Will the FAFSA Be On Time This Year?
Last week the Department of Education announced that this year's FAFSA will be available on Oct. 1, hopefully avoiding the delays that have plagued the first two years of the simplified version of the federal financial aid application. The announcement also highlighted a couple of improvements: real-time verification of Social Security numbers for immediate access to tax information from the IRS, and a simplified process for students to invite parent contributors to access their FAFSA.
While it's welcome news that the FAFSA will be on time this year, it's worth a reminder that you probably don't need to file it on Oct. 1. Financial aid is allocated by colleges, not the Department of Education, and colleges won't give you a financial aid package until they've evaluated your application to the school. Unless you're applying Early Decision, the college won't know anything about you for several months after Oct. 1. Federal aid program dollars-- Pell grants, student loans and work-study-- are also allocated by the colleges, and you will get what you qualify for from those programs as long as you submit your FAFSA on time.
Most families are better served by waiting at least a few days, if for no other reason than that all the people who think they need to file the FAFSA on Oct. 1 will be filing it that day, and it typically crashes or times out or otherwise wastes a lot of your time on that particular day.
If you're eligible for need-based financial aid, you'll want to wait until you've paid your big bills for the month-- your mortgage or rent, credit card bill, and any other big expenses-- before you file so that you report less assets. (Remember, assets are valued on the day you file.) You might want to make Roth IRA contributions or large purchases that you intend to make anyway prior to filing.
In fact, you can wait until the earliest filing deadline for the colleges you apply to and file it then. This might give you a chance to make a 2026 Roth IRA contribution if no one needs your FAFSA before January 1. Each school sets its own FAFSA deadline, so check with the colleges you plan to apply to. And don't assume that deadlines are consistent: here in Oregon, Oregon State's deadline is Feb. 28, whereas the University of Oregon's is March 1.
Who should file right away on Oct. 1? Anyone who's eligible for need-based financial aid that is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. This includes some state grants as well as some colleges offering rolling admissions or priority financial aid or scholarships based on FAFSA submission. Check with your state's grant programs and the colleges you're applying to to determine if this applies to you.
Otherwise, celebrate the on-time FAFSA by doing something else on Oct. 1.
