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The Free Application for Federal Student Aid for the 2025-26 school year went live in November, and if you haven’t applied for financial aid yet, you need to act fast.
This year’s FAFSA includes a variety of changes and corrections, such as correcting errors that required parents who filed tax returns to fill out the form, according to the Department of Education. he said in a news release. These changes come later last year’s terrible release This resulted in some students not receiving the support they needed at school.
Despite the problems of the past, experts still say that it is very important fill out the FAFSA before going to college. This free form opens up access to various types of federal financial aid, including grants, job training and student loans.
Here are the steps you can take to apply for a smooth FAFSA.
1. Submit your FAFSA form as soon as possible
One of the best things you can do when applying for financial aid is to fill out the FAFSA early. Usually, this form is available on Oct. 1 every year. The 2025-26 FAFSA was only made available to a limited number of students in October as the Department of Education collected responses and processed them. technical difficulties. The department initially wanted to release it on December 1 but ended the test early.
If you’re already thinking about next year’s application, the Department of Education director said he expects the 2026-27 FAFSA to be due Oct. 1, 2025.
It is important to submit your application as soon as possible because some financial aid is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If you wait too long, you may get less financial aid than you originally applied for.
It is also important that your FAFSA guides you to your college and state deadlines. Each school has its own FAFSA deadline, but it usually falls between January and March. You can check your country’s deadline at Federal Student Aid website.
2. Enter your FSA ID
Before you start filling out the FAFSA, you should create your account on the StudentAid.gov website. This includes setting up an FSA ID, which is your username and password.
“The student and the sponsor should get an FSA ID as soon as possible,” said financial analyst Mark Kantrowitz.
Everyone who contributes to the FAFSA will need their FSA ID. If you are a dependent student, this means that both you and one parent will need your FSA ID. The education official said that one of the most common problems with FAFSA testing is that parents have not created their own FSA ID, which takes time to get approved and can delay the application.
Unless you are a citizen of the Commonwealth of Independent States, you must enter your Social Security number to create your StudentAid.gov account. Parents do not need to have an SSN, but must enter their SSN if they have one.
It’s important to get the information right the first time, according to Cathy Mueller, executive director of Mapping Your Future, a financial aid organization.
“Unfortunately, some of the problems they’ve had in the past have occurred when Social Security numbers and dates of birth were entered incorrectly,” he added.
3. Know that you are dependent
Dependent students must fill out the FAFSA with one parent, while independent students can fill out the FAFSA on their own. There are several questions you may ask yourself Know how dependent you aresuch as:
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Are you 24 or older?
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Are you pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree?
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Are you a veteran or currently serving in the US military?
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Were you an orphan, a ward in the state or in foster care before the age of 13?
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Are you married?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you may be considered an independent student. If your answer is no, you are a dependent learner.
Dependent students must complete the FAFSA with the assistance of one parent. If your parents are married and file taxes together, for example, only one parent is required to submit the form (although they must provide information for both parents). If your parents are married and file separate taxes, then both parents must contribute to the FAFSA.
Note that students and parents fill out different sections of the FAFSA. Make sure you are doing the right thing to avoid mistakes. The Federal Student Aid website suggests that the student complete and save their portion first before the parent begins.
4. Prepare before filling out the form
Having all of your required documents ready in advance can help make the FAFSA application easier. The FAFSA will ask for your contact information and sponsor information, as well as financial information. Some of the things you may need:
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Tax returns for the past two years
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Current account balances for each bank account
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Value of money, businesses and farms
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Child support documents
In the new version of the FAFSA, you must agree to transfer federal tax information directly in the form using Financial Aid Direct Data Exchange. Refusing this transfer will prevent you from receiving federal student aid, even if the donor has manually entered the tax information.
5. Check and double check for accuracy
The old FAFSA asked you 108 questions, but the new FAFSA asks fewer. The form is short, but you don’t want to rush through it. A student aid website says it should take less than an hour to complete, but take extra time to make sure you understand each question and give the correct answers.
Filling out everything at once, rather than spreading it out over several days, can help avoid technical problems and reduce inconsistencies in your answers, Kantrowitz said.
Before you hit submit, review everything to make sure all of your answers are correct. Mistakes can cause delays, which can affect your financial rewards.
After you submit the FAFSA, you will receive your Student Aid Report, which will summarize your FAFSA and estimate your eligibility for financial aid. If you see any errors at this point, you can correct them by logging into your StudentAid.gov account or contacting your college or career school.
What to do if you have questions about the FAFSA
Filling out the FAFSA can be daunting, especially if you’ve never done it before. Fortunately, there are resources to help you along the way.
Inside your FAFSA form, you’ll see pictures of different questions that, when clicked, provide instructions on how to answer the question. You can also find answers to questions found on FAFSA assistanceand talking to the Federal Student Aid agent, Aidan.
If you want to talk to someone, you can find live chat, send an email to Federal Student Aid Information Center or call 800-433-3243. The contact center increased its staff this year by extended its night and Saturday hours until March 2, 2025.
Finally, you can reach out to your high school counselor or your college’s financial aid office for help.
By doing this and seeking help along the way, you can ensure that the FAFSA applies and maximize your chances of financial aid.
