid-2025, the ripple effects are still being felt. Financial aid offices are working through backlogs, adjusting internal processes, and trying to rebuild trust with students and families who were left confused or frustrated by the experience.

So, it’s no surprise that one of the most resonant themes at NASFAA 2025 was related to the FAFSA simplification upheaval: Institutions need systems, strategies, and support that can flex in moments of uncertainty. Many sessions at the conference focused on how schools adapted to the challenges of the new FAFSA rollout, the lessons they learned, and the tools that proved most effective in maintaining student engagement and improving FAFSA completion rates—especially in a chaotic environment.

The message from NASFAA was clear: Institutions must take action now to strengthen their systems and processes because agility no longer a luxury; it’s a requirement.

AI and Automation Are Transforming the Financial Aid Experience

Artificial intelligence has become a hot topic across higher education, with institutions exploring its potential in everything from enrollment to advising. At NASFAA 2025, it was clear that financial aid is no exception. Many sessions were devoted to exploring how AI and automation can help financial aid offices tackle pressing challenges—from accelerating routine processes to improving communication with students.

The focus at NASFAA was not just on what AI can do, but what it is already doing in financial aid offices today. Session highlights demonstrated how AI technologies are being used to: 

• Accelerate packaging and processing by shortening turnaround times and enabling faster delivery of aid notifications. 

• Automate repetitive tasks, freeing up staff to focus on more meaningful, student-centered work. 

• Improve communication by enabling more timely, accurate, and personalized responses to student inquiries. 

• Support compliance efforts by flagging anomalies and ensuring consistent processes amid changing regulations. 

For institutions ready to reduce friction in the financial aid process and deliver better service with fewer resources, now is the time to explore how AI and automation can be strategically deployed.

Secure, Cloud-Native Systems Are Essential

Another strong message from NASFAA 2025: Legacy systems may be actively holding institutions back. Colleges and universities relying on aging infrastructure are struggling with compliance gaps, manual workarounds, slow system updates, and limited scalability. These challenges negatively affect operations and directly impact students’ access to timely aid and support.

In contrast, institutions that have transitioned to cloud-native financial aid systems are better positioned to respond quickly to policy changes, improve data security, and more. Cloud systems can also enhance accessibility and transparency across campus, allowing teams from differing departments to make informed decisions faster.

The takeaway? It’s time to move beyond patching up legacy systems. Institutions that invest in secure, flexible, cloud-native solutions are more likely to be better equipped to meet compliance standards, protect student data, and scale their services as needs evolve.

Supporting Institutions on the Path Forward

The challenges and opportunities spotlighted at NASFAA 2025 reflect the evolving landscape of financial aid. They demonstrated how institutions embracing more agile, cloud-native platforms and leveraging AI systems feel better equipped to navigate ongoing regulatory changes and heightened student expectations.

At Jenzabar, we were encouraged to see these critical issues take center stage at NASFAA 2025 because we’ve long recognized the need for solutions that deliver agility, security, and seamless integration. That’s why we’ve been dedicated to developing a financial aid platform designed to stay ahead of regulatory changes and evolving student needs. Today, nearly 200 institutions trust Jenzabar Financial Aid to help streamline processing, enhance compliance, and provide faster, more personalized service—empowering their teams to focus on what matters most: supporting students.

As financial aid offices evolve to meet growing student expectations for speed and personalization, adopting flexible and secure technology will be key to staying ahead and ready for what’s next. You can learn more about Jenzabar Financial Aid here.