2025-26 FAFSA Launches Ahead of Schedule
Credit: The Washington Post / Getty Images- Students and families can now file a FAFSA for the next academic year.
- The launch of the 2025-26 FAFSA is ahead of schedule.
- It follows a turbulent rollout of the 2024-25 form, resulting in fewer FAFSA completions.
The 2025-26 FAFSA form is now available for all students, more than a week ahead of schedule.
Students who plan to enroll in college for the 2025-26 academic year may now begin filling out and submitting their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The Department of Education (ED) announced that the form officially launched nationwide Nov. 21.
ED previously said the form would be available Dec. 1.
The 2025-26 FAFSA launch comes after nearly two full months of beta testing the form. ED and Federal Student Aid (FSA) partnered with individual school districts and third-party organizations to facilitate limited rollouts of the new form. The phased rollout allowed the department to screen potential problems with the form and address outstanding issues.
Technical glitches and delays plagued the launch of the 2024-25 FAFSA, resulting in a fiery congressional hearing and a scathing federal watchdog report.
Rollout of the 2025-26 FAFSA is seemingly going swimmingly.
As of Nov. 20, over 223,000 students participated in the beta rollout, resulting in 122,000 forms submitted. Approximately 95% of those who completed a form during the beta testing said they were satisfied with the process, while 92% said they completed the FAFSA in “reasonable time.”
“After months of hard work and lots of feedback from students, schools, and other stakeholders, we can say with confidence that FAFSA is working and will serve as the gateway to college access and affordability to millions of students,” ED Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
“We stand ready to help millions more students complete the FAFSA and get the financial aid they need to pursue their dreams of a college education.”
Filing a FAFSA is required to qualify for federal financial aid, including student loans and the Pell Grant. Many states and institutions also use the form to determine state or institutional aid packages.
An earlier FAFSA launch also helps financial aid administrators, as they can make student aid offers sooner.
Still, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) said time will tell as to whether the form is truly “fixed.”
“The work, however, is far from complete,” NASFAA interim President and CEO Beth Maglione said in a statement.
“In the weeks and months ahead, we will closely monitor the resolution of outstanding FAFSA functionality issues deferred to future updates. These include the requirement for students from mixed-status families to manually enter income information, as well as addressing other concerns like confusing contributor invitations and incorrect messaging about Pell Grant eligibility.”
The 2025-26 FAFSA may have launched sooner than ED’s scheduled Dec. 1 launch date, but a Nov. 21 launch is still much later than usual. Until last year, the FAFSA was typically available to all students by Oct. 1 each year, but issues related to the rollout of a new “Simplified FAFSA” continue to trouble the form.