Navigating the Shift: What Southwestern Energy Employees Need to Know About Upcoming Financial Aid Changes

Healthcare Provider Update: Healthcare Provider for Southwestern Energy The healthcare provider for Southwestern Energy is UnitedHealthcare, which is one of the major national insurers. They manage the health insurance plans available to Southwestern Energy employees, offering a variety of coverage options that cater to their needs. Potential Healthcare Cost Increases in 2026 In 2026, Southwestern Energy employees and retirees may face significant increases in healthcare costs, driven primarily by anticipated spikes in Affordable Care Act (ACA) premiums. With insurers like UnitedHealthcare proposing rate hikes of up to 66%, employees could see their out-of-pocket expenses rise substantially. This situation is exacerbated by the potential expiration of enhanced federal premium subsidies, which, if they lapse, could lead to a surge in out-of-pocket premiums exceeding 75% for the vast majority of ACA marketplace enrollees. As the healthcare landscape evolves, it's crucial for employees to reassess their options early and strategically plan for this financial shift. Click here to learn more

For Southwestern Energy employees building long-term wealth, the energy sector's Q1 2026 rally — fueled by Strait of Hormuz supply disruptions — underscores the importance of revisiting estate planning strategies to account for rapidly appreciating company stock and energy sector holdings.

The Strait of Hormuz crisis has pushed Brent crude to ~$107/barrel and WTI to ~$94/barrel, marking one of the most severe oil supply shocks since the 1973 embargo, according to the IEA's March 2026 emergency report.

Liquefied natural gas markets are under extraordinary pressure in Q1 2026, with Asian LNG spot prices near ~$18/MMBtu and European TTF at approximately ~$16.90/MMBtu, as the Middle East conflict continues to restrict critical export routes.

The elevated valuations created by the Q1 2026 energy price shock may present strategic estate planning opportunities for Southwestern Energy employees — including accelerated gifting of appreciated shares before potential market normalization.

The U.S. Department of Education has designated February as Financial Aid Awareness Month, and there are important changes for employees to understand. On December 21, 2020, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, another relief package in response to the pandemic. Included in the bill were several provisions related to education, including many changes to financial aid. Here are some key highlights.

Money for Education
In total, the bill provides $82 billion for education, including $22.7 billion for colleges and universities. Colleges must use some of those funds to provide emergency financial help to students who have been affected by the pandemic. This is likely left to the discretion of each school's financial aid office.

Despite the cash infusion to colleges, the amount is far short of the $120 billion that college advocates said they needed to deal with the dual headwinds of rising expenses and falling revenue. Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, stated: '[T]he situation currently facing America's colleges and universities is a crisis of almost unimaginable magnitude....The money provided in this bill will provide some limited relief, which is welcome news to struggling students and institutions. But it is not going to be nearly enough in the long run or even the medium term.'

Simplified FAFSA for 2023-2024 School Year
The relief package included a smaller bill called the FAFSA Simplification Act, which accomplishes the long-held bipartisan objective of simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. These changes will take effect starting on July 1, 2023 for the 2023-2024 school year. Here are some of the more significant changes.

• Fewer questions . The FAFSA Simplification Act significantly reduced the number of questions on the FAFSA, including eliminating questions about drug convictions and Selective Service status.
  
  
• Changes to cost of attendance . The FAFSA Simplification Act made several changes to the definition of 'cost of attendance' in an attempt to standardize the term among colleges and make it more favorable for Southwestern Energy employees. For example, the allowance for room and board will be split into separate allowances for housing and meals, with the allowance for meals based on three meals a day and the housing allowance for students living in college housing based on the average or median housing charge (not the lowest charge), whichever is greater. Colleges can no longer set the housing allowance to zero for dependent students who live at home with their parents, and colleges must include an allowance for loan fees for federal student and parent loans. Colleges will be required to disclose all the elements of the cost of attendance on their website.
  
  
• Expanded income protection allowance . The 'income protection allowance,' which shelters a portion of income from the FAFSA, will generally be more favorable for parents and students. Also, the income protection allowance will no longer be reduced based on the number of children in college.
  

  
  

• Changes to untaxed income and benefits . For purposes of the FAFSA formula, the definition of 'untaxed income and benefits' has been streamlined and several types of untaxed income and benefits have been omitted, including child support (this will be considered an 'asset' instead), workers' compensation, veterans' benefits, and any money paid on the student's behalf. In addition, income from a federal work-study job, the American Opportunity tax credit, and the Lifetime Learning credit will not be counted as 'income.'
  
  
• Multiple children in college at the same time loses preferential treatment . Having multiple children in college at the same time was formerly a benefit for Southwestern Energy employees because the EFC was typically cut in half (or divided by three or four, depending on how many children in the family are in college). However, as of the 2023-2024 school year, the number of children in a family attending college at the same time on at least a half-time basis is no longer a relevant data point. The FAFSA still collects this information, but it no longer divides a parent's assessment by the number of children in college. As an employee at Southwestern Energy, this change has the potential to significantly reduce the amount of financial aid offered to your children if you have multiple children in college at the same time.
  
  
• Expanded Simplified Needs Test . The Simplified Needs Test, an alternate formula within the FAFSA that exempts certain families from having to report their assets (i.e., only income is counted to determine aid eligibility), has been renamed Applicants Exempt from Asset Reporting. In addition, there will be multiple ways to qualify for Southwestern Energy employees, including a higher income threshold that will be raised from $50,000 to $60,000.
  
  
• Expanded Pell Grant . The bill widens the net of students eligible for a Pell Grant, and allows them to use basic information, like adjusted gross income and family size, to see if they qualify.
  

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• Goodbye EFC terminology . The Student Aid Report generated by the FAFSA will no longer refer to the end calculation as the Expected Family Contribution, or EFC. Instead, this figure will be called the Student Aid Index, or SAI. The purpose of the name change is to more accurately reflect what this number represents — a yardstick for aid eligibility rather than a guarantee of what families will pay, because families often pay more than their EFC amount.

These FAFSA changes were fully implemented beginning with the 2023-2024 award year.

Employer help with student loan repayment starting in 2021
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), enacted in 2025, the employer student loan repayment benefit has been made permanently tax-free, allowing Southwestern Energy employees and those at other employers to receive up to $5,250 per year in tax-free student loan repayment assistance (indexed for inflation starting in 2027). This provision was first established under the CARES Act.

Expanded Lifetime Learning credit starting in 2021
Beyond financial aid, the relief bill increases the income limits necessary to qualify for the Lifetime Learning credit, an education tax credit worth up to $2,000 per year for courses taken throughout one's lifetime to acquire or improve job skills.

As of 2021, a full Lifetime Learning credit is available to single-filer Southwestern Energy employees with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) below $80,000 and joint filers with a MAGI below $160,000 (the credit phases out for single filers with incomes between $80,000 and $90,000 and joint filers with incomes between $160,000 and $180,000). These are the same income limits used for the American Opportunity credit. To accommodate an expanded Lifetime Learning credit, Congress repealed the deduction for qualified college tuition and fees for 2021 and beyond.

For more information
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, contains other provisions that affect the FAFSA, making Financial Aid Awareness Month even more important this year. For more information on the FAFSA for Southwestern Energy employees, along with news and updates, visit the official FAFSA website.