By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
The Department of Education (ED) on Wednesday provided key updates and information about the 2026-27 FAFSA, including what institutions need to know to prepare for the rollout, and answered pressing questions from attendees at NASFAA’s 2025 National Conference.
The session, led by Aaron Lemon-Strauss, ED’s FAFSA program executive director, and Kerri Moseley-Hobbs, ED’s director of the student aid policy branch, focused on expected improvements to the 2026-27 form, the remaining challenges with the FAFSA, and operational and policy implications for institutions and students.
At the beginning of his presentation, Lemon-Strauss stressed the importance of ED working with the financial aid community to help ensure students’ access to postsecondary education.
“There has to be a role for the government in helping to support and bring down the cost [of higher education] so that more students are able to attend and complete higher education, and reach a career that is meaningful for them,” Lemon-Strauss said. “Our number two goal is empowerment of the financial aid community. We can't have student success if this group isn't empowered, engaged, informed, and feels a true connection to Federal Student Aid — and feels that we are on the same team.”
When highlighting improvements to the 2026-27 FAFSA, Lemon-Strauss noted that the current FAFSA contributor invitation process is a barrier for some students to complete the form. As a result, ED has made it a priority to revamp this process for the 2026-27 form.
The first improvement, Lemon-Strauss said, is related to the contributor flow. Currently, the FAFSA requires a student to provide their contributor’s first and last name, date of birth, Social Security number (SSN), and email address. Under this new flow for 2026-27, Lemon-Strauss said students will only be required to provide an email address to invite their contributor.
Furthermore, Lemon-Strauss clarified, that when students include their contributor’s email address in the 2026-27 FAFSA, this email will not need to match the email address of the contributor’s FSA ID. From there, not only will the contributor be emailed to join their student’s FAFSA, but the student will also receive an invite code that they can share with their contributor..
This specific improvement will be for the 2026-27 FAFSA and future cycles, and will not be available for 2024-25 and 2025-26 cycles.
The other improvement Lemon-Strauss highlighted is that starting in August – for 2024-25, 2025-26, 2026-27, and all future FAFSA cycles – the FAFSA will have a real-time SSN match. Currently, it takes Federal Student Aid (FSA) up to three days to verify a person’s identity on the FAFSA form.
Under this new improvement, when a student or contributor creates their FSA ID, Federal Student Aid (FSA) will immediately go to the Social Security Administration in-real time and match the applicant’s information. This will mean that the student or contributor will either be immediately verified or will immediately know if there’s an issue they need to fix.
Lemon-Strauss also provided some details on beta testing for the 2026-27 FAFSA. FSA will begin beta testing the 2026-27 FAFSA in August, with a “beta one phase” where FSA will have three to four employees in-person helping students and families complete the FAFSA across the country. In September, the second beta testing phase will be more open, so anyone can fill out the form, he said.
Lemon-Strauss did clarify that during these beta testing phases, students will be completing real FAFSA forms and institutions will be receiving real Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) beginning in August.
Part of Lemon-Strauss’s presentation focused on creating a “March Madness” type bracket with the goal of figuring out what top issues or challenges financial aid professionals want ED to prioritize. The attendees in the room ranked real-time ISIR processing and delivery as the top issue. Currently, ISIRs are processed in batch jobs within one to three days of initial submission or correction. Real-time processing would allow institutions to receive individual transactions immediately.
Moseley-Hobbs then went through recent policy guidance issued by ED. That includes the maximum and minimum Pell Grant awards for the 2025-26 award year, new and expanded guidance on late disbursement flexibilities, ISIR request functionality, SNAP benefits for eligible students, and more. She also noted that financial aid professionals should look out for changes to the Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP) due on October 1, 2025.
The officials from ED then answered questions from attendees. One attendee asked if FSA could return the housing question — where students plan to live during the academic year – back into the FAFSA. Moseley-Hobbs said it will require an act from Congress to return that question since the FAFSA Simplification Act directs what questions FSA can or cannot ask on the FAFSA form.
Another attendee asked how ED has been impacted by the recent reduction in force (RIF). Lemon-Strauss said the FAFSA team at FSA has been a priority of the Trump administration and has received resources to improve the FAFSA.
As a reminder, this session was recorded and will be available to all following the conference. ED also provided additional details concerning the 2026-27 FAFSA in a recent electronic announcement.
Our Today's News team is on the ground in Anaheim, keeping you up to date on NASFAA 2025 sessions and special events. Be sure to follow our social media channels, where you can share your experiences and connect with your colleagues. Check out all of our conference news coverage and stay tuned to Today’s News for more throughout the conference.
Publication Date: 6/26/2025
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