By Robert Farrington,Senior Contributor,Thomas Fuller

Copyright forbes

CANADA – 2025/09/20: In this photo illustration, the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen and the United States flag in the background. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Education announced today that the Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is now fully available for families to fill out, a week ahead of its traditional October 1 launch date. According to the Department of Education, this marks the earliest FAFSA launch date in the program’s history, and marks a change from the last three years of technical stumbles.

The FAFSA is critical for families looking for financial aid for college. It is the application that unlocks financial aid, including Federal Pell Grants, student loans, state grants, and university scholarships.

For both colleges and families, the earlier start date is welcome as it allows everyone to better plan how to pay for college. It allows colleges to better handle financial aid awards, and gives families more time to make decisions around the price of college.

Families looking to get started now can start the FAFSA application here: Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

What Is The FAFSA?

The FAFSA is a critical tool for paying for college. It’s the “Free Application for Federal Student Aid”, and the answers that families provide are the key that unlocks financial aid.

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On the Federal level, the FAFSA unlocks the Pell Grant, and is also the application for student loans.

Many states also utilize the FAFSA to award state grants. Many states offer grants and scholarships to pay for college, and the FAFSA unlocks these awards. Some states have even made the FAFSA required for high school graduation.

Finally, most colleges use the FAFSA for determining college grants and scholarhips. This includes need-based aid awards, and sometimes even merit-based scholarships.

Because of all of these financial aid opportunities, families should prioritize filling out the FAFSA each year.

What Changes For The 2026-27 Award Year

This year’s FAFSA includes some key changes that make the FAFSA a little easier to complete.

Contributor Invitations: Filling out the FAFSA is a family activity, but inviting contributors (i.e. parents) has sometimes been a challenge. This year, students can invite parent contributors via email, which then provides them an access code. This simplified process makes adding contributors easy.

Improved Verification: Students and parents now receive faster account confirmation, reducing delays and frustration.

There are also other streamlined back-end processes that should avoid errors. In Beta testing, 97% of respondents reported satisfaction with the FAFSA form. And this testing showed that 43,531 applications were started, 27,246 applications were submitted, and 23,840 were processed without rejection.

In our conversations with families filing the FAFSA, we’ve heard no issues, unlike prior years.

One Big Beautiful Bill Act Changes

Another key change for the 2026-27 award year (which is the FAFSA that families are applying for) are the updates related to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

Specifically, starting with this 2026-27 award year, the following assets no longer are counted:

the following from current net worth of business and farms and should not be reported as assets on the FAFSA form:

The net worth of a family-owned business with 100 or fewer full-time (or full-time equivalent) employees.

The net worth of a farms on which the family resides.

The net worth of a commercial fishing business and related expenses, owned and controlled by a family.

It’s important to note that in our testing, the question about business assets still shows on the FAFSA, but families don’t include any assets that can now be excluded.

Why Families Should Start Now

Families who are applying to college this fall, or who already have students in college, should file the FAFSA as soon as possible.

While there are no time limits for Federal student aid, most states do have deadlines to file the FAFSA in order to be eligible for grants and scholarships.

But most importantly, scholarships and grants offered by colleges and universities are typically first-come, first-served. So, if you file the FAFSA too late, you could miss out on critical financial aid.

While it’s possible to snag last minute financial aid for college, it’s better to be first in line.

Now that the FAFSA is available for all families, students and their parents should take time to file the FAFSA and complete the process as soon as possible. With the new improvements this year, it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete the process.

Some families are worried that they may not be able to fill out the FAFSA if they don’t know which colleges their students will apply to. The FAFSA allows families to include up to 20 schools – but they can be changed later! So families should be afraid to get started early, even if the college applications aren’t finished yet.

Our recommendation is that families strive to complete the FAFSA before Thanksgiving – so now is the time to get started. Families shouldn’t fear the process, it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete!

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