Submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a crucial step for millions of students applying to and paying for college. Due to the complexity of the FAFSA process in years past, families have grappled with the uncertainty about FAFSA processing time and potential delays with their submissions.
To ease some of the uncertainty, we at Collegewise thought it best to put out a mini guide so you know what to expect this year, and how to make the process less stressful for all involved.
What is FAFSA?
The acronym stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The original purpose of the FAFSA was to provide a standardized process for students to apply for federal funding options that would help them pay for college costs. Over the last 33 years, the FAFSA has grown to be a tool used to determine students’ eligibility for both need-based and non-need-based forms of financial assistance from federal, state, and institutional sources.
With the exception of last year and this year, the FAFSA typically opens at midnight EST on October 1 and officially closes on June 30 of the following calendar year.
Students may be eligible to receive one, a few, or all the following types of financial aid after submitting their FAFSA application:
- Grants (state and federal)
- Scholarships (state and institutional)
- Federal and state loans
- Federal Work-study
Why is the FAFSA Important?
As we’ve mentioned, with the rise in college costs, most families find it difficult to pay for college out of pocket. This is even more true when they begin to calculate actual costs beyond what they’re billed for by the university. In addition to the direct costs of tuition and mandatory fees, students are expected to pay for textbooks, transportation, housing, food, and other education-related expenses during their time in college.
Equally important is the information transmitted to colleges and universities for federal or institutional aid determinations. Without the information from the FAFSA, many colleges would be left in the dark about what type of aid their students may require.
How Long Does FAFSA Take to Process?
If you’re applying to college or have already applied, you are likely familiar with the college application timeline and the various deadlines associated with it. For the FAFSA timeline, here is what you need to know:
- FAFSA is released and available for students to complete around early October
- Colleges begin receiving FAFSA data and begin packaging student aid to include any US federal financial aid they're eligible to receive
- Official financial aid packages are sent out to students. For Early Decision and Early Action, results usually accompany the admission decisions. Regular Decision and Transfer aid packages are released to students approx. 3 weeks after they are accepted for admission.
Overall, FAFSA takes about 3 days to 3 weeks to process depending on if you filled out your form online or by hand. From there, the schools will use the data received to prepare your financial aid package.
2025-2026 FAFSA Observations & Recommendations
Unlike the pervasive, frustrating delays and technical problems from the 2024-2025 version, the 2025-2026 FAFSA process has been much smoother and less stressful for the majority of students and parents completing it this year. It was released just before Thanksgiving, which was a whole 9 days before the Department of Education stated it would be available!
The more streamlined, accessible, and glitch-free user experience that the Department of Education promised last year seems to finally, actually be in effect, and the errors that plagued university financial aid offices last year are almost nonexistent.
That said, here are our recommendations for a smooth-as-possible FAFSA completion process:
- Students and parents should create their FAFSA account at least 3 business days before they plan to complete their portion of the application. This is the time it takes for the Social Security Administration to verify the contributor’s identity in relation to their SSN. Social security info is critical for when the IRS is tapped to pull the contributors’ tax data in the background.
- Create the student contributor’s account first, and then invite the parent contributor to fill in their portion afterward. For whatever reason, since last year’s dumpster fire of a FAFSA, doing it the opposite way still seems to throw a wrench into things and may cause some delays on the university side with processing.
- When students send the invitation to their parent contributor(s) via the FAFSA, the information - name, date of birth, SSN, email address - must exactly match the info their parent(s) used to create their FAFSA account. Otherwise, this will cause delays as you’ll need to call the FAFSA Customer Service line to get this corrected, and we know from last year how long that can sometimes take!
- Speaking of SSNs, it’s a good idea for parents and students to have their physical social security cards available, especially if you have a longer or uncommon name. Everything must be spelled exactly as it is on your Social Security Card(s), and if you can’t fit your whole name in the provided slot during the account creation process, your family member will need to know which letter you stopped on so they can ensure their FAFSA is linked to the right person.
- Our last bit of advice is to read every question carefully, especially if you are asked about your assets. Families who meet certain income, tax filing, and benefits thresholds won’t see these questions, but everyone else will, so it’s crucial that you understand which assets (investments, real estate & business, savings) to include and which to leave out, depending on your financial situation.
FAFSA: What's Next?
Students who have already submitted their FAFSA should remain diligent about checking for announcements or ongoing updates from their college(s) and from the Department of Education.
Students who have yet to submit their FAFSA, please be sure to get your application submitted soon so you don’ t miss out on any potential funding sources from the federal or state government, or the colleges themselves.
Helpful Resources
- Official FAFSA website
- Federal Student Aid Estimator
- Federal Loans: Undergraduate & Graduate Loans
- Federal Loans: Parent PLUS Loans
- MyIntuition Calculator (private school students)
- Completing FAFSA if Parent is a Non-Citizen
- Get help with any FAFSA account or application processing issues here
- Find your state financial aid program and priority deadline info here
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About Us: With more than twenty years of experience, Collegewise counselors and tutors are at the forefront of the ever-evolving admissions landscape. Our work has always centered on you: the family. And just like we’ve always done, we look for ways for your student to be their best self - whether in the classroom, the applications, or in the right-fit college environment. Our range of counseling, test prep, academic tutoring, and essay management, all with the support of our proprietary platform, lead to 4x higher than average admissions rates.
