After weeks of testing the application, the US Department of Education released this cycle’s FAFSA form on Thursday.
Seth Wenig/AP
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Seth Wenig/AP
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is now open to all students and families hoping to apply for help paying for college in the 2025-26 school year.
After weeks of testing the online form, the US Department of Education released the official application on studentaid.gov on Thursday. The shape may not look new, but it is definitely better compared to last year’s version.
“It’s a piece of cake, honestly,” said Christina Martinez, a financial aid counselor at California State University, Los Angeles. He has been helping students fill out forms during the testing period, and says, “It’s been going very smoothly.”
This is very different from what students experienced during the last FAFSA cycle:
After overhauling congressional mandates intended to simplify the form, the FAFSA was significantly delayed and rolled out. troubled by problems. Consequently, many students have to wait a month longer than usual to learn what college costs and where they can enroll, forcing many people to postpone their decision. There is concern some students decided to postpone college altogether. A new report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that problems with the final FAFSA “contributed to about 9 percent fewer high school students and other first-time applicants submitting the FAFSA, with the largest decline among low-income students.”
MorraLee Keller, of the college access nonprofit National College Attainment Network (NCAN), said this year’s format looks similar to last year’s, but the user experience has improved.
“We really need to spread a very positive message that there is a lot of work being done in this system for 2025-26 to create a different experience from last year. So everyone should give the system a chance.”
Is the Department of Education different this time?
Filling out the FAFSA is the only way students can access financial aid from the federal government and it’s considered grants, loans and some scholarships. Every year, more than 17 million students fill out the application.
Normally, the form is available to all students on October 1st. But this year, the department started testing the form with a limited number of students and institutions. FAFSA Executive Counsel Jeremy Singer said in an August press release that the testing period is intended “to find and fix problems with the FAFSA form before the form is available to millions of students and their families.”
During the last FAFSA cycle, in addition to glitches in the form, students also struggled to reach FAFSA’s call center for help. According to the GAO, “nearly three-quarters of all calls to call centers” went unanswered in the first five months of the rollout. This time, the Department of Education increased the staff of the call center – almost 80% since January – and plans to increase the hours of operation of the center.
“So far, the call center has been doing very well,” U.S. Secretary of Education James Kvaal told NPR. “At the current volume, people are asking for answers very quickly.”
He cautioned that there may be times when the higher call volume results in wait times, but he’s confident it will be a smoother experience.
Beth Maglione, CEO and interim president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), said she has been monitoring the department’s testing process, and is pleased with what she sees.
“Federal leaders have listened and heeded the lessons learned from last year’s disruptive rollout and are using those lessons to create a more stable path.”
So far, the process has been less painful
Students and low-income students whose parents or spouses do not have a Social Security number (SSN) — what the GAO calls “mixed-status families” — suffered the most from the earlier rollout of the FAFSA. One of the challenges for mixed status families is an error that prevents anyone without an SSN from filling out the form.
Kvaal said, throughout the beta testing period, “We made some changes to make the process easier for parents and spouses who do not have a Social Security number. They can get through now, and who can not always six or eight last month.”
At Cal State LA, where Christina Martinez works, the majority of students are low-income, and many come from mixed-race families. He said that most of the students faced problems with the form last year but this year is a different story.
Martinez said the form has more instructive language that helps students avoid mistakes. On average, they say it takes students about 20 minutes to complete the form, though the FAFSA website recommends giving it about an hour. (The website is also included checklist for how to prepare for the application.)
Keller, of NCAN, said while he’s excited about the improvements, he’s looking forward to seeing how the new FAFSA system will respond to the increased application volume as the form officially exits beta testing and is open to all families.
Keller has one piece of advice for students and families, which Martinez and Maglione echo: Fill out your FAFSA as soon as possible.
“Don’t wait. Get right in. Do your FAFSA fast,” Keller said. “We hope that students who can start the FAFSA in mid-November will produce like the previous award letter, more time to make a decision, a better decision.”
