By Marlene Seeklander Students and parents can now complete the 2027-28 FAFSA – in advance of the Congressionally mandated release date of October 1. The early release of the FAFSA enables students and families to get a head start on preparing for the 2027-28 academic year. Once the FAFSA is completed, students and parents can focus
2027-28 FAFSA now available for all students and contributors Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid professionals can stay current with any changes to the FAFSA form and financial aid processing by reviewing the recent updates to the FAFSA Specifications Guides for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 award years. The Department of Education recently announced updates to several volumes of the guides. Updates were made to volumes 1,
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By Marlene Seeklander Students and parents preparing to complete the 2027-28 FAFSA will want to watch the latest video from Mapping Your Future. The “2027-28 Financial Aid Event” presentation is available on the Mapping Your Future YouTube channel. In the 2027-28 FAFSA presentation, Cathy Mueller, Executive Director of Mapping Your Future, presents a high-level overview of
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By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid professionals who opt to use the Department of Education’s College Financial Plan template now have a new version for the 2027-28 award year. The Department of Education announced the release of the 2027-28 College Financing Plan (CFP), a consumer tool that colleges can use to notify students about their financial aid
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By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid and college access professionals can now access information and screenshots for the 2027-28 FAFSA to use for planning purposes, communicating changes, and training. A September 3 Electronic Announcement from Federal Student Aid (FSA) includes a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and PDF file with information and screenshots of the 2027–28 online FAFSA form. The screenshots
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By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid and college access professionals now have a tool available to familiarize themselves with the 2027-28 FAFSA. The Department of Education announced the availability of the 2027-28 FAFSA prototype, which is an interactive tool that allows users to see and interact with most of the pages of the online 2027-28 FAFSA form. To access
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By Marlene Seeklander There’s nothing like being prepared to make something a little easier and less stressful, including completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). With the launch of the 2027-28 FAFSA by October 1, 2026, students and families can start doing some prep work in advance. Federal Student Aid encourages students and families
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By Catherine Mueller Most high school seniors anxiously await life after high school. Many are ready to pursue their dreams. And while that life offers new-found freedoms, those same seniors may experience stress over the responsibilities that come with those freedoms. Your senior year is a time to dream of the future and think about
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By Marlene Seeklander The testing of the 2027-28 FAFSA continues to move forward, allowing some students and families to complete the FAFSA form early. In an August 25 update to a July 21 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced the launch of the second phase of the 2027-28 FAFSA beta testing period. Students and contributors
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By Catherine Mueller Student loans have gotten a lot of press in the past few years and most of it has not been good. For some students, the headlines and stories are enough to scare them away from taking out any student loans – even it means not pursuing or postponing education beyond high school. And
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