By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
The Department of Education (ED) on Tuesday announced that the second phase of beta testing for the 2025-26 FAFSA has begun, with thousands of students now expected to begin submitting their forms.
Earlier in August and September, ED detailed its testing process for the 2025-26 FAFSA, where community-based organizations (CBOs), high schools, institutions of higher education, states, and other stakeholders would test the FAFSA system and help select students complete a 2025-26 application prior to the full launch of the form by December 1. A full list of organizations participating in 2025-26 FAFSA beta testing is available on ED’s website.
In a press call on Tuesday, Education Under Secretary James Kvaal confirmed that ED remains “on track” to make the 2025-26 FAFSA available to all by December 1.
According to FAFSA Executive Advisor Jeremy Singer, during the department’s first round of testing, over 650 students successfully submitted their FAFSAs, and 586 institutions received 6,266 Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) generated by those submitted applications.
As part of the first round of beta testing – there will be a total of four testing rounds – ED staff and selected volunteer organizations were on site at FAFSA completion events in early October to observe and support high school seniors in Birmingham, Alabama, Santa Barbara, California, Atlanta, Georgia, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Dallas, Texas, and Alexandria, Virginia.
The FAFSA system is working “end to end,” Singer said, with ED testing student submissions, and ISIR delivery and validation. ED has not found any “critical errors” during this first round of beta testing, Singer confirmed. Along with that, he said students who were part of this first beta testing round were able to complete individual corrections, and institutions were able to do corrections as needed.
Singer, during the press call on Tuesday, also gave details on what the second round of beta testing would look like. Working with ED, 16 organizations will recruit thousands of students to complete the FAFSA, including applicants from diverse backgrounds, such as those from mixed-status families. Eight of the 16 organizations working with ED are institutions and will ask their current students to submit the 2025-26 form as returning students, which Singer noted is the first time returning students will be part of beta testing.
“I'm so happy to report back that beta one was a complete success,” Singer said during the press call. “I also want to add my heartfelt thanks to the effort by community based organizations, school principals, high school counselors, college financial aid officers, and so many others, that allowed students and families to successfully submit the first 2025-26 FAFSA forms in the beginning of this month.”
For more updates on the 2025-25 FAFSA, stay tuned to Today’s News and check ED’s 2025-26 FAFSA Beta Central.
Publication Date: 10/16/2024
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