For students seeking federal financial aid to pay for college, the deadline to submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, is June 30 for each academic year.
But to maximize their chances of receiving aid, prospective and current college students would ideally submit the FAFSA promptly after the application opens — long before their college and state financial aid deadlines.
This year, those college and state deadlines might look different due to another delay in the open date for the 2025-2026 FAFSA. While the application traditionally opens in October, the 2025-2026 FAFSA rolled out to all students at the end of November 2024. However, some students were able to fill out the form before its official release as part of a testing period launched by the U.S. Department of Education.
When Are FAFSA Deadlines?
The federal application remains open for nearly 18 months, not closing until June 30. For example, for the 2025-2026 academic year, the last day for students to submit the form is June 30, 2026.
Students must submit the FAFSA to be eligible for federal financial aid like work-study, student loans and the Pell Grant, as well as a range of other college and state need-based aid.
[Read: How to Avoid Scholarship Scams.]
“Although it can be overwhelming, make sure (to file the FAFSA) because even if you think ‘Yup, I’m not going to get anything,’ you never know,” says Michelle Kowalsky Goodfellow, associate vice president for enrollment management at Western New England University in Massachusetts. “It’s definitely not going to hurt you to submit the FAFSA and see what a school that you’ve been accepted to is willing and/or able to offer you.”
In addition to keeping the federal deadline in mind, students must juggle multiple independent FAFSA deadlines unique to their college and state. The difference between filing early, on time or late can amount to thousands of dollars in funding to pay for college.
Each state has its own grant and scholarship programs — usually for residents only — that often have deadlines much earlier than the federal deadline. Deadlines can come as early as December or in the early spring months of the following year.
If a student misses an institution or state deadline, there may still be hope for financial aid. But that decision is up to the individual school or state.
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Indiana, for example, allows students to appeal if they miss the state deadline due to death of an immediate family member, serious illness of the student or an immediate family member, pregnancy, birth of a child, active duty military service, or participation in a religious or public service volunteer program.
The Department of Education publishes a list of state deadlines for the FAFSA. Students should also check their college’s website to find deadlines for specific grants and scholarships, or contact the financial aid office if the submission deadline isn’t clearly stated.
“Don’t hesitate to ask for help,” says Walter Caffey, vice president for enrollment and dean of admissions and student aid at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. “If we have any students that either we hear from them or when the information we received is incomplete (and) we notice that it’s incomplete, we try to reach out immediately to those families to try to help walk them through the process.”
Benefits of Filing the FAFSA Early
Some states and colleges offer funding on a first-come, first-served basis.
“In some instances, it really does matter if you are there earlier,” says Angela Colatriano, chief operating officer for College Ave, a financial services company. “Work-study is a really great example where there’s going to be a set number of opportunities to work at the school. So certainly being in line for that earlier is going to give you access to a wider or a different set of opportunities or even the opportunity at all.”
Limited funding and strictly enforced deadlines are just two of the reasons students should apply for financial aid well before the federal deadline, experts say.
There are other advantages to filling out the form early, including usually having more time to review financial aid award letters.
Last year, students got financial aid packages in April “and then were told you need to make a decision by May, which is not a lot of time to truly analyze things in our busy lives,” Kowalsky Goodfellow says. “Whereas now, at least they have a little bit more time. There was a time many years ago when January 1st (was) when the FAFSA opened. So I think from the university side, we’re used to it being this kind of time frame. And many of us, Western New England included, are very much ready and eager to get those packages to students as soon as they file.”
[Read: 5 Myths About Parent Information on the FAFSA.]
FAFSA Completion Rates
There was a decline in FAFSA completion rates among high school seniors over the last year, which many experts attribute to the challenges and delays with the 2024-2025 FAFSA rollout. As of Dec. 27, 2024, 54.4% of the high school school class of 2024 completed the FAFSA — a 9.6% decline from the same period the prior year, according to the National College Attainment Network’s “FAFSA Tracker.”
Some experts say it’s too early to tell how another late open date will affect 2025-2026 completions rates, but are optimistic more students will file the FAFSA.
“Now that it opened, it seems as if we’re hearing feedback that families are having an easier time getting through the process and getting that application filled out correctly,” Caffey says. “Now the next part of it … is that information getting to the individual schools. That has happened and that seems to be happening well. Once the schools really have the information that they need to help award these students, the families will be in a much better place because they’ll get a more accurate picture of what their financial commitment will be.”
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FAFSA Deadlines to Know originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 01/14/25: This article was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.