FAFSA timeline confusion - December HS graduate applying for Spring/Summer 2024-25
My daughter is graduating high school in December (early graduation) and plans to start college in Spring 2025. I'm totally confused about which FAFSA to fill out for her. Do we still complete the 2024-2025 FAFSA for her spring/summer 2025 semesters? Or should we be doing the 2025-2026 form since most of her freshman year will be in 2025? The college financial aid office gave us conflicting info twice and now I don't know what to do. Her first choice school's deadline for spring financial aid is coming up soon!
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Keisha Robinson
Yes, you'll need to complete the 2024-2025 FAFSA for the Spring 2025 and Summer 2025 semesters. The FAFSA year covers the full academic year (Fall, Spring, Summer), regardless of when during that academic year your daughter begins college. Then, you'd also complete the 2025-2026 FAFSA (when it becomes available in December) for Fall 2025 onward. Each FAFSA covers a specific academic year, not a calendar year.
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Yara Nassar
•Thank you so much! That makes sense. So we'd actually be filling out two FAFSAs pretty close to each other then? One now for 2024-25 and then another in December for 2025-26? That's what confused me I think.
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GalaxyGuardian
my son did the same thing last yr. graduated HS in Dec 2023 & started college Jan 2024. we filled out the 2023-24 FAFSA for spring/summer, then did the 2024-25 one right away too. financial aid office helped us figure it out after we were confused too lol
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Yara Nassar
•That's reassuring! Did he get decent aid for that first semester even though you applied sort of in the middle of the year? I'm worried all the money will be gone by then.
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GalaxyGuardian
•yeah he got his pell grant and some state aid too. not as much scholarship $ as the fall kids but the fed money was the same
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Paolo Ricci
I don't think that's right. My cousin's advisor told her the FAFSA should match the year when the MAJORITY of classes are taken. So if most classes are in 2025, then do the 2025-2026 form. Different schools have different policies though, better call your specific college!!!!
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Keisha Robinson
•That's not accurate regarding FAFSA. The federal form is standardized and works the same way for all schools - it's based on academic year (typically Fall through Summer), not calendar year or majority of classes. Your cousin may have been discussing something else or there was a misunderstanding. The 2024-2025 FAFSA covers Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and Summer 2025 semesters at all institutions.
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Amina Toure
I was in almost the exact same situation with my December graduate. The key thing to understand is that the FAFSA academic year runs from July 1 to June 30. So the 2024-2025 FAFSA covers July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. Since your daughter is starting in Spring 2025 (January), that falls within the 2024-2025 FAFSA year. So yes, complete the 2024-2025 FAFSA now for Spring/Summer 2025. Then complete the 2025-2026 FAFSA (available December 2024) for Fall 2025 and beyond.
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Yara Nassar
•Thank you! The July-June academic year explanation makes it so much clearer. I was thinking of it as calendar years. Really appreciate the help!
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Oliver Zimmermann
ugh the whole system is so confusing. i applied for the wrong year once and missed out on thousands in aid. the college financial aid offices are USELESS most of the time - u get different answers from different people!!
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Natasha Volkova
•I tried calling my son's college financial aid office last week and sat on hold for 90 minutes before being disconnected. Tried again the next day - same thing. Finally used Claimyr.com to get through to the Federal Student Aid people directly and they explained everything. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ showing how it works. Way better than dealing with individual schools sometimes!
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Yara Nassar
•I'll check that out! I spent 45 minutes on hold with the college before getting disconnected yesterday too.
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Javier Torres
One thing nobody has mentioned yet - make sure you're applying for institutional aid too, not just FAFSA! Most schools have separate financial aid forms and scholarships that aren't connected to your FAFSA. These often have different deadlines, especially for spring admits. Ask your daughter's college about their specific institutional aid applications for spring students - those deadlines might be coming up even sooner than the FAFSA priority dates.
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Yara Nassar
•That's a great point. I'll call tomorrow and ask specifically about their institutional aid forms for spring admits. Thank you!
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GalaxyGuardian
just FYI our SAI score was way different between those two years even tho our finances didnt change much... weird system
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Amina Toure
•That's likely because they switched to the new SAI formula in 2024-2025 from the old EFC calculation. The formulas are different, so even with the same financial information, your SAI could be quite different from what your EFC would have been. This is part of the FAFSA Simplification Act changes.
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Yara Nassar
Thank you all SO much for the clarity! We'll definitely fill out the 2024-25 FAFSA for her Spring/Summer 2025 semesters, then do the 2025-26 one when it opens in December. I'll also call about institutional aid tomorrow. This community has been 100x more helpful than the actual financial aid office!
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Keisha Robinson
•Happy to help! One last tip - since your daughter is starting mid-year, her first year's total aid will be prorated based on which semesters she's attending. So if the school publishes that the typical Pell Grant is $7,000 for the year, she'd get roughly $4,600 for spring/summer only (assuming 2 of 3 terms). Don't be alarmed if the numbers look smaller than expected for that first partial year.
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Isabella Tucker
Great advice everyone! Just wanted to add that if your daughter's college has a spring priority deadline coming up soon, don't panic if you can't get the FAFSA submitted immediately. Most schools will still process aid applications after the priority date, you just might not get first consideration for limited funds like work-study or certain grants. The federal Pell Grant eligibility doesn't change based on when you apply during the year. Also, double-check if her school requires the CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA - some private schools need both forms and the CSS Profile has different deadlines!
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Danielle Campbell
•This is such helpful information! I had no idea about the CSS Profile - I'll definitely check if her school requires that too. And thank you for the reassurance about the priority deadline. We're cutting it close but sounds like we'll still be okay for the federal aid even if we miss the school's preferred date. This whole process feels so overwhelming as a first-time college parent, but everyone here has made it much clearer!
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Nora Bennett
As someone who works in financial aid, I can confirm everything said here is correct! Just want to emphasize that timing is really important for spring admits - while federal aid (like Pell Grant) will be available regardless of when you apply, state grants and institutional scholarships often have much more limited funding for spring semester students. Many states allocate most of their grant money early in the year for fall students. So definitely get that 2024-25 FAFSA submitted ASAP! Also, when you do call the college about institutional aid, ask specifically about any "spring admit scholarships" - some schools have special funding pools just for students starting mid-year that you have to apply for separately.
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Mohamed Anderson
•This is incredibly helpful insight from someone who actually works in financial aid! I had no idea that state grants might have limited funding for spring admits - that definitely makes me want to get our FAFSA submitted this week instead of waiting. And I'll definitely ask about those spring admit scholarships when I call tomorrow. It sounds like there might be specific opportunities we wouldn't even know to look for otherwise. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your professional perspective!
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Sophia Clark
One more thing to keep in mind - since your daughter is graduating early in December, make sure to coordinate with her high school counselor about sending her final transcript to the college. Sometimes there can be delays with mid-year graduates getting their transcripts processed, and the college will need that official final transcript before they can finalize her financial aid package. Also, if she's planning to work part-time while in college, look into whether her school participates in Federal Work-Study - it's often easier to find on-campus jobs through work-study, and since she's starting spring semester, there might actually be more openings available than typical since some fall work-study students graduate or leave mid-year!
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