This article was originally published in EducationNC.
Update, November 18 at 1 p.m – Effective Monday, November 18, the 2025-26 FAFSA Form is now available to all students and families as part of the department’s Comprehensive Science 4 Testing.
Students and families interested in completing the 2025-2026 online FAFSA form can do so at fafsa.gov.
“The ministry will make the decision to end beta testing and announce the official release of the 2025-2026 FAFSA form based on platform stability, customer satisfaction, and contact center capacity no later than December 1,” the ministry website said.
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) on Thursday, November 14, announced the launch of the final phase of testing (beta 4) for the 2025-2026 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) – which is on track to officially launch for all students and families by December 1.
As part of the final beta testing, the DOE will open the FAFSA to all students and families before the end of November under what they are calling “Expanded Beta 4.”
“During that time, the Department will continue to closely monitor the FAFSA form, overall system performance, and support activities, such as our contact center, and adjust activities as necessary,” a DOE release said. “This will allow the department to test the FAFSA system with a larger number of users, while giving students the opportunity to submit FAFSA forms online by December 1, 2025-2026.”
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Once the DOE determines that the “FAFSA system is working smoothly with a large number of users” during Expanded Beta 4, the FAFSA Form 2025-26 will be officially released.
“Giving more students access to the FAFSA form is the final phase of beta testing as we prepare to officially launch the form by December 1,” said DOE Undersecretary of Education James Kvaal.
Since testing began on Oct. 1, more than 14,000 students have successfully submitted their 2025-2026 FAFSA forms, according to the DOE release. These students’ forms have been processed and the DOE has sent more than 81,000 records to more than 1,850 schools in 43 states.
“The Department found no critical bugs during the beta testing period and the FAFSA system works end-to-end,” the release said. “In addition, the department has focused on addressing problems and improving the user experience in the application. Students and families benefit from these improvements, leading to a 95% science participant satisfaction score.”
The beta testing for the 2025-26 FAFSA follows the rocky launch of the “Better FAFSA” earlier this year, which had multiple issues and delays and caused stress for students and families seeking help paying for college.
While many students experienced delays, students from mixed-status families, or students whose parents do not have Social Security numbers, were particularly affected by the problems. DOE officials previously told the press that “many” mixed-status students successfully submitted their applications during Beta 1, which began Oct. 1.
Beta 2 testing began on October 15 and beta 3 began in early November. The final phase of testing, Beta 4, began on Wednesday, November 13, expanding testing to thousands of additional students recruited by various community and educational organizations.
“We are in a radically different and better place than the last cycle,” FAFSA Executive Advisor Jeremy Singer told reporters on a call Thursday. “Our systems are fully tested and ready for use.”
Singer said the department successfully tested this year’s application among several subgroups, including active-duty military personnel, veterans, students with dependent children, students experiencing homelessness and students from mixed-status families.
On Nov. 15, the DOE will visit a Texas prison along with a community organization to help incarcerated students fill out the paper form, Singer said.
“We are determined to ensure that last year’s delays and mistakes do not happen again this year,” Kvaal told reporters.
Bennett College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington are participating in the Science 3 and 4 testing phases.
In addition to the extensive beta testing, the department has also “significantly staffed” its call center, Singer said, adding more than 700 agents since last January. Once the FAFSA officially launches, the department also plans to offer extended hours at night and on Saturdays.
“This new phase of extended Beta 4 gives us the opportunity to extensively test the FAFSA application on an even larger scale than we have done to date,” said Singer. “We understand that after last year we are still working to rebuild trust between families and institutions, and that has led us to take these extra precautions.”
You can read more about the beta results and testing on the department’s website.
FAFSA Resources
The department recently released several new resources to help students and families complete and submit the FAFSA form during the 2025-2026 cycle:
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“Create Your StudentAid.gov Account” page: A new resource that explains what families and partners need to know about creating a StudentAid.gov account.
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Pro Tips for Completing the FAFSA Form: Updated tips for preparing to complete and submit the FAFSA form. This resource will also be linked from the StudentAid.gov Dashboard to promote easier access for students and their required contributor(s).
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Federal Student Aid Estimator: Provides an estimate of the 2025-2026 Student Aid Index (SAI) and Federal Pell Grant eligibility calculation.
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“Who is the parent on the FAFSA form?” Wizard: A new, standalone tool to help students and families determine who must provide contributor information on the 2025-2026 FAFSA form before starting the application.
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Federal Student Aid YouTube Channel: FAFSA Videos: Updated videos to help students and families understand the importance of the FAFSA form, who is a FAFSA contributor, and what happens after submitting the form.
Here are other resources:
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Financial Aid Toolkit: Updated resources for school counselors, college access professionals, and mentors with information about the FAFSA process.
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FAFSA Issue Alerts page: A list of known issues where the form is updated in real time as bugs are fixed during beta testing.
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FAFSA Videos: Updated videos to help students and families understand the importance of the FAFSA, being a FAFSA contributor, and what happens after submitting the form:
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The College Foundation of North Carolina
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North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority
This article first appeared on EducationNC and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
