The U.S. Department of Education announced additional details regarding the upcoming beta testing periods for the 2025–26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®). Starting today, high schools, community-based organizations (CBOs), institutions of higher education, and state entities can submit interest forms to participate in subsequent stages of the testing period. These stages include Beta 2, launching in mid-October; Beta 3, starting in early November; and Beta 4, beginning in mid-November.
“Through October and November, we will expand our testing to include tens of thousands of students and many different types of high schools and postsecondary institutions,” said FAFSA Executive Advisor Jeremy Singer. “Testing the FAFSA system with real students and institutions in a wide range of contexts is critical to ensuring a successful launch by Dec. 1, and we are grateful to the many organizations that will help us achieve this goal.”
In the first Beta testing period—Beta 1—starting Oct. 1, CBOs and their partner institutions will assist hundreds of students at in-person FAFSA form completion events. The aim is to test FAFSA processing with these institutions.
“We are grateful for the hard work of so many dedicated college counselors, financial aid advisers, and other educators who share our goal of helping all students get the help they need to pay for college,” said U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal.
Organizations participating in Beta 1 include Alabama Possible, Bridge2Life, CollegeAIM, Education is Freedom, the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, and the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria.
The Department has designed a beta testing program based on feedback from stakeholders about their experiences with the 2024–25 FAFSA rollout. This program aims to maximize user experience by identifying and resolving system errors that could impact students, contributors, and institutions.
The beta testing period will involve stages with increasing scale. As previously announced, Beta 1 will involve hundreds of students recruited by CBOs providing in-person support through the FAFSA submission process. Beta 2 will include thousands of students; later stages are expected to involve tens of thousands.
Throughout the beta period, various organizations capable of recruiting students and assisting them through the FAFSA submission process will participate. These organizations include:
- CBOs holding FAFSA completion sessions
- High schools hosting FAFSA completion sessions
- Institutions recruiting returning students to submit the FAFSA form
Interest forms for Betas 2-4 may be filled out by CBOs or government entities supporting FAFSA completion events, high schools or school districts representing multiple high schools, or postsecondary institutions. Postsecondary systems interested in participating should ask their member institutions to fill out forms separately. Organizations can indicate which beta test stages they wish to join. The Department will also invite financial aid agencies from states where participating institutions are located.
Working with a broad range of organizations allows the Department to test the FAFSA form with numerous students from diverse populations and address major issues before making it available to all students and contributors.
The Department plans to continue sharing regular updates with parents, students, and other stakeholders until the 2025–26 form becomes available.
Investments through the Department’s FAFSA Student Support Strategy have led to increased student application rates. The submission gap from last year's cycle has narrowed significantly—from roughly 40% in March to approximately 2.3% this week. As of early September, around 500,000 more applicants are eligible for Pell Grants compared to last year at this time—a six percent increase.
