This fall's FAFSA applications won't be fully launched until December

The belated timeline follows the chaotic rollout of this year's forms, which were beset by delays and difficulties.

(The Hill) - The Department of Education announced Wednesday the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms for next year's college hopefuls will not be fully launched until Dec. 1, two months behind the typical schedule.

The belated timeline follows the chaotic rollout of this year's forms, which were beset by delays and difficulties.

The FAFSA forms, which are normally launched in October, will only be available to a small group of people starting Oct. 1 for a testing period. The applications will become fully available to all students and families starting Dec. 1.  

“Following a challenging 2024-25 FAFSA cycle, the Department listened carefully to the input of students, families, and higher education institutions, made substantial changes to leadership and operations at Federal Student Aid, and is taking a new approach this year that will significantly improve the FAFSA experience,” said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

“Thanks to the partnership of our stakeholders, we’ve developed a better implementation process for 2025-26. I look forward to continuing to work with our partners to ensure this school year’s FAFSA implementation better serves our nation’s students,” he added.  

The department explained the phased rollout will be used to identify errors in the system and get needed feedback on bugs. The testing stage will start out with hundreds of individuals before more are added to the system. 

The testing period comes after a disastrous FAFSA rollout for the most recent cycle.  

The forms last year were not launched until the end of December and weren’t fully available for all applicants until January.  

Even once the forms were fully available, numerous bugs were discovered that made the process confusing and difficult for students and colleges alike.  

Cardona acknowledged Tuesday the rollout "resulted in frustration for many students, families, education leaders and policy makers" but that the department has "listened, we learned and we're taking action."

As of March, there was a 40 percent gap in submissions before the 2023-2024 cycle and the 2022-2023 cycle. The department has said that gap dropped to 4 percent.  

"We've heard from students, families, higher education professionals and other stakeholders loud and clear: They want a better, simpler FAFSA process, and they want to know when they can reliably expect it," said FAFSA executive advisor Jeremy Singer. "In close collaboration with partners, FSA is confident we will deliver not only a better product, but also a smoother process than last year. One that makes higher education more accessible and within reach for more Americans." 

In a statement, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called the delay "completely unacceptable."

“For the second year in a row, the Biden-Harris administration is going to miss the traditional date to make the FAFSA form available to students,” Cassidy said. “We saw last year that colleges cannot create financial aid packages without timely FAFSA information. Many students may forgo college when they cannot choose a school because they do not know their eligibility for student aid.”