When to start FAFSA application for Fall 2025 freshman? First-time parent confused

The FAFSA for the 2025-2026 academic year will open on December 1, 2024. This is when you'll want to submit it - as close to the opening date as possible. Many schools have priority deadlines in January/February, and some aid is first-come, first-served, so earlier is better! You don't need college acceptances first - in fact, on the FAFSA you'll list all the schools your son is considering, and they'll receive his financial information once he's accepted. You'll need your 2023 tax info (the year before last) for the 2025-2026 FAFSA.

December 1st opening but GET READY NOW!!!! They just changed the whole FAFSA system last year and it was a DISASTER. Make sure u have FSA IDs for BOTH you and your son set up way before December. Takes like 3 days to verify them sometimes.

The FAFSA opening date is December 1, 2024, for the 2025-26 academic year. While you wait, here's what you should do now: 1. Create FSA IDs for yourself and your son at studentaid.gov (do this ASAP - takes a few days to process) 2. Gather your 2023 tax returns and W-2s (yes, they use older tax info) 3. Make a list of all schools your son is applying to (their school codes will be needed) 4. Start researching each school's additional financial aid requirements and deadlines (some need CSS Profile too) And yes, your son needs his own FSA ID since he's the student. You'll need yours as the parent/contributor.

I tried calling the Federal Student Aid office to ask about the FAFSA timeline last month and spent HOURS on hold. Finally gave up. Then I found Claimyr.com which got me through to an actual FSA agent in under 20 minutes! They have this service where they wait on hold for you and call when an agent picks up. Saved me so much frustration. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ showing how it works. Definitely recommend if you need specific questions answered about your situation!

Everyone's giving you the official answers but here's the REAL deal - the FAFSA is a nightmare and you need to be PREPARED. Last year the system crashed on opening day and people couldn't apply for WEEKS. Some folks didn't get their SAI scores until MARCH and lost out on financial aid!!! They're using a completely different formula now called the SAI instead of EFC. It screwed over middle class families like crazy. If your income went up since 2023, you're fine, but if it went DOWN, be ready to file special circumstances forms with each college. They won't automatically know your situation changed!!

Both of u need FSA IDs yep! The disaster was the whole new system crashed and ppl couldn't apply for weeks and schools couldn't get the info and aid was delayed and the new calculation system (SAI not EFC now) gave different results than expected and just total chaos!!!

my kid started college last yr and we did fafsa in december when it opened. got more money from applying early so def do it right when it opens. and yeah u need 2023 taxes which is weird but thats how they do it

wait i thought fafsa opened october 1st?? did they change it???

Thank you all for the helpful information! I'm going to start working on the FSA IDs today for both of us. I'm also going to make a list of all his potential schools and research their deadlines. So stressed about our income change situation, but at least now I know to contact the schools directly about that. Appreciate all the advice!