College Financing Plan

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is pleased to announce the publication of the 2026-2027 College Financing Plan on the Office of Postsecondary Education’s website.

The College Financing Plan (CFP) is a legacy consumer tool that was developed as an option for institutions to use to notify students about their financial aid packages. It is intended primarily for prospective students to receive information about costs and financial aid so that they can easily compare institutions and make informed decisions about where to attend school.

The CFP is updated annually. The forms, as well as the other component institutions need to complete the forms, including the HTML specifications file, a technical guide, and a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), can be found below.

Specific questions about the CFP may be directed to collegefinancingplan@ed.gov.

HTML Specification

Institutions and their software providers may use the linked HTML specifications to produce and populate the College Financing Plan, using the applicable fields from their existing data systems. The HTML specifications include a “download” button on the College Financing Plan so that students may save their student aid offer information in XML, a machine-readable format. This XML layout is also attached. We encourage institutions providing students with their College Financing Plan in electronic format to include this feature.

Institutions delivering the College Financing Plan in print form may remove the “download” button. For convenience, a PDF version of the College Financing Plan is also linked below.

The Department now provides 2 (two) years of CFP forms in order for institutions to be able to use the appropriate forms for their students.

Documents:

Other

College Financing Plan (FAQ) (updated 9/25/25)
2026-27 Electronic Announcement: https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2025-09-25/2026-27-college-financing-plan (updated 9/25/2025)
2025-26 Electronic Announcement: https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2024-11-15/2025-2026-college-financing-plan-now-available