ED Shares Upcoming Technical Changes Impacting Recent FAFSA Cycles
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
The Department of Education announced in a press release on Tuesday that the upcoming 2026-27 FAFSA form is on track for an October 1 launch date and that this cycle would see several changes to the form aimed at improving completion rates.
The announcement comes on the heels of ED announcing that the comment period for the 2026-27 FAFSA is now open.
In Tuesday’s press release – which also notes that James Bergeron is now serving as acting undersecretary of education – the department noted that it is redesigning the contributor invite process, which is “cumbersome for both students and parents.”
According to ED, the contributor invite process has led to the largest drop-off of students who decide not to complete the FAFSA. The department is prioritizing this redesign with the aim of reducing calls to the FAFSA Call Center, and increasing completions from students and families.
Additionally, ED shared information on changes and updates to the most recent FAFSA cycles (2024-25 and 2025-26).
ED will remove “nonbinary” as a gender identification option from the 2025-26 FAFSA to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order which states that it is the “policy of the U.S. to recognize two sexes, male and female.”
ED also gave an update on batch corrections functionality, which the department provided a timeline for in January. As of this week, ED said it plans to release full batch correction capability by the end of February.
Lastly, ED said it will provide post-screening data from the National Student Loan Database System (NSLDS), and will notify schools about changes in student eligibility.
Publication Date: 2/5/2025
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