When to start FAFSA for Fall 2025 - October 1st timeline question

Yes, you'll need to wait until October 1, 2024 to submit the 2025-2026 FAFSA. The FAFSA application always opens on October 1st for the following academic year. That said, there's plenty you can do now to prepare: 1. Make sure both you and your daughter create FSA IDs at studentaid.gov if you haven't already 2. Gather your 2023 tax returns (that's what you'll need for 2025-2026 FAFSA) 3. Make a list of colleges she's interested in (you can list up to 10 on the FAFSA) 4. Start researching each school's financial aid deadlines (some have priority deadlines much earlier than others) The changes from last year actually streamlined the process, reducing questions from 108 to about 36, and introducing the new Student Aid Index (SAI) which replaced the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).

wait you need 2023 tax info?? i thought it would be 2024 taxes. omg this is confusing

You absolutely MUST wait until October 1st! My son is going to college this fall, and I tried filling out the FAFSA early last year and it completely messed everything up!!! They were using the old form until October 1, and then everything changed. The whole system was a nightmare with all the changes they made. Be prepared for LOTS of glitches and errors - we had to submit ours THREE TIMES before it worked properly!!!! 😡 And don't even get me started on the verification process... ugh. Just make sure you have EVERYTHING ready on October 1st so you can submit right away. Some schools ran out of aid last year because of all the delays with the new system.

i had the same question for my son lol. the october 1 thing is so weird why cant they just open it earlier? anyways good luck with your daughter! senior year goes by so fast 😊

While you do need to wait until October 1st to submit, I recommend using the Federal Student Aid Estimator tool now to get a preliminary idea of your aid eligibility. It's not perfect but gives you a ballpark SAI calculation. Also, don't forget to look into CSS Profile requirements - many private schools require this in addition to FAFSA, and it typically opens around the same time (October 1st). The CSS Profile does cost money to submit ($25 for first school, $16 each additional) unless you qualify for a fee waiver. One more thing: review the asset protection allowance thresholds for parents. For 2024-2025, parents between 45-50 years old had an asset protection allowance of around $6,500-$7,300 (depending on whether one or two parents). This means that amount of your non-retirement assets doesn't count in the calculation.

Tried calling Federal Student Aid about this exact question last week and was on hold for TWO HOURS before giving up. Then I found Claimyr.com and got through to an agent in less than 10 minutes! They have this service that basically waits on hold for you and calls when an agent is ready. Saved my sanity. They have a video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ Anyway, the agent confirmed October 1st is when the 2025-2026 form opens. No way to start earlier. But she did tell me that you should create FSA IDs for both you and your daughter now, as that can take 3-5 days to process.

FAFSA is a complicated mess every year and the big change made it worse last year! This is my fourth kid going to college, and I've filled out so many FAFSAs I could do it in my sleep. But even I had problems with the new system. The new Student Aid Index works very differently from the old EFC in some ways. My advice - create a folder now with all these documents ready to go: - 2023 tax return for parents - 2023 W-2s for parents - Student's tax info if they worked - List of assets (bank accounts, investments, but NOT retirement accounts or your primary home) - List of colleges with their federal school codes And get those FSA IDs now! Sometimes it can take longer than expected to verify them.

i heard that if ur divorced theres sum weird rules about which parent fills it out??

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I'm going to get those FSA IDs set up this week and start gathering our 2023 tax documents. I'll also check out that Federal Student Aid Estimator to get a general idea of what we might qualify for. Looks like we need to mark October 1st on the calendar and be ready to submit right away. One last question - if my financial situation has changed significantly since 2023 (I got laid off earlier this year), is there any way to have that considered in the FAFSA?

Just wanted to add something that helped me last year - create a backup plan for October 1st! The system gets absolutely slammed that first day and the website can be really slow or crash. I recommend trying to submit early in the morning or late at night when there's less traffic. Also, save your work frequently as you go - nothing worse than losing all your progress because the site timed out! And regarding the Professional Judgment Review that Anastasia mentioned - definitely pursue that if your income dropped significantly. My neighbor got an extra $3,000 in Pell Grant eligibility after appealing due to job loss. Just make sure to submit the regular FAFSA first, then contact each school's financial aid office individually. Good luck with your daughter's senior year!