For the 2023-24 school year, many of the changes to FAFSA® are due to the FAFSA® Simplification Act passed by Congress.
For the 2023-2024 academic school year, all corrections or updates must be submitted by September 14, 2024, at 11:59 pm Central Time. Regardless of the deadlines for your college or when they start looking at financial aid, you can still start your application on October 1st of the previou...
Federal tax information: Applicants will need tax information from the prior-prior tax year. In this case, that means students should have 2023 tax returns for the 2025-26 FAFSA. Financial records: The FAFSA requires records of the student's (and the parents', if applicable) b...
What if you get married but not in the tax year required for FAFSA®? The tax year reflected on your FAFSA® may not reflect your current marital status. If you recently got married (or divorced) there are things to keep in mind....
A family completing the FAFSA for the 2025-2026 academic year will use the 2023 tax return. While deadlines vary by school, the federal due date is June 30 of the following academic year. Students ineligible for a federal grant may still qualify for work-study or federal loans. Filling out...
, as well as your parents’ federal tax return. These records include your W-2 forms, other records of income you have had, and your current bank statements for example. You will use your completed tax return from the prior year (e.g. 2023 tax return for the 2025-26 school year)....
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2025-2026 academic year is open! If you need money for college, completing the FAFSA is the most important and reliable way to increase your chances of receiving it. We share a step-by-step guide on how to complete the FAFSA!
Filers must report prior-prior-year taxes. For example, on the 2023-24 FAFSA form, you need to report 2021 tax information. You can import tax information into the FAFSA form by using the IRS data retrieval tool. Starting with the 2024-25 FAFSA, the Direct Data Exchange will replace the...
, for high school families, it has started and needs to be part of your planning for the graduating class of 2023. The first high school class to face all of the changes is the graduating class of 2024 or current juniors. For these students, 2022 will be their FAFSA base tax year....
Each FAFSA application period is 19 months, starting Oct. 1 of the year before the award year and ending June 30 of the award year.12Filling it out as early as possible is a good idea, as many states have financial aid deadlines considerably earlier than June 30, and their aid may be...