By Marlene Seeklander The 2025-26 FAFSA is now officially available, 10 days before the Department of Education’s December 1 goal. The Department of Education made the announcement on November 21 that the online FAFSA form is available to all students and families at fafsa.gov. The Department is processing and sending FAFSA records to schools. The paper […]
2025-26 FAFSA is now available to all students Read More »
By Catherine Mueller Although completing the FAFSA is much easier for students and parents, it does help to prepare for some of the questions on the form. One of those questions is determining which parent or parents to invite to the FAFSA. Recently the U.S. Department of Education made its Parent Wizard available on StudentAid.gov to
New flyer to help students complete the FAFSA Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander As you prepare for the 2025-26 award year, you may want to implement the new College Financing Plan template. The Department of Education recently announced the release of the 2025-26 College Financing Plan (CFP), formerly known as the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet, a tool that colleges can use to notify students about their
ED releases 2025-26 College Financing Plan Read More »
By Catherine Mueller The 2025-26 FAFSA is now available to anyone wanting to complete form – even though the beta-testing period is still underway. Last week, the Department of Education announced that “building on successful testing results” this fall it would expand the online beta testing period to all users before officially releasing the form by
The 2025-26 FAFSA is now available to all students Read More »
By Catherine Mueller The scheduled release of the 2025-26 FAFSA is just a little more than two weeks away, but that’s time enough to do some things to get ready. A couple of things that both students and parents can do is set up their StudentAid.gov accounts and gather up any documents that may be needed
Helping students and parents get ready for the 2025-26 FAFSA Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander The Federal School Code List – a key component of the FAFSA – has been updated by the Department of Education. The Department announced the availability of the 2025–26 Federal School Code (FSC) List of Participating Schools. Students enter these codes on the FAFSA in order for the postsecondary schools to receive their
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By Marlene Seeklander Two longtime Department of Education resources are being retired. The Department of Education announced that with the closing of the 2023-24 award year in mid-September, they are now in the process of retiring the Central Processing System (CPS) and the FAA Access to CPS Online website. Starting with the 2024-25 award year, CPS
Decommissioning of CPS and FAA Access Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Receive updates from the Department of Education on 2024-25 processing and preparing for 2025-26 in an upcoming webinar. On Friday, November 8, from 3-4 p.m. (Eastern Time), the Department of Education will host a webinar to provide updates on the 2024-25 processing as well as an update on the 2025-26 FAFSA beta testing
Department of Education Webinar: Preparing for 2025-26 and Updates on 2024-25 Read More »
By Catherine Mueller If you haven’t heard already, the 2025-26 FAFSA will be released by December 1. Normally, the FAFSA is released on October 1 for the following academic year. This year, however, to avoid some of the problems and delays experienced with the 2024-25 FAFSA, the Department is putting the 2025-26 FAFSA through beta testing.
Five things you can do while you wait for the 2025-26 FAFSA Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Planning for the upcoming 2025-26 FAFSA cycle may be a little easier with some new resources from the Department of Education. The Department announced this week that new and updated resources are available to schools, software vendors, supporting agencies, and students and families to help them prepare for the 2025-26 FAFSA cycle. The
2025-26 FAFSA Resources to support outreach efforts Read More »
