Wondering what's planned for the upcoming FAFSA®? Or when that important document will be ready so you can use it with your students? You've come to the right place.
FAFSA® News and Enhancements
Upcoming Changes on the 2017–18 FAFSA®
FAFSA® and IRS Outreach
Availability of FAFSA® Materials and Websites
2017–18 FAFSA® Materials and Websites
2016–17 FAFSA® Materials and Websites
FAFSA® News and Enhancements
In the following sections of this page, you'll find the latest scoop on enhancements to the current FAFSA or plans for next year's FAFSA.
Note: We'd like to request that you encourage students and parents to create FSA IDs as soon as possible, especially if they think the Social Security Administration might have incorrect information for them in its files. Send students and parents to StudentAid.gov/fsaid for information about the FSA ID and a link to create an FSA ID. Meanwhile, we've developed several resources to help you get the word out about the FSA ID.
Upcoming Changes on the 2017–18 FAFSA®
Starting with the 2017–18 FAFSA, the application will be available earlier and will request older income information.
- The 2017–18 FAFSA will be available for applicants to fill out beginning on Oct. 1, 2016. This is three months earlier than the traditional FAFSA launch date of Jan. 1. The October launch date will continue in subsequent years.
- The 2017–18 FAFSA will request information from applicants' 2015 tax returns. Traditionally, the FAFSA has requested information from the tax return due near the beginning of the application cycle. For instance, the 2016–17 FAFSA requires 2015 tax information, which some applicants did not have available in time for school or state deadlines that fell early in 2016. But subsequent FAFSAs will request data from tax returns that should already have been filed, simplifying the process for applicants.
Further details for high school counselors, college access professionals, and other mentors are available in our announcement titled FAFSA Changes for 2017–18.
Information for students is available at StudentAid.gov/fafsa-changes.
We will continue to update this site as the 2017–18 FAFSA launch approaches. Keep an eye out throughout the remainder of September 2016 for further 2017–18 FAFSA® resources such as videos, suggested tweets and Facebook posts, etc.
FAFSA® and IRS Outreach
The office of Federal Student Aid has partnered with the IRS to inform citizens of services available, including free help with tax filing through the VITA program.
Tell your students: the first F in "FAFSA" stands for "free!" There are websites at which students can get help filing the FAFSA® for a fee. These sites are not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). We urge you to advise your students not to pay these sites for assistance that is provided for free at ED's website.
Availability of FAFSA® Materials and Websites
FAFSA documents and websites become available throughout the late summer and early fall. Keep up with anticipated availability here.
Order Federal Student Aid Publications(Result Type: PDF)
Description:
Learn how to order free materials so you can help your students learn about federal student aid for college or career school.
Resource Type:
How-To Guides
2017–18 FAFSA® Materials and Websites
| FAFSA Document or Website | Availability Estimate |
|---|---|
| fafsa.gov | Oct. 1, 2016 |
| PDF FAFSA (English) | Nonfillable PDFs available now; fillable PDFs available Oct. 1, 2016 |
| PDF FAFSA (Spanish) | Nonfillable PDFs available now; fillable PDFs available Oct. 1, 2016 |
| FAFSA on the Web Worksheet (paper copy) (English and Spanish) | Oct. 20, 2016 |
| FAFSA on the Web Worksheet (English) | Available now |
| FAFSA on the Web Worksheet (Spanish) | Available now |
| Student Aid Report sample (English and Spanish) | Oct. 20, 2016 |
| SAR Acknowledgement sample (English and Spanish) | Oct. 20, 2016 |
| FAFSA demo site updated for 2017–18 | Available now |
| Completing the FAFSA (StudentAid.gov/complete) | Sept. 30, 2016 |
| fafsa.gov screen shots (aka "FAFSA on the Web Preview Presentation") | Available now |
| EFC Formula Guide | Available now |
| FAFSA summary of changes (Summary of Changes for the Application Processing System) | Available now |
| FAFSA4caster (English) | Available now |
| FAFSA4caster (Spanish) | Available now |
| Federal School Code List (English) | Available now |
| Federal School Code List (Spanish) | Available now |
2016–17 FAFSA® Materials and Websites
| FAFSA Document or Website | Availability Estimate |
|---|---|
| fafsa.gov | Available now |
| Paper FAFSA | English and Spanish available to order now; students order at edpubs.gov; counselors and college access advisors may submit special requests for bulk quantities at FSAPubs.gov | PDF FAFSA | Available now |
| Spanish PDF FAFSA | Available now |
| FAFSA on the Web Worksheet (paper copy) | English and Spanish available to order now; students order at edpubs.gov; counselors and college access advisors order at FSAPubs.gov |
| FAFSA on the Web Worksheet online in PDF | Available now |
| Spanish FAFSA on the Web Worksheet online in PDF | Available now |
| Student Aid Report sample | Available now |
| Spanish Student Aid Report sample | Available now |
| SAR Acknowledgement sample | Available now |
| Spanish SAR Acknowledgement sample | Available now |
| FAFSA demo site updated for 2016–17 | Available now |
| Completing the FAFSA (StudentAid.gov/complete) | Available now |
| fafsa.gov screen shots (aka "FAFSA on the Web Preview Presentation") | Available now |
| EFC Formula Guide | Available now |
| FAFSA summary of changes (Summary of Changes for the Application Processing System) | Available now |
| FAFSA4caster updated and live online | Available now |
| Federal School Code List | Available now; updated quarterly |
