2025-2026 Financial Aid FAFSA Open: What You Need to Know, Deadlines and More

WASHINGTON – FAFSA Application to Receive college financial assistance officially opened for the 2025-2026 school year.

This happened a year after the unsuccessful implementation new uniform last year Biden administration the application was delayed for several months. After weeks of testing, the U.S. Department of Education said there were no major problems with the online form, which officially became available Thursday.

It opened to the public later than the traditional start date of October 1, but much earlier than the launch at the end of January last year. The department promised to submit this year’s uniform by December 1.

“After months of hard work and much feedback from students, schools and other stakeholders, we can say with confidence that the FAFSA is working and will serve as a gateway to college access and affordability for millions of students,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Thursday. .

Over four rounds of testing, more than 140,000 students submitted the form and their information was sent to more than 5,200 colleges, according to the department.

What is FAFSA?

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a free form that allows students to apply for federal student aid, including grants, scholarships, work-study funds, and loans.

States and colleges also use FAFSA information to award their own grants, scholarships, and loans to students.

The 2025-2026 FAFSA is available here..

When will the 2025-2026 FAFSA be released?

The FAFSA form must be submitted by 11:59 pm Central Time (CT) on June 30, 2026. the department said.

Any corrections or updates must be submitted by 11:59 pm Central Time on September 13, 2026.

How to fill out the FAFSA, required documents

• First, applicants need to create StudentAid.gov check. Anyone who may be required to provide information on the FAFSA form, including a spouse, biological or adoptive parent, or spouse of a parent, must also have a StudentAid.gov account before accessing and completing their section of the form.
• Applicants must enter their name and Social Security Number (SSN) exactly as it appears on their Social Security card.
• Documents required to complete the FAFSA include parents’ Social Security numbers if they have an SSN and if the applicant is a dependent student. Also needed are tax returns, records of child support received, current cash balances, savings and checking accounts, and the net worth of investments, businesses and farms.
• When completing the FAFSA, applicants must indicate at least one school to receive information. Listed schools will use FAFSA information to determine the types and amounts of aid offered to students.

How to Check FAFSA Form Status

Applicants can check the status of their FAFSA by logging into fafsa.gov and entering the status of their application in the “My Actions” section.

The FAFSA form status will be one of the following:

• Draft: Your FAFSA section is incomplete.
• In progress: You provided your consent, approval, and signature on your section of the FAFSA form, but the FAFSA form has not yet been submitted.
• In review: Your FAFSA has been submitted but has not yet been processed.
• Action required: Your consent and approval or signature is missing, or the FAFSA has been processed but requires correction.
• Processed: Your application has been successfully processed. No further action is required.
• Closed: Your FAFSA form was never submitted and can no longer be submitted because the federal FAFSA deadline has passed.

Financial assistance schedule

Data shows that most colleges and professional schools send out financial aid offer letters around the same time as their admissions offer letters. Department of Education.

However, deadlines may vary from school to school depending on various factors, such as when the FAFSA was submitted and the number of forms the school received.

Applicants should contact the school for more information about when they can expect an offer of assistance.

What happened to last year’s FAFSA?

A major overhaul last year was supposed to simplify the famously complex form, but technical problems prevented students from submitting forms or messed up calculations.

The delays have left students wondering what kind of financial aid they will be able to receive, a deciding factor for many families.

Advocates say the frustration likely led thousands of students to give up on college altogether. According to the National Student Clearinghouse, U.S. colleges saw a 5% decline in freshman enrollment this fall compared with the previous year, and the decline was even steeper at colleges with large numbers of low-income students.

The Education Department said it had fixed problems from last year and hired 700 more call center staff to help families if they had trouble submitting the form.

This week, the Senate and House unanimously passed legislation requiring the Department of Education to make the FAFSA available no later than October 1st.

The Biden administration has drawn bipartisan scorn for its approach to renewal, with Republicans accusing the administration of focusing on student loan cancellation at the expense of the FAFSA form.

The changes came after Congress passed a form simplification bill in 2020. The Education Department was ordered to reduce the number of questions from more than 100 to about 40 and change the formula to extend assistance to more students.