When 2024-25 season applicants experienced glitches and lags with a new version of the form, the ED gathered feedback from students, families and higher education institutions and developed a newer version that is now ready for beta testing, the department said in a news release.
In the first round of testing, beginning Oct. 1, hundreds of participants will fill out the new form with help from community-based organizations and higher education institutions.
“We’re using the beta testing period to uncover and fix issues with the FAFSA form before the form is available to millions of students and their families,” FAFSA Executive Advisor Jeremy Singer said in the news release. The form will be made available to all on or before Dec. 1.
Now through Thursday, community-based organizations can apply to help facilitate the testing. In addition to helping applicants, the organizations will be expected to hold at least one information and assistance session and to recruit at least 100 students applying to the same institution to participate. Many applications for one institution will help the school and state financial aid agency test their systems.
The ED plans to start with hundreds of test applications and work up to thousands. The form will be tested at every stage and with a variety of inputs. Students will vary in age, family makeup, income level and location, and will include first-generation students, students experiencing homelessness and veterans. Higher education institutions will be similarly varied, including community colleges, public universities, private colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and institutions that serve other minority groups.
In addition to the testing efforts, the ED has dedicated millions of dollars to increasing student application rates, which has helped lower the gap in submissions from 40 percent in March to less than 3 percent in August. Still, according to a recent survey of 1,000 undergraduate students and 1,000 parents of undergraduate students, only 29 percent of those who filled out the new version of the FAFSA found it easier to complete than last year’s iteration.
