The federal financial aid form known as the FAFSA is expected to be made available to the public on time this year. Normally, that wouldn’t be news, but after a couple of chaotic years, it is notable.
The updated online form, covering aid for the 2026-27 school year, will be fully available by the traditional Oct. 1 start date, the federal Education Department said. And students who want to get the chore out of the way sooner can request early access to the form in September.
“I’m hopeful it will be a smooth year,” said Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
The FAFSA, for Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is the gateway to federal aid for education after high school, including grants, which don’t need to be repaid, and low-cost student loans. States and colleges also use the form to distribute their own financial help. Millions of students submit it each year — and if they don’t, they aren’t eligible for financial help from the federal government.
The form gathers personal and financial information about students and their parents and applies a formula to calculate a “student aid index,” which indicates eligibility for aid.
The latest FAFSA arrives as some types of federal aid are becoming harder to get. The PLUS loan program for graduate students will stop accepting new borrowers on July 1, and limits on PLUS loans for parents will be tightened as a result of the Republican policy law that Congress recently passed.
Why was the form late in recent years?
Starting in 2016, an updated FAFSA form was usually made available in October every year. (Before then, it was available in January, but the month was changed to give students more time to complete the form.)
In 2020, Congress mandated a major overhaul of the FAFSA and its underlying formula, aimed at simplifying the form to encourage more students who need aid to complete it. But serious technical issues during the overhaul under the Biden administration in 2023 torpedoed the normal schedule. The FAFSA for the 2024-25 academic year wasn’t live until the end of December 2023, and lingering glitches caused confusion and delays for students and college financial aid offices.
After what was widely considered a fiasco, the Education Department moved to fix the form and to conduct early testing before releasing the next update. The FAFSA for the 2025-26 school year was made available in late November — better, but still more than a month late.
The form must now officially be made available each year by Oct. 1, as a result of a law passed last year. Linda McMahon, the secretary of education, certified that would happen in a letter to Congress last month.
Is testing being done again this year?
Yes. “Beta” testing of the online form, a practice common in software development, started in early August and has gone well, according to the Education Department and some test participants. During the initial testing, “no major blockers or critical issues” were identified, according to the Federal Student Aid office’s updates on the FAFSA.
While the Trump administration has made extensive staff cuts at the Education Department, which it has vowed to dismantle, there appears to have been “limited impact” on the team overseeing the FAFSA, said MorraLee Keller, senior consultant at the National College Attainment Network, a nonprofit that works to promote college access.
“We feel very fortunate,” she said. “The FAFSA crew got to stay intact.”
About a dozen school districts and education groups participated in early testing in Arizona, California, Florida, Mississippi and Washington, D.C. More than 1,000 applications were processed over the initial test period, and that number had risen to about 2,800 as of Wednesday, according to statistics on the Federal Student Aid office’s website.
In her letter to Congress, Secretary McMahon said there were plans for “tens of thousands” more students to finish the form before it became available publicly. “Our team is confident that these early testing practices will be successful and meet the secretary’s goals,” the department’s press office said in an email.
Get2College, a foundation-funded program that promotes college access and success in Mississippi, helped about 15 students at its Gulf Coast center complete the form during the initial testing period, said Ana Ochoa, assistant director of outreach at the center. Students were able to get one-on-one help from counselors, and if they needed a Spanish speaker, Ms. Ochoa, who is bilingual, was available.
One of the students completing the form was Ruby Ochoa, who is 17 and Ms. Ochoa’s niece. A high school senior, she has the University of Mississippi in her sights.
“I was a little nervous,” Ruby said of completing the FAFSA. “I had heard it’s a very complicated process.” But she didn’t encounter serious issues, she said, and is happy to have completed the form. “I can really focus on schools and my scholarship essays,” she said.
How can I get early access to the FAFSA?
If you want to fill out the form in September, you can request an invitation on the Federal Student Aid website. (You’ll need your FSA ID and a username and password combination to log on.)
Volunteering may not mean you will automatically be selected to join the testing. “We’ll invite participants as needed until testing ends,” the website says. If you are invited, you’ll be notified by email.
More than 7,000 students had requested early access as of Aug. 25, according to an update on the website.
Is there a financial advantage to filing before October?
No, Ms. Keller said. But since applying to college involves multiple steps over a period of time, she said, it may be a relief to check one item off the list early.
In general, students are advised to complete the FAFSA as soon as possible once it is available because some states award scholarships on a first-come, first-served basis or may have deadlines early in the new year.
If I file a FAFSA during testing, will I have to refile it after Oct. 1?
No. The forms filed during the testing are real FAFSAs, and you won’t need to fill out another one for the 2026-27 school year, according to the department. Once the form is processed, students will be able to make any necessary corrections, the department said, just as they would during the regular application cycle.
What changes were made to make completing the form easier?
Financial aid professionals said the updated form had some helpful modifications. It’s now simpler, for instance, for students to “invite” parents or guardians to complete their portion of the form.
The department also said users who created a StudentAid.gov account with a Social Security number would have their accounts verified immediately instead of having to wait as long as three days.
Why is completing the FAFSA important?
High school seniors who submit the FAFSA are much more likely to attend college right after graduation, according to the National College Attainment Network. After the form’s technical meltdown, fewer applications were filed, but that number has rebounded. The network estimates that the completion rate for the class of 2025 was 59 percent as of Aug. 22, compared with about 52 percent for the class of 2024. “After a difficult 2024-25 cycle, the FAFSA process appears back on track,” the network said in July.
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