The U.S. Department of Education (Department) today released the framework for the testing period it will use starting Oct. 1, 2024, ahead of making the 2025–26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) available to all students and contributors on or before Dec. 1. The Department’s top priority remains ensuring the FAFSA form is stable and delivers a smooth and secure experience for families, schools, states, and other partners.
During a series of beta tests, the Department will work with community-based organizations (CBOs), high schools, institutions of higher education, states, and limited groups of students and contributors to fill out and submit the form. Starting today through Sept. 5, CBOs can submit a form to express interest in participating in the first beta, Beta 1, which will launch on Oct. 1, 2024.
“We’re using the beta testing period to uncover and fix issues with the FAFSA form before the form is available to millions of students and their families,” said FAFSA Executive Advisor Jeremy Singer. “During this first beta test, we’re grateful that community-based organizations are willing to work with us to support students and contributors when they encounter issues. In the end, our collective efforts will benefit all students and their families in their pursuit of higher education.”
Three Driving Principles
The Department listened carefully to students, families, institutions, and other stakeholders about their experiences with the 2024–25 FAFSA rollout. Based on that input, the Department announced it will undergo the first beta test starting Oct. 1, in alignment with software industry best practices, to identify and resolve the kind of system errors that can derail students, contributors, and institutions.
The Department’s beta testing plan is rooted in three driving principles:
- Build confidence through end-to-end testing. To give students, families, institutions, and other stakeholders confidence in the FAFSA process, the Department must test every stage in the process. Each beta test will include students and contributors filling out and submitting the FAFSA form; the Department processing Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) and transmitting them to states and institutions; applicants making corrections to the form; and institutions making individual corrections.
- Build confidence through inclusion. The Department will build confidence in the FAFSA process by including students from many different student populations to test a wide array of FAFSA form use cases. Different student populations can experience unique issues with the form. Each beta test will include students who are at different points along their education journey; have different family configurations with different income levels; are from different parts of the country; and fall into certain cohorts, such as first-generation students, students from mixed-status families, students experiencing homelessness, those who are members of the military, and veterans. Similarly, the Department will include different types of institutions of higher education in the beta tests, such as community colleges, public universities, private colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and additional Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs).
- Build confidence through partner and student support. With each beta test, the Department will increase the number of participating students and contributors, starting first with hundreds, then growing to tens of thousands by the final beta test. By starting with only a few hundred participants, the Department and participating CBOs will be able to thoroughly support students and contributors through their entire application process. By the final beta test, the Department will have tested FAFSA processes at institutions and state agencies, as well as readied Department contact centers to provide better support for students and their families, states, and institutions.
How the Beta Tests Will Work
For the first beta test (Beta 1)—which will begin on Oct. 1—the Department seeks to partner with CBOs that can reach a broad and diverse set of student and contributor populations and have the ability to partner with institutions to test the ISIRs generated by submitted FAFSA forms.
In subsequent beta tests, the Department will work with other types of organizations and institutions—in addition to CBOs—to recruit participants. The Department will seek to work with high schools that can host FAFSA completion nights and institutions that can recruit their returning students to submit the FAFSA form and process those students’ ISIRs. Working with high schools and additional institutions of higher education will allow the Department to test the FAFSA form with tens of thousands of students from a wider variety of student populations and help the Department identify and fix major issues before the application is available to all students and contributors. The Department also may directly recruit students in later beta tests.
In the coming weeks, the Department will announce additional details about later beta tests and will provide information about how the Department will recruit participants, as well as how organizations can apply. CBOs that apply to participate in Beta 1 also will be eligible to participate in later beta tests.
Progress Toward Availability for all Students and Contributors
Between now and when the FAFSA form is available to all students and families, the Department will share regular updates with parents, students, and other stakeholders so that our partners—particularly institutions, states, and those that support students in completing the form—can have insight into our progress to inform their planning efforts and increase confidence. In addition, the Department will work to prepare students and families to fill out and submit the FAFSA form once it is broadly available.
Thanks to investments through the Department’s FAFSA Student Support Strategy and the partnership of the community and stakeholders, student application rates have significantly increased over the past six months, with the submission gap from the prior year falling from roughly 40% in March to under 3%, as of today.