Ought to I Nonetheless Fill Out the FAFSA if the Division of Training Is Shut Down?

The Trump administration slashed employees on the Division of Training this week and a whole lot of customers reported that the studentaid.gov web site was down for hours. It may all go away you questioning in the event you ought to nonetheless submit the Free Software for Federal Scholar Support (FAFSA). 

The FAFSA is designed to assist college students shoulder the price of faculty by figuring out their household’s eligibility for monetary assist, together with Pell Grants, scholarships, work-study applications and pupil loans. Most specialists agree there’s little or no purpose to not fill out the FAFSA, even with the Division of Training in flux. 

“If the Division of Training is shuttered, there definitely is a chance there may very well be adjustments to the FAFSA. What these adjustments is perhaps, nevertheless, is actually anyone’s guess and never a purpose to chorus from filling out the shape,” mentioned Kevin Ladd, COO and co-creator of Scholarships.com.

Here is what you have to know in the event you’re filling out the FAFSA.

What’s completely different about FAFSA this 12 months?

The 2025-26 FAFSA grew to become accessible to all candidates in late November because the Division of Training labored by points based mostly on early testing and suggestions.

The shape is much like the 2024-25 FAFSA, which drastically minimize the variety of questions and utilized a brand new formulation to find out a household’s contributions. Delays and glitches triggered widespread chaos in the course of the 2024-25 rollout.

Though the 2025-26 rollout was smoother, the transition to a brand new administration has created questions in regards to the FAFSA amid President Trump’s name to abolish the Division of Training. If the division’s duties are reassigned and one other authorities company takes over FAFSA processing, specialists say any adjustments to this 12 months’s software course of probably can be minor. 

“There is perhaps adjustments to issues like the place to search out the FAFSA on-line,” mentioned Elaine Rubin, director of company communications for Edvisors. “Whether it is shifted, we’ll have loads of time to find out how it will be managed and processed.” 

How does FAFSA assist me get federal pupil assist?

Primarily based on the solutions you present to questions on the FAFSA, the monetary assist workplace calculates your Scholar Support Index. The SAI elements within the incomes and property of the scholar and their “contributors” — dad and mom or partner — to find out the anticipated household contribution towards faculty prices, which may vary from -1,500 as much as 99,999. 

A decrease quantity means there is a larger chance you will obtain need-based monetary help. Colleges use the SAI to calculate the quantity of economic assist they give you.

Ought to I fill out the FAFSA?

Until you’re ready to pay for faculty with none help, it is in your greatest curiosity to fill out the FAFSA, no matter your monetary standing. The federal pupil assist web site notes that a number of elements, together with the scale of your loved ones and your 12 months at school, are thought of along with your loved ones’s earnings.

“Not submitting simply screams, ‘I pays full worth,’” mentioned Danilo Umali, founding father of Recreation Idea School Planners. 

Even in the event you consider your loved ones’s earnings is simply too excessive to qualify for need-based assist, filling out the shape should still be value your time. “Some faculties require FAFSA to qualify for advantage assist by their faculty,” Rubin mentioned. 

Issues about disclosing citizenship

Whereas a pupil have to be a US citizen or eligible non-citizen to finish the FAFSA, your dad and mom or partner is probably not. Though the studentaid.gov web site says your contributor’s citizenship or immigration standing will not have an effect on your eligibility, there’s concern that data submitted on the FAFSA is perhaps shared with different authorities companies. 

Nancy Goodman, founding father of the nonprofit group School Cash Issues, mentioned it is a legitimate worry for faculty college students with undocumented dad and mom. “Underneath the earlier administration, sharing data between authorities departments was not allowed until specified and authorized,” she mentioned. “Underneath this administration, it continues to be unclear the place data sharing is feasible and with whom.” 

If your loved ones has considerations about citizenship and desires to forgo the FAFSA, contemplate contacting faculties the place you are making use of to search out different choices to safe assist. Some might supply different functions or different financing choices. Additionally contemplate personal, merit-based scholarships, which can not require details about your dad and mom or partner.

“Citizenship and authorized everlasting residency is a really difficult subject,” Rubin mentioned. “It is going to be a really private resolution on proceed.”

What you have to fill out the FAFSA

 Earlier than you may fill out the FAFSA, you and your contributors should every create your individual FSA ID. You will want the next:

• Your authorized title 
• Date of start
• An e-mail tackle
• Social Safety quantity — contributors who wouldn’t have a Social Safety quantity will want to have the ability to reply questions on themselves to confirm their id

If in case you have a cell phone quantity, you may as well add it to your account for two-step verification.

Observe that verifying your Social Safety quantity to your FSA ID might take one to a few days. In the event you plan to submit your FAFSA software by a specific deadline, be certain that everybody will get their FSA IDs no less than a couple of days earlier than.

Methods to fill out the FAFSA

Preparation is vital when filling out the FAFSA. You will wish to collect related monetary and authorized paperwork earlier than you begin. This can prevent time in the course of the software course of.

There are 5 sections within the 2025-26 FAFSA type: 

• Scholar 
• Scholar’s partner 
• Dad or mum 
• Dad or mum’s partner or associate 
• Preparer (if somebody aside from the scholar, pupil’s partner, guardian, or guardian’s partner or associate accomplished this way on the applicant’s behalf)

The Federal Scholar Support workplace recommends that college students log in to studentaid.gov to fill out their portion of the FAFSA first, then invite your contributors. You’ll be able to pause the appliance at any time and return to finish it.

You will every want the next data to finish your sections of the shape: 

• Private data: title, contact data, Social Safety quantity and start date 
• Financial institution statements (for checking and financial savings account balances) 
• Funding data 
• Earnings statements, together with W-2s 
• Tax returns 
• Data of any baby help acquired

You will even be requested which faculties you need your FAFSA data shared with so preserve your faculty record helpful. You should record no less than one faculty however you may add extra faculties later. 

In the event you and/or your contributors filed a US tax return, you might be eligible to switch your tax data instantly from the IRS into your on-line FAFSA software. Choose “Proceed to the IRS” to make use of the IRS Knowledge Retrieval Instrument. 

Double-check your work all through. Your whole data for the scholar and contributors should match their StudentAid.gov account precisely. Do not use nicknames or suffixes (akin to Jr.). Many of the data you will want to offer about earnings, investments, tax credit and account balances will come out of your tax returns or financial institution statements. 

Methods to submit the FAFSA

You and your contributors should every signal and submit your portion of the shape whenever you’re completed. You’ll be able to monitor the standing of a FAFSA software together with your studentaid.gov account (utilizing your FSA ID) underneath the My Exercise web page. You will even be notified when contributors signal and full sections.

After efficiently submitting the FAFSA, you will obtain a affirmation web page that features your estimated Pell Grant eligibility and estimated SAI. The faculties you listed on the FAFSA will use the SAI to find out your monetary assist bundle and ship you a proposal after you have been accepted.

When is FAFSA due?

The opening date for the upcoming FAFSA and the deadline for the earlier faculty 12 months’s FAFSA overlap, which may make maintaining observe of all of the dates troublesome.

Typically, the FAFSA software interval opens on Oct. 1 earlier than the next faculty 12 months. So for highschool college students, you may submit FAFSA to your freshman 12 months of faculty on Oct. 1 of your senior 12 months. Nevertheless, the 2024-25 and 2025-26 openings have been delayed due to glitches with the brand new type.

The federal deadline for FAFSA functions is June 30 at 11:59 p.m. Central time for that educational 12 months. Here is a chart for FAFSA deadlines to assist:

FAFSA dates to know

Faculty 12 months	Software opens	Federal deadline
2024-25	December 2023	June 30, 2025
2025-26	November 2024	June 30, 2026
2026-27	Oct. 1, 2025	June 30, 2027

Many states and faculties have their very own deadlines for accepting the FAFSA, usually sooner than the federal deadline. You will discover your state’s deadline on the federal pupil mortgage web site. Test your faculty’s admissions web site for his or her deadline.

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