Tip of the Week

In preparation for the upcoming launch of the 2027-28 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form by October 1, the Department of Education (the Department) has announced its plans for beta testing.

In a July 21 Electronic Announcement, the Department released its plan to test the 2027-28 FAFSA with hundreds of thousands of students to catch any critical issues and deploy technical fixes and user improvements before releasing the form to the public.

Beta testing also serves as an opportunity for the FAFSA team to engage with community-based organizations, districts, schools, institutions, and students and families across the country.

For the 2027–28 cycle, beta testing will begin in August 2026 and consist of two rounds:

• Beta 1 – Starting August 5, the Department will test the 2027–28 FAFSA form with a limited group of school districts, community-based organizations, and institutions of higher education through in-person and virtual events.
• Beta 2 – In late August or early September, the Department will expand access to the form, allowing any student or parent to request to participate in beta testing on StudentAid.gov. Groups of users will be admitted throughout the month. When the participation request form is available, the Department will post an update to the original Electronic Announcement.

Starting in August, institutions and state agencies may start receiving small numbers of Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) with the number growing throughout August and September. Entities are reminded that these are official 2027-28 ISIRs that can be used for packaging aid. Institutions and state agencies can wait to download the ISIRs until they start their normal awarding cycle.

The Department is interested in learning about any issues with ISIRs that entities encounter. As a best practice, the issues should be reported to both the institution’s software vendor (if applicable) and to the FPS Help Desk.

– By Marlene Seeklander