2025-26 FAFSA Is Live

The Department of Education released the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on Thursday, ten days ahead of schedule. After months of beta testing, the FAFSA is available to all students and contributors. Most functionality should be present, though institutions should note that batch processing for corrections is still in development and scheduled for release sometime in the first quarter of next year.

To improve on last year’s rollout, the Department has added more than 700 new call center representatives, with over 200 more coming in the next few weeks, partnered with vendors to improve agent training, expanded the call center’s hours of operation, and implemented wait time announcements. The new call center hours include FAFSA support-only periods Monday through Saturday.

This is welcome news as a recent NAICU survey of private, nonprofit universities showed that 75% of respondents felt the Department “was not timely in responding to requests for FAFSA-related assistance.”

In addition, the FAFSA Deadline Act (H.R. 8932) passed the House and Senate and now heads to President Biden’s desk.  The bill would require the Department to make the FAFSA form available each year on October 1, instead of January 1. If unable to meet this deadline, the Secretary of Education would be required to come before Congress to explain why. NAICU signed on to a community letter to the House leadership supporting the legislation.

For more information, please contact:
Justin Monk