Complete 2027-2028 FAFSA Guide: Essential Early Filing Tips

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA, is now live — earlier than ever.

The U.S. Department of Education released the 2027-2028 FAFSA Wednesday, eight days ahead of its normal release date of Oct. 1. This is the earliest the annual form has ever been available, as the department broke its own record set last year by one day.

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“We are incredibly proud to launch the earliest FAFSA form in our nation’s history, which ensures American students and families have access to the critical resources they need,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a news release.

The FAFSA is a crucial document for anyone pursuing higher education who wants help paying for college or trade school. Each year, nearly 20 million students submit the form, which is required to access federal student loans and Pell Grants as well as state-based financial aid and scholarships from individual colleges.

That means you have to fill it out in order to access all different types of funding for college, some of which you have to pay back if you accept (student loans) and some you don’t (grants and scholarships). Getting approved for a loan through the FAFSA doesn’t mean you must accept it if you don’t need it.

The form is now available on the Federal Student Aid website and covers the academic period between July 2027 and June 2028. If you participated in beta-testing this year’s FAFSA and successfully submitted it, you will not need to resubmit the form.

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What’s new with the 2027-2028 FAFSA

The new version of the FAFSA builds on several years of changes stemming from the FAFSA Simplification Act, a law signed during President Donald Trump’s first term that required the Education Department to overhaul the notoriously lengthy financial form.

Before the changes, the FAFSA included over 100 questions. Today, there are between 30 and 40, based on your responses.

In most cases, you can complete it in about 10 to 20 minutes, according to Sarah Austin, a policy analyst at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

Aside from the years-long effort to make the form much easier to fill out, not much changed from last year’s form.

In an email to Money, Austin says the Education Department reworded several questions for clarity and is making it easier to invite parents and guardians to complete their portion. For instance, you can now invite your parents to contribute by sending a code via text that grants access to the form, in addition to the email capability that was added last year.

Previously, you needed to add a parent’s personal information, such as a Social Security number, up front in order to invite them to contribute, a snag that added to the completion time.

Later this fall, the Education Department says it is rolling out a feature that automatically fills out some parts of the form based on previous FAFSA submissions.

When is the FAFSA due?

The FAFSA is due Jun. 30, 2028, by 11:59 p.m. Central time, and any corrections or updates need to be submitted by Sept. 12, 2028. To be clear, that means you have about 21 months to complete the form.

But just because there’s plenty of time doesn’t mean you should wait.

Austin recommends applying early to be sure you don’t miss any state- or college-level deadlines, which almost always come much earlier than the federal ones.

For instance, at least some state-level aid in Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and Washington is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Those states recommend submitting the FAFSA as soon as possible.

Colleges and trade schools may set their own deadlines, too, so it’s important to check with them directly.

Financial aid experts often say one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to not apply at all.

“Even if a student thinks they won’t qualify for financial aid,” Austin says, “they won’t know for sure unless they apply.”