ED Surpasses 1.5 Million FAFSA Submissions for 2025-26 With Batch Corrections on Track for Early 2025
By Hugh T. Ferguson, NASFAA Managing Editor
Officials from the Department of Education (ED) on Thursday provided an update on the 2025-26 FAFSA rollout and detailed new plans for leadership positions that will oversee the next phases of FAFSA simplification.
According to the department, more than 1.5 million 2025-26 FAFSA forms have been submitted and ED has successfully processed, and sent, 7 million records to institutions of higher education.
“The FAFSA form and system are in a very strong position, and the department will continue working to ensure every student has the help they need to access higher education,” said Denise Carter, the acting chief operating officer at Federal Student Aid (FSA).
ED also noted that the department will continue to make technical updates to the form to improve usability. For example, this week FSA successfully deployed a set of 49 updates that included improved accessibility when using certain web browsers and eliminated the need for both parents, or a student’s spouse, to fill out the form for households that have a “married filing jointly” tax status.
ED will continue to list issues and provide status updates on the FAFSA Issue Alerts page and in the Technical Frequently Asked Questions and Known Issues guide. In the coming days, ED will also provide a listing of bug fixes that will be reflected in these resources.
Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal said that in the first quarter of 2025 the department will enable batch corrections for both the 24-25 and the 25-26 application cycles which will help colleges process financial aid offers more quickly.
“We have also laid the foundation for next year's FAFSA and provided the plan and the resources needed to launch on October 1, 2025,” Kvaal said.
NASFAA, along with other higher education organizations, has continually urged ED to ensure it releases a reliable 2025-26 FAFSA with end-to-end functionality.
“The rollout of the 2025-26 FAFSA has tracked in line with ED’s announced schedule which is heartening for financial aid administrators who have more time than they did last year to prepare aid offers. We call on ED to continue to improve the functionality and usability of the FAFSA for both the 24-25 and 25-26 years,” said Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at NASFAA. “We encourage our members to share any observations or feedback they have on the application cycle.”
In terms of the next phase of the department’s FAFSA support strategy, ED will make another $50 million of federal funds available to states, school districts, non-profits, and other educational agencies and public and private organizations supporting 2025–26 FAFSA completion. An additional $10 million in federal funds will also be available for the next phase of the FAFSA College Support Strategy to ensure that systems at lower-resourced institutions are prepared to process aid forms. ED will reach out to under-resourced institutions to inquire about their interest in receiving FAFSA support by a third-party servicer.At a future date, ED will also provide a process for additional higher-need institutions to inquire about support availability and currently has listed [email protected] as a resource.
Thursday’s call also detailed new, permanent FAFSA leadership positions that will oversee the FAFSA process and technology needs for the upcoming aid cycles. Those appointments are Aaron Lemon-Strauss who has been named the FAFSA Program Executive Director, and U.S. Digital Service expert Chris Cummings who will serve as the Acting Technology Advisor for the FAFSA form. Lemon-Strauss and Cummings both worked on the FAFSA team for the last five months.
The appointments follow the conclusion of FAFSA executive advisor Jeremy Singer’s and acting technical advisor Jeff Olson’s six-month assignment of working through the testing process of the 2025-26 FAFSA.
While ED has appointed these new leaders, department officials indicated that the transition team (the agency review team) for President-elect Donald Trump has not yet arrived to weigh in on these new positions.
Publication Date: 12/13/2024
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