The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a form from Federal Student Aid, part of the U.S. Department of Education. The 2027–28 form says to use it to apply for federal and state student grants, work-study, and loans. 2027–28 FAFSA form (PDF)
Federal Student Aid says you fill out the FAFSA once per year. The federal government, your state, and your school can each use that form for their own aid. 3 FAFSA deadlines
File if you want to be considered for that aid. If you are not sure whether your state or school uses the form, check StudentAid.gov and the school’s financial aid office. This page does not guess who qualifies.
Federal Student Aid’s checklist for the online form starts with a StudentAid.gov account, parent or spouse information when the form asks for it, and a federal income tax return you can reach online. FAFSA checklist
You log in with your StudentAid.gov account username and password. Each contributor needs their own account. A contributor is anyone required to give information, sign, and approve a tax transfer: you, and when required your spouse, a biological or adoptive parent, or your parent’s spouse. StudentAid.gov account facts · Filling out the FAFSA
You, and a parent or spouse when they are a contributor, must consent to let the IRS transfer federal tax information into the form. Consent is required even if no tax return was filed. The 2027–28 PDF asks whether the student filed a U.S. federal income tax return for 2025. Do not use a different year’s tax information than the form asks for. Tax consent on the checklist · 2025 tax question on the PDF
The same checklist also lists records of child support received, records of assets, and a list of schools. The online form needs at least one school and allows up to 20. If a detail is not on those pages, check studentaid.gov. We do not fill in a missing figure.
The 2027–28 PDF covers aid for school between July 1, 2027, and June 30, 2028. For federal aid it says to submit as early as possible, but no earlier than October 1, 2026, and that the form must be received no later than June 30, 2028. Dates on the 2027–28 PDF
A Federal Student Aid announcement updated September 23, 2026 says the 2027–28 FAFSA form is now live to the general public. That note and the PDF’s October 1, 2026 line are both on official pages. If you need the status for your own form, check studentaid.gov. September 23, 2026 update
School and state deadlines are not the federal date. The PDF says a state or college deadline may be as early as October 1, 2026, or aid may be first-come, first-served, and some states ask for another form. The deadlines article says the school date is often the earliest, the state date varies, and the federal date is June 30 of that academic year. For 2027–28, the PDF names June 30, 2028 as the federal receipt date. We do not copy each state’s date here. Use the PDF’s state list, then confirm it. School, state, and federal deadlines
These dates are for the 2027–28 form. For a later year, check studentaid.gov. We do not invent a date that is not published.
The PDF says to use this free form, or apply free online at fafsa.gov. The filling-out page says the FAFSA form is free, and that a website asking you to pay is not the official form. The official form is on a .gov site. fafsa.gov · Free to file
Next Scholar does not file the FAFSA for you, and we do not ask for your StudentAid.gov username or password.
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Checked October 17, 2026. Dates and rules above are from those pages. If a page changes, the official page wins.
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