The 2025-26 FAFSA opens December 1 — here’s how to prepare | Real Time Headlines

this Apply for Federal Student Aid for Free The 2025-26 Department of Education will be available to all students and contributors on or before December 1 explain.

Normally, students can get their forms for the next academic year in October, but this year’s delay in release is due to “Phased rollout“Aimed to address issues reported in the 2024-25 FAFSA cycle. Last year’s new simplified form had issues from the start, some of which are still outstanding.

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While the extended testing period for the 2025-26 FAFSA is important, another delayed launch “creates a compressed timeline for students and families to submit financial information that could result in missed aid opportunities,” Interim President and CEO Beth Beth Maglione, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said in a statement.

1. Set up a Studentaid.gov account: Until the new form becomes available, students and their parents (if the student is a dependent) can Set username and passwordoften called an FSA ID, is used to access and fill out the FAFSA electronically.
2. Collect personal information: Students should have their Social Security numbers ready (as well) Parent (if student is a dependent) or student’s spouse (if applicable). However, if the student’s spouse, parent or step-parent does not have an SSN, They can still register Get an FSA ID. The form may also ask for your driver’s license or state ID number. Non-citizens should have an alien registration number.
3. Federal Tax Information: Applicants need tax information for the previous tax year. In this case, that means students should provide their 2023 tax return for the 2025-26 FAFSA.
4. financial records: The FAFSA requires records of the student’s (and parent’s, if applicable) bank accounts, stocks, bonds, real estate (excluding the family home) and other investments. Records of any tax-free income, such as child support or government benefits, should also be documented.
5. school list: Finally, FAFSA applicants should have a list of schools the student is applying to or attending that need to be listed on the FAFSA application.

For many students, Financial aid is critical Pay for college.

higher education The cost is already beyond the reach of most families, and college Costs are still rising. Tuition and fees plus room and board at four-year private colleges will average $58,600 in the 2024-25 academic year, up from $56,390 a year ago. The College Board found that tuition at a four-year, in-state public college was $24,920, up from $24,080.

FAFSA acts as gateway All federal aid funds, including federal student Loans, work-study, and especially grants—these have become the most important types of aid because they typically do not need to be repaid.

Submitting the FAFSA is also one of the best predictors of whether high school students will go on to college, according to the National College Attainment Network. Seniors who complete the FAFSA are 84% more likely According to NCAN’s study of 2013 data, students enter college directly after high school.

Following last year’s FAFSA complicationsee at a glance how much financial aid is available heavy Decisions about college.

Part of the problem is the new format, the number of new first-year college students down 5% This fall compared with last year, according to an analysis of early data National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

The report also found that first-year enrollment declines were most pronounced at four-year colleges and universities that serve low-income students.

At four-year colleges and universities where most students receive Pell Grants, first-year student enrollment has fallen by more than 10 percent.

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