Planning ahead for FAFSA 2025-2026 with a high school junior - what should we know?

Welcome to the group! Smart move getting prepared early. For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, you'll need 2023 tax returns (both yours and your ex's), W-2s, and statements for any investments/assets. The divorced parent situation depends on who has majority custody - only the custodial parent reports their info on FAFSA (the one the student lived with most in the past 12 months). If you remarried, your current spouse's info must be included too. \n\nStart by creating FSA IDs for both you and your son now at studentaid.gov. The simplified FAFSA is easier than previous years, but you'll still want to understand your Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation. Check the Net Price Calculator on potential colleges' websites to get early estimates.

Thank you so much! I didn't realize we needed 2023 tax returns - that's good to know. My son actually splits time 50/50 between homes. Does that mean we both need to report, or just the parent who provides more financial support? And I'll definitely create those FSA IDs soon - is that something my son needs to be present for or can I set it up for him?

omg the FAFSA is such a nightmare!! i did it last year for my daughter and i swear it took like 10 hours to figure everything out. get all ur bank statements from december 2023 too, they ask for exact amounts from that month which is super annoying to find later

Oh no, that sounds stressful! Was it the website that was difficult or just gathering all the information? Did you end up calling for help at any point?

For 50/50 custody, the parent who provided more financial support during the past 12 months completes the FAFSA. If that's equal too, then it's whoever has the higher income. And your son absolutely needs to create his own FSA ID - it's linked to his SSN and serves as his legal signature. You cannot create it for him.\n\nOne important tip: if your 2023 income was unusually high compared to your current situation (job loss, significant income reduction), you can file the FAFSA with the 2023 info, then immediately contact each college's financial aid office for a \

This is incredibly helpful information! I do contribute more financially, so I guess I'll be the one filling it out. And I appreciate the clarification about the FSA ID - I'll have him set up his own account when he's home from school.

Just went through this with my second kid. Different colleges have WILDLY different aid packages even with the same FAFSA info! My daughter got $32k from one school and only $8k from another with basically identical costs. Make sure you apply to schools with good financial aid reputations!

FAFSA is the WORST. I spent HOURS trying to submit ours last fall and the website kept crashing. Then when I finally got through, they selected us for verification and we had to send in a ton more paperwork. Then they LOST some of it and we had to resubmit everything! My daughter almost missed deadlines for her top choice schools because of the delays. \n\nWhen I called the Federal Student Aid helpline, I was on hold for literally 3+ hours and then got disconnected. TWICE. I was about to lose my mind until someone on this forum recommended Claimyr.com - it got me connected to an actual FAFSA agent in about 10 minutes. You can see how it works in their video demo: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ\n\nSeriously saved my sanity during the verification nightmare.

omg i wish i knew about this last year!!! bookmarking for next time cause i still have 2 more kids to go thru this with 😩

That sounds absolutely awful! I'm definitely going to check out that service if we run into problems. Thanks for the recommendation - I've heard the verification process can be especially frustrating.

One thing nobody mentioned yet - if your child has any income from working, that counts too! My son's part-time job at the grocery store ended up affecting his aid because he had saved about $7k in his own account. The student income protection allowance is only about $9,400, so anything over that gets factored into the SAI at a higher rate than parent assets (20% vs. 5.64%).\n\nAlso, money in a 529 owned by you counts as a parent asset (good), but if grandparents or other relatives have 529s for your child, those distributions now don't count as student income anymore, which is a HUGE change from previous years.

This is really good to know! My son does have a summer job and has saved about $4,500 so far. His grandparents also have a small 529 for him, so I'm glad to hear that won't negatively impact things.

Im a financial aid counselor at a university and my best advice is to apply AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE when the FAFSA opens!!! Schools have limited institutional funds and its often first-come first-served. Also the CSS Profile is required by many private colleges on top of FAFSA and asks for way more detailed financial info so check if your target schools need that too

Oh! I hadn't even heard of the CSS Profile yet. Thank you for mentioning it. Are there different deadlines for that compared to the FAFSA? And I'll definitely make sure we apply early!

CSS Profile deadlines vary by school but are usually similar to FAFSA priority deadlines. The big difference is CSS costs $25 for first school and $16 for each additional one (fee waivers available for low income). It asks about home equity, business value, medical expenses etc that FAFSA doesnt. Check each schools financial aid page for their specific requirements and deadlines!

My neighbors kid got way more financial aid by applying as independent but I heard thats really hard to do??? Anyone know how that works

That's called a dependency override, and it's extremely rare - only granted in severe circumstances like documented abuse, abandonment, incarceration of both parents, or homelessness. Simply not getting financial support from parents isn't enough. Your neighbor's situation would be very unusual if they got approved for this just to get more aid.

Thank you all so much for this information! I'm taking notes on everything. One more question - my ex-husband and I both contribute to our son's 529 plan. How does that get reported? Do we both list it, or just the custodial parent?

Only the account owner reports a 529 on FAFSA. If it's in your name, you report it as your parental asset. If it's in your ex's name and he's not the FAFSA-filing parent, it doesn't get reported at all. If the 529 is in your son's name (rare but possible), then it's reported as a parent asset of whoever completes the FAFSA. Just make sure that when distributions happen, they come from the account that will have the least impact on aid.

make sure ur son applies for ALL the scholarships!!! my daughter got a weird one for $1500 because her great grandfather was a freemason lol. check with ur employer too, lots have scholarships for employees kids!

That's a great point! I'll definitely look into scholarships through my company. And I'll have him start researching scholarship opportunities soon too. Every little bit helps!