By Eliza Haverstock | NerdWallet

Students and families finally have an idea of what to expect from the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the form that unlocks federal students loans, grants, work-study and scholarships for millions of Americans each year.

The Education Department committed to fully launching the FAFSA by Dec. 1 — but select groups of students will be able to access and submit the form as early as Oct. 1. The early access is part of a beta testing process designed by the Education Department to identify and fix FAFSA issues before the form’s public debut. (In a typical FAFSA year, the form opens to all students on Oct. 1.)

Financial aid experts are optimistic that the phased rollout will prevent the technical glitches and delays that plagued the form’s 2024-25 rendition.

“Hopefully, a lot of the FAFSA completion bugs that applicants found when the 2024-25 FAFSA rolled out late in December last year will already have been caught and resolved before December 1,” says Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

If you’re thinking about going to college in 2025-26, here’s what you need to know about the upcoming FAFSA release.

Second year of the simplified FAFSA

The 2025-26 FAFSA will be the second year of the “simplified FAFSA.” The redesigned form debuted for the 2024-25 school year.

The simplified form has fewer questions: roughly 36, down from as many as 108 in 2023-24 and prior years. It may also calculate financial aid packages slightly differently. For example, the FAFSA redesign removed the “sibling discount” for families with multiple kids in college at the same time.

“If you’re an incoming student who’s never filed a FAFSA at all, hopefully it doesn’t mean much at all. It’s not much of a change to you, because you’re not used to any prior process,” says MorraLee Keller, senior director of strategic planning at the National College Attainment Network.

Phased rollout for some students

A beta testing process will occur between Oct. 1 and Dec. 1. The Education Department will invite groups of student volunteers to participate in phases, closely monitoring their FAFSA experience and gathering real-time feedback. The department will make corrections to the form throughout the testing period, and starting Dec. 1, any member of the public will be able to access the FAFSA.

The Education Department will work with high schools, colleges, state agencies and college access groups to find and invite a diverse group of student volunteers for early FAFSA access. Beta testing will begin with hundreds of participants and ramp up to “tens of thousands” ahead of Dec. 1, a department spokesperson said.

“In a sense, the system will be open, just not to the public,” McCarthy says. “It’s going to be a live system that works. Those will be real FAFSAs. They will be forwarded to the colleges and to the state agencies for the students.”

This phased rollout will be different from the 2024-25 FAFSA’s glitchy “soft launch” in late December 2023. During last year’s soft launch, applicants could try to get into the FAFSA during specific open times, leaving many students and parents frustrated.

Early access won’t get you more aid

Early FAFSA access during beta testing doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get more financial aid, including first-come, first-serve aid, McCarthy says.

“While these early FAFSAs will be real FAFSAs … the [department] will be encouraging schools and states not to make any financial aid offers based on any early [processed FAFSAs] that they see,” McCarthy says. “There’s a fairness aspect to that, and there’s also a little bit of an accuracy aspect to it, because this is live testing.”

There are, however, two key reasons to submit the FAFSA during the test period, if given the opportunity. First, test group members may get access to personalized help from the Education Department, McCarthy says.

“It is intended to be a very high-touch and hands-on process,” McCarthy says. “Depending on what the questions are, it could be helpful to the applicant to have that one-on-one support with Federal Student Aid.”

Second, submitting the FAFSA before Dec. 1 can also help guarantee that you don’t miss any priority financial aid deadlines, Keller says. And once your FAFSA is taken care of, you can move to other items on your list, like scholarship applications.

Don’t worry if you’re not selected for early FAFSA access — you’ll still have time to fill out the form and meet priority financial aid deadlines for your state and college. Submit the form as soon as possible after it opens to the public in December to qualify for the largest award. Some types of aid come from a limited pool, and can run out.

Request your FSA ID in advance

Regardless of when you’re granted FAFSA access, your family can get a head start on the process today by requesting your Federal Student Aid (FSA) IDs on studentaid.gov.

Your FSA ID is the unique username and password combination that you use to sign into the FAFSA form. The student and all other contributors — which may include the student’s parents or spouse — need to request an FSA ID.

Once you submit your identifying information, like your address and Social Security number, expect a three-day turnaround before you get an email with your FSA ID.

“Be prepared this fall,” Keller advises. “Get your FSA ID set up, get your college list ready, work on admissions applications, get all that good stuff out of the way so that come December 1, you’re ready to concentrate on completing the FAFSA.”

Know who to ask for FAFSA help

High school seniors should go to their guidance counselor with any questions about the 2025-26 FAFSA. Prospective college students can also reach out to the financial aid offices at the institutions to which they are applying.

Returning students should reach out to their college’s financial aid office.

Though the phased rollout is unusual, submitting the FAFSA remains essential to getting the money you need to afford college — including federal student loans, need-based Pell Grants and scholarships. There’s no income cutoff to qualify for aid, and you might get more than you think.

“There are a lot of people who are eligible for aid but think that they are not, and they just don’t bother to file the FAFSA, and therefore they’re leaving aid on the table,” Keller says.

Eliza Haverstock writes for NerdWallet. Email: ehaverstock@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @elizahaverstock.

The article Full FAFSA Launch by Dec. 1: What Students and Families Need To Know originally appeared on NerdWallet.