FAFSA Forms Delayed Again After Unstable Release of Renewal Applications Last Year

The Department of Education announced Wednesday that Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms for next year’s college applicants will not be fully released until December 1, two months behind the usual schedule.

The late schedule follows the chaotic implementation of this year’s renewed forms, which were beset by delays and difficulties.

FAFSA forms, normally released in October, will only be available to a small group of people starting October 1 for a trial period. Registration will be fully available to all students and families starting December 1st.

“After a challenging 2024-25 FAFSA cycle, the Department has listened carefully to input from students, families, and higher education institutions, made substantial changes to Federal Student Aid leadership and operations, and is adopting a new approach this year that will significantly improve the FAFSA experience,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

“Thanks to the partnership of our stakeholders, we have developed a better implementation process for 2025-26. I look forward to continuing to work with our partners to ensure that FAFSA implementation this academic year best serves our nation’s students,” he added.

The department explained that the phased implementation will be used to identify errors in the system and obtain necessary feedback on bugs. The testing phase will begin with hundreds of individuals before more people are added to the system.

The testing period comes after a disastrous FAFSA rollout in the most recent cycle.

Last year’s forms were only released at the end of December and were not fully available to all applicants until January.

Even after the forms were fully available, several bugs were discovered that made the process confusing and difficult for students and colleges.

Cardona acknowledged Tuesday that the implementation “has resulted in frustration for many students, families, educational leaders and policymakers” but that the department “has listened, we have learned and we are taking action.”

In March, there was a 40% gap in submissions ahead of the 2023-2024 cycle and the 2022-2023 cycle. The department said the gap had narrowed to 4%.

“We hear it loud and clear from students, families, higher education professionals, and other stakeholders: they want a better, simpler FAFSA process and they want to know when they can safely expect it,” said FAFSA Executive Advisor Jeremy Singer . “In close collaboration with partners, FSA is confident that we will deliver not only a better product, but also a smoother process than last year. A process that will make higher education more accessible and within reach for more Americans.”

In a statement, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called the delay “completely unacceptable.”

“For the second year in a row, the Biden-Harris administration will miss the traditional date for making the FAFSA form available to students,” Cassidy said. “We saw last year that colleges cannot create financial aid packages without timely FAFSA information. Many students may drop out of college when they can’t choose a school because they don’t know if they are eligible for student aid.”

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story