IF YOU WERE WAITING FOR OCTOBER 1
You can stop waiting: the 2027–28 FAFSA opened to the public on September 23. It is the form for school attendance from July 1, 2027 through June 30, 2028. Aid for the current 2026–27 school year still belongs on the 2026–27 form.
OPEN NOW
2025
$0
File at StudentAid.gov, where the application is free. If a website asks for a submission fee, you are not on the federal FAFSA site.
Open the official FAFSA form ↗Which FAFSA year should you open?
The name follows the school year you need aid for, not today’s date. That is why two FAFSA forms can be open at the same time.
| WHEN YOU’LL ATTEND | FORM TO USE | TAX INFORMATION |
|---|---|---|
| July 1, 2027–June 30, 2028 | 2027–28 FAFSA | 2025 |
| July 1, 2026–June 30, 2027 | 2026–27 FAFSA | 2024 |
Summer is the awkward case. Schools can place a summer session in different award years, so ask the financial aid office which form it wants before you submit.
What to have nearby before you begin
Most applicants will not have to type an entire tax return into the form because federal tax information can transfer from the IRS. Before you begin, make sure you can access the accounts and records below:
StudentAid.gov access
The student needs an account, and every required parent or spouse uses a separate account of their own.
Contributor contact details
Keep the right email address handy. The invitation and unique code need to reach the person who will complete that section.
Current financial records
Pull together current cash, checking and savings balances, child support received, and any investment, business or farm values the form asks for.
A working school list
List schools you are seriously considering, even before you apply or receive an admission decision. The online form holds up to 20.
A contributor supplies information; they are not promising to pay
FAFSA uses “contributor” for a person who must provide information, sign and approve the transfer of federal tax information. That could be a parent, a parent’s spouse or the student’s spouse, depending on the family situation.
The label does not make that person responsible for the college bill. It only means their information is part of the aid calculation.
- Start the student section and answer the questions that determine who else is needed.
- Send each required person the invitation and unique code generated by the form.
- Each contributor signs into their own StudentAid.gov account, completes their section and signs.
- The application is ready for processing only after every required section, signature, consent and approval is in place.
No Social Security number? A parent or spouse can still create a StudentAid.gov account and complete their section. What families should not do is share one login.
Do not build your plan around the federal deadline
Three deadlines may apply: the federal deadline, your state’s deadline and each school’s priority date. The state or school date may come first, and some aid pools are limited.
- Start with your state of legal residence. Moving somewhere only for school generally does not change which state deadline applies.
- Open each college’s financial aid page. A school may publish an earlier priority date or require another application.
- Add a school before admission if you are considering it. Waiting for an acceptance letter can cost time.
- Follow any school-order message in the form. Some states want in-state schools listed in a particular order.
Submitted? Check the confirmation page before you leave
Your confirmation page may show an estimated Pell Grant amount and Student Aid Index (SAI). Read them as early estimates: the SAI is not a bill, and the page is not a financial aid offer. Each school sends its own offer later.
Check status
Open My Activity in your account.
Read the summary
Review your SAI, answers and next steps.
Answer schools
Send any requested documents on time.
Many forms process immediately; others take one to three days. Once the FAFSA Submission Summary appears, scan it for a missing signature, a consent problem, a correction or a verification request.
If 2025 no longer resembles your family’s finances because of job loss, reduced hours, divorce or another major change, submit the form with the required tax information. Then ask each school’s financial aid office how it handles a special-circumstances review.
Where FAFSA applications commonly get stuck
- Opening the form that matches today’s calendar year. If you need aid for fall 2027, choose the 2027–28 FAFSA.
- The student finishes, but a contributor does not. The application cannot finish processing without every required section and signature.
- A family tries to use one account. Each contributor needs a separate StudentAid.gov login.
- The school list waits for acceptance letters. Add likely schools now and edit the list later.
- A paid service looks like the official form. Start at StudentAid.gov and pay no application fee.
ONE LAST CHECK BEFORE YOU CLOSE THE TAB
One unfinished contributor section can hold up the entire FAFSA.
Open My Activity and make sure every required person has completed and signed their section. After processing, return for the FAFSA Submission Summary.
Official sources
- U.S. Department of Education — September 23 launch announcement
- Federal Student Aid — Filling Out the FAFSA Form
- Federal Student Aid — FAFSA checklist
- Federal Student Aid — accounts and contributors
- Federal Student Aid — federal, state and school deadlines
- Federal Student Aid — what to do after submitting
Checked September 28, 2026 against the U.S. Department of Education and Federal Student Aid pages above. State and school deadlines or extra forms can still apply. Next Up Guide is independent of the Department of Education, and the original illustrations do not reproduce its website or government marks.
