Right in front of the official Launching December 1st date, the The Ministry of Education announced all students and families can now access the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Following a difficult deployment of the updated form last year, the department delayed the official opening of the 2025-26 application until December 1, two months later than the standard opening day of October 1.

Some students and families were asked to complete the 2025-26 FAFSA beginning October 1 as part of a beta testing period. Over the past few weeks, the department has been closely monitoring the online app and feedback from test groups for bugs and issues it could fix before full launch.

As of November 18, all students and families can now access and submit their 2025-26 FAFSAs. The app is still in the beta testing phase as the department ensures that it still works successfully with a larger influx of applicants. But those who submit a form now while in beta mode will not need to submit another application after December 1.

“Just like other beta periods, the department will process FAFSA forms and send them to institutions of higher education and states,” the department says. says on its website. “Students who submit a FAFSA form during any beta period… will be able to make any necessary corrections to the form and will not need to submit a subsequent FAFSA form for 2025-2026.”

The beta testing period will end no later than December 1, the department says. You can visit student aid.gov to complete your FAFSA. You will need your Federal Student Aid ID or, if you don’t have an account, your Social Security number to create one.

On track for a better year

At the start of the 2024-2025 school year, colleges nationwide saw about a 5% decline in first-year enrollment, according to data from National Research Center on the Student Clearinghouse.

Some higher education professionals point to last year’s messy FAFSA rollout as a significant contributing factor. After all, four-year colleges that serve low-income students have seen the biggest declines in first-year enrollment, the National Student Clearinghouse reports.

The Department of Education moving forward with opening this year’s FAFSA earlier than expected, but not in a rushed schedule, appears to indicate this year will be smoother, Beth Maglione, interim president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said in a statement.

“To date, the Department’s process and planned rollout of the 2025-2026 FAFSA…appear to indicate that federal leaders have taken to heart the lessons learned from last year’s problematic rollout and used those lessons to chart a course of action. more stable road,” she said. said.

More than 14,000 students have already submitted a FAFSA since October 1, ED says, and participants in the beta testing period have a 95% satisfaction rate.

If you are going to college in the 2025-2026 school year, it is a good idea to complete a FAFSA as soon as you can. You will need to complete the form if you hope to receive federal or state financial aid, and most colleges require it to be considered for institutional aid.

There is no income limit for who can submit a FAFSA. Financial aid administrators consider your household income as well as your family size and other factors to determine aid eligibility. The federal FAFSA Deadline it’s not until the end of June 2026, but many schools and states have earlier deadlines for students who will attend fall 2025.

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