Updates on beta testing of the 2025-26 FAFSA
On October 15, the Department of Education (ED) opened the second of four rounds of “Beta” testing for the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), with the form becoming available for a limited set of volunteer students and community-based organizations. Each beta test will look at student and contributor experiences filling out and submitting the form, transmission of Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) to states and institutions, and student- and institution-initiated corrections.
During the first Beta test, more than 680 students have successfully submitted FAFSAs and ISIRs sent to 565 unique institutions. As the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) shared on their Beta Central Updates page, 60 of those submissions were initially rejected, with many facing ongoing challenges with missing a parent or contributor signature. While students are able to fix rejections through workarounds, FSA has stated that they hope to decrease these rejections through upcoming Beta tests.
Beta 2 is the first test that will include colleges and universities and where institutions will begin downloading and testing ISIRs within their financial aid systems. So far, more than 3,500 students have gained access to the FAFSA form, in partnership with 16 high schools, universities, state agencies, and community-based organizations (CBOs). No community colleges are participating in Beta 2, but six AACC members will be participating in Betas 3 and 4, set to begin in November.
In keeping with the results of Beta 1, missing signatures continue to be a challenge for FAFSA filers. In the early part of Beta 2, 85 percent of filers had their FAFSAs rejected due to a missing signature.
The Department has also shared that they have launched a direct beta support phone line for students and families filing as part of Beta testing without receiving direct support. Per the Department’s most recent update, the line received 80 calls with an average speed of answer of 17 seconds. While an extremely small sample size, the response time is encouraging.
AACC is carefully monitoring the rollout of the 2025-26 FAFSA. Please contact AACC’s Office of Government Relations (OGR) to discuss these issues further.