FAFSA 2025-2026: Which tax return year (2023 or 2024) needed for Class of 2025 student?

The 2025-2026 FAFSA will use your 2023 tax information. This is what's called 'prior-prior year' - they go back two years for tax data. So for students starting in Fall 2025, they'll be filing the 2025-2026 FAFSA using 2023 tax returns. It's confusing at first, but the system is designed this way so families can complete the FAFSA earlier using already-filed tax returns rather than waiting for the current year's taxes to be filed.

they use the prior prior year so its 2023 taxes for 2025 entrance. my son is starting this fall and we used 2022 taxes for his fafsa

But wait, what if your financial situation changes dramatically between 2023 and when your kid starts college in 2025? My husband lost his job and our income dropped by like 40% the year after we filed FAFSA for our oldest. We had to do something called a 'special circumstances' form with each school. HUGE HEADACHE but worth it because some schools adjusted our aid!!

my daughter is also class of 2025!!! so excited but also terrified about paying for everything lol. the tax thing confused me too but yeah its 2023 taxes for the 2025-2026 fafsa

I tried calling Federal Student Aid to confirm this EXACT question last week because my financial advisor told me something different (he was wrong). Spent 2 hours on hold before getting disconnected. TWICE. I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an agent in about 8 minutes. They have this video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ Anyway, the agent confirmed it's definitely 2023 taxes for the 2025-26 FAFSA. Prior-prior year is the rule.

Just be careful with the prior-prior year system because it doesn't always reflect your current financial reality. We had a MUCH better year in 2023 than we're having now in 2024 (medical bills, ugh), so our FAFSA will show higher income than we're actually working with for paying tuition. Remember you can always appeal your financial aid package directly with schools if your circumstances have changed significantly from what your 2023 tax returns show. Each school handles this differently, so you'll need to contact each financial aid office individually. Some schools are more generous with adjustments than others.

One other thing to be aware of: The FAFSA simplification means the form for 2025-2026 will be very different than previous years. It now calculates a Student Aid Index (SAI) rather than the old Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The 2023 tax return requirement hasn't changed, but how they use that information to calculate aid eligibility has. Make sure you're looking at current resources when you research this topic, as advice from even 2-3 years ago might be outdated due to these significant changes.

I'm still mad about this whole prior-prior year system!!! Our 2023 income was nearly DOUBLE our normal income because we sold some property that year. Now my twins who start college in 2025 will look like they come from a much wealthier family than we actually are. The whole system is BROKEN!!! 😡😡😡

As someone who just went through this process with my oldest child, I can confirm it's definitely 2023 tax returns for the 2025-2026 FAFSA. The prior-prior year system was confusing to me at first too, but it actually makes sense once you understand the reasoning - they want families to be able to complete the FAFSA as early as possible using tax information that's already been filed and processed. One tip I wish I'd known earlier: start gathering your 2023 tax documents now, even though the FAFSA doesn't open until December. Having everything organized ahead of time makes the process so much smoother. Also, if you used tax prep software, make sure you can still access your 2023 return when you need it - I had to dig through old emails to find my login info! The key thing to remember is that even though you're using 2023 tax info, colleges understand this might not reflect your current situation, which is why the appeals process exists if your circumstances have changed significantly.

I'm new to this community and just found this thread - what perfect timing! My son is also Class of 2025 and I've been losing sleep over the tax year confusion. Reading through everyone's experiences has been so reassuring. I had completely misunderstood and thought we'd need our 2024 taxes somehow, which seemed impossible since we won't even file them until spring 2025. The prior-prior year system makes so much more sense now that you've all explained it. One quick question - I see people mentioning organizing documents early. Besides our 2023 tax return, what other documents should I be gathering now to be ready for December? I want to be as prepared as possible so I can file right when it opens. This is our first time through this process and I really don't want to mess anything up that could affect his aid eligibility. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge - this community is amazing!