Welcome

The 2025–2026 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) season will begin in December. You will be able to fill out the FAFSA for the 2025–26 college school year. In addition, applicants will no longer need to estimate income and tax information and will be able to retrieve their data directly from the IRS, right from the first day the FAFSA is available using previous years tax information. Students also will have information about their Expected Family Contributions earlier, helping you as you go through the college application and selection process. There are a few federal student aid programs that have limited funds, so be sure to apply as soon as you can once the FAFSA is available for the year you will be attending school. Students can code up to 10 colleges they want to receive their FAFSA information and an option to add/replace colleges. Go to www.fafsa.gov for more information and to apply.

The 2025-2026 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)  is available for new and returning students to complete. Applicants for financial aid will use 2023 income and income tax information.

 Tips to remember:

1.       Creating a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID: Both the student and at least one parent (dependent students for financial aid purposes) will need to create an FSA ID if they want to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) within the FAFSA and sign the FAFSA electronically. Students should not use their high school email account as they will need to access their FSA ID beyond high school. Only one email address can be used per person so if families have a shared email account, it can only be used for one person.

2.       Three types of questions in the FAFSA:

a.       As of today (e.g., marital status, value of cash/checking/savings accounts)

b.       In 2023 (e.g., wages earned, income tax information such as adjusted gross income)

c.       In 2025-2026 (the award year) (family size, number in college – do not include PSEO or other high school students in college)

3.       Signing the FAFSA: Both the student and at least one parent/step-parent (if applicable) whose information is used on the FAFSA must provide a signature

Most common mistakes on the FAFSA:

1.       Wrong social security number (SSN): This error is most common when a parent is completing the student section of the FAFSA. Only the student should complete the student section and should verify the SSN entered on the FAFSA against the student’s actual social security card.

2.       Using the wrong parent’s information. This is most common in the case of divorced or remarried parents. Tips are provided within the FAFSA to help determine which parent information should be used.

3.       Not providing required signatures. See item #3 above under “Tips to remember.”

4.       Completing the wrong year’s FAFSA. As of December there will be two award years at www.fafsa.gov – our current 2024-2025 award year (2024-2025 for fall 2024, spring 2025, summer 2025) AND next award year of 2025-2026 (fall 2025, spring 2026, summer 2026)

5.       Using the wrong tax year. Law requires the tax year and income information for two years prior. So for 2024-2025 applicants, they must use 2023 income information. If there are special circumstances in which the 2025-2026 income may be less than 2023, the student should contact the school’s financial aid office.