FAFSA frequency: Do I need to submit every semester or just once yearly?

FAFSA is completed once per academic year (which usually covers fall and spring semesters). The form becomes available October 1st for the following academic year. So for the 2025-2026 academic year, you'll be able to apply starting October 1, 2024. What your advisor might have been referring to is maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) each term to keep your eligibility. This means maintaining a certain GPA and completing enough credits. But that's different from the application itself.

once a year!!! dont overthink it

It's definitely once per year, but make sure you're aware of your school's specific FAFSA priority deadlines! Each school has different cutoff dates for when they want your FAFSA submitted to be considered for the maximum aid. Mine is February 15th, but my friend's community college has a March 1st deadline. Missing these doesn't mean you can't get federal aid, but you might miss out on school-specific grants that have limited funding.

My daughter is in her 2nd year and we do it once yearly but we also have to do the CSS Profile for her private university every year too which asks for way more financial info than FAFSA. Does your school require both?

Once per academic year, but let me add something important: if your financial situation changes significantly during the year (job loss, medical emergency, etc.), you can request a professional judgment review from your financial aid office. They have the authority to adjust your aid mid-year based on new circumstances. This doesn't require filing a new FAFSA though - it's a separate process through your school.

ONCE PER YEAR BUT THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS RIDICULOUS!! Spent 3 weeks trying to fix my son's FAFSA because the website kept glitching and losing our information! Then when I finally called, I was on hold for FOUR HOURS before getting disconnected. FOUR HOURS OF MY LIFE I'LL NEVER GET BACK! And they expect us to do this torture every year?!?!

my cousin did hers wrong and thought she needed to submit every semester and her financial aid got all messed up, took forever to fix

To address your summer question from earlier - if you plan to take summer classes, your FAFSA for that academic year will typically cover it. However, summer can sometimes be treated as the end of the previous academic year or the beginning of the next one, depending on your school. You should definitely check with your financial aid office about how they handle summer aid distribution. Also, be aware that using aid for summer may reduce what's available for fall/spring, since there are annual loan limits.

When i was in school back in the 90s we had to fill out the paper FAFSA every year and mail it in! Used to take weeks to process. At least now its all online and you can use the IRS data retrieval tool to pull in your tax info automatically. Made it so much easier when helping my kids with their applications. Just remember to keep your FSA ID and password somewhere safe so you don't have to reset it every year like i always end up doing lol

Just wanted to add - make sure you renew your FAFSA by the federal deadline too! The federal deadline is usually June 30th for the academic year, but like others mentioned, your school's priority deadline is way more important for getting the best aid package. Also, if you're a dependent student, you'll need your parents' tax information again each year. Pro tip: remind your parents to do their taxes early so you're not scrambling to meet those February/March school deadlines!

Great question! I was confused about this too when I first started college. Everyone's already covered the main points perfectly - it's once per academic year, not per semester. Just want to emphasize what others said about keeping track of your school's priority deadline. I missed my school's February 1st deadline my sophomore year (thought I had until March like some friends at other schools) and ended up losing out on about $2,000 in institutional grants. The federal aid was still there, but those school-specific funds with limited budgets get distributed first-come, first-served after the priority date. Definitely don't make my mistake!

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is verification! About 1 in 3 students get selected for verification after submitting their FAFSA, which means you'll need to provide additional documents like tax transcripts, W-2s, and sometimes bank statements to confirm the info you submitted. This doesn't change the "once per year" rule, but it can delay your aid processing if you don't respond quickly. I got selected for verification my first two years and it added about 3-4 weeks to get my aid package finalized. Just something to keep in mind when planning your timeline, especially if you're cutting it close to your school's priority deadline!