Although the 2026-27 academic year seems a long way into the future, financial aid professionals now have some tools available to help them prepare for it. The Department of Education announced the initial installment of the 2026–27 FAFSA Specifications Guide, which includes the Microsoft Excel version of the 2026–27 Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) record layout.
The guide, designed for financial aid administrators, programmers, and data processing staff, allows users to incorporate the electronic FAFSA functionality into their institutional systems.
Throughout 2025, volumes of the FAFSA Specifications Guide will be posted. In May 2025, the Introduction, Volumes 4A, 4B, 5, and 9 will be released, followed by additional volumes in August and September 2025.
Revisions may be posted during the processing cycle to implement new requirements or to address issues and will be tracked in a “Change History Table” included in each volume.
Questions can be directed to the FPS Help Desk at 1-800-330-5947 or by email at support@fps.ed.gov.
