The US Department of Education announces official release of the 2025-26 FAFSA Form

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) today officially released the 2025-26 Free application for federal student aid (FAFSA®), 10 days before the December 1 target. The online FAFSA form is available to all students and families at fafsa.govand the department processes submissions and sends them to the schools. The paper form is now also available for students to submit.

Over the past several months, the Department has incorporated feedback from students, parents, schools, community-based organizations, and other partners into the FAFSA process and extensively tested the FAFSA form, system, and user support through a rigorous beta testing period. Since October 1, through four rounds of testing, more than 167,000 students have submitted the online application for 2025-2026; The department has processed these forms and sent records to more than 5,200 schools across all states. The department also tested the application with a variety of student groups—including those who faced special challenges last year—and engaged with various colleges and universities, software vendors, state agencies, and federal partners to test FAFSA data and systems.

“I am pleased to announce that after four successful rounds of beta testing, the 2025-26 FAFSA form is now available to all students and families,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “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 for millions of students. Already, over 650,000 more applicants are eligible for Pell Grants, and more students are receiving Pell Grants, this school year compared to last year.”

The department has taken steps to modernize internal systems and processes, address issues in the FAFSA system, and introduce features that further improve the user experience and enhance the form’s functionality. In addition, the department published and updated resources and materials to help students and families better navigate the FAFSA form and process.

“We need a better FAFSA form to provide financial aid to students attending college and other forms of education after high school,” said U.S. Secretary of Education James Kvaal. “Thank you to everyone who helped launch the 2025-26 FAFSA successfully and ahead of schedule, including students and families, department staff, and financial aid administrators and counselors across the country.”

For those who need additional assistance, the department has significantly increased staffing at the Federal Student Aid Information Center (contact center), adding more than 700 agents since January and an additional 225 agents over the next few weeks for ongoing ramp-up support. Anticipating high demand as part of the official release of the FAFSA form, the department added extended FAFSA hours this week—evenings and Saturdays only. Despite this, the department warns users that during some periods of surge, callers may temporarily experience longer than normal wait times. The department will continue to add agents in the coming weeks to further support the 2025-26 FAFSA cycle.

“The 2025-26 FAFSA form we officially released today is the same form that has been live for the past 7 weeks for the more than 140,000 students who submitted applications. Our extensive beta testing with community-based organizations, colleges and school districts, colleges and universities, software vendors and government agencies across the country follow industry best practices and have given us confidence that our systems are ready, says FAFSA Executive Advisor Jeremy Singer.

The FAFSA form and system is in a strong position, but the department will continue to work to ensure that every student has the help they need to access higher education. In the coming days and weeks, the department will carefully monitor the 2025-26 FAFSA form as well as the Contact Center and make any necessary adjustments to improve the experience for students, families and the financial aid community. The department will begin processing paper forms in early December. In the coming months, the department will further improve the user experience and release additional functionality, including batch corrections and paper corrections, to facilitate a smoother process for students, families and institutions.

The department looks forward to continuing its work with partners to ensure that all students and their families can easily access the FAFSA form, have timely and clear information, and can quickly complete the application and access aid.

Additional resources for students, families and partners

The Department has taken steps to significantly improve the Federal Student Aid Information Center’s contact center experience for students, families, and institutions, including to support the official release of the 2025-26 FAFSA form. These improvements include:

• Staffing is increased by almost 80%. Since January, we’ve added more than 700 agents to the contact center.
• Coordinating with the vendor team to ensure that all agents, including those typically assigned to back-office processing, are trained in the FAFSA to allow for an “all hands on deck” approach if needed.
• Adding 225 agents over the next few weeks, in addition to the 700 agents already added, for ongoing surge support, enabling extended uptime.
• Implementation of wait time notifications to inform callers of current wait times, allowing them to hold or call back during less busy hours.

In addition to normal opening hours, available at StudentAid.govstudents and families will have access to FAFSA-only contact center hours that include evenings and weekends. The extended hours will begin on November 22, 2024 and will extend through March 2, 2025. Students and families may contact contact center agents in English or Spanish. Interpretation services are available in additional languages here at StudentAid.gov.

Notes: The Contact Center is closed on all federal holidays. Friday, November 29, 2024, the Contact Center will operate regular business hours and will not provide extended FAFSA-only support hours.

The department recently released a number of resources to help students and families complete and submit the FAFSA form during the 2025-2026 cycle, including:

During the fall, the department released resources to help our partners help students and families prepare for and navigate the 2025-26 FAFSA cycle, including:

• 2025–26 Counselor Resource for Completing the FAFSA Form— The resource provides counselors and advisors with information and resources to help guide students and their families through the FAFSA form.
• 2025-26 FAFSA Roadmap— The tool highlights key dates for the launch of the FAFSA form as well as timelines for the release of resources to assist our partners.
• 2025–26 FAFSA Preview Presentation— The resource provides financial aid administrators, counselors and advisors with reference tools for staff training and financial aid evenings. The presentation deck includes screenshots highlighting changes to the online 2025-26 FAFSA form.
• 2025–26 FAFSA prototype— The tool provides the financial aid community with an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the FAFSA user experience.

Updated information and outreach tools for advisors, university-access professionals and other advisors can be found in Financial support tool.