The updated Free Application for Federal Student Aid for the 2026-2027 school year will launch for all students by Oct. 1, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. (Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The updated form to apply for federal student aid will launch for all students by Oct. 1, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told congressional leaders in a letter this week.
The department began testing in early August for the 2026-27 Free Application for Federal Student Aid — better known as FAFSA — to address any bugs or technical issues before opening it up to everyone in the fall.
The agency signaled earlier this year that the form would open up to the general public by Oct. 1, the typical opening date for the annual form that’s now congressionally mandated.
The department noted that for the 2026-27 FAFSA, 2,435 forms were started, 1,372 were submitted and 1,347 had been processed, as of Monday.
McMahon’s letter to lawmakers on Tuesday followed the botched rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA, which faced several highly publicized hiccups during then-President Joe Biden’s administration’s attempts to implement a makeover after Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020.
The rollout of the following 2025-26 form, still under the Biden administration, took a staggered approach that included several rounds of testing and gradually increased the number of people able to complete the form.
Though that form debuted earlier than the 2024-25 application, the full rollout still came nearly two months later than the usual Oct. 1 date.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, our team has prioritized technical competence and expertise, which has led to the earliest testing launch of the FAFSA form in history,” McMahon said in a statement Wednesday.
“The Biden Administration failed the FAFSA rollout two years ago, leaving millions of American students and families without clear answers or a path forward in their educational journey,” she said. “Congress gave us a mandate to improve the form and deliver it on time for students, families, and institutions of higher education — and I am proud to certify that the form will launch on time this fall.”
McMahon’s letter to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and Workforce follows a law signed by Biden last December that ensures the FAFSA rolls out by Oct. 1 each year.
The law also requires the Education secretary to notify Congress by Sept. 1 annually on whether the department will meet that Oct. 1 deadline.