Will the FAFSA cycle be smoother this year?

Higher Ed Dive

Danielle McLean

November 25, 2024

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was among the 2,000-plus higher ed institutions that served as the initial beta testers for the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

UNC-Chapel Hill received just over 2,800 FAFSA submissions during the beta testing period, Rachelle Feldman, the university’s vice provost of enrollment, said Thursday.

The Education Department officially debuted the form Thursday after tens of thousands of students participated in several rounds of beta testing.

“After months of hard work and lots of feedback from students, schools, and other stakeholders, we can say with confidence that FAFSA is working and will serve as the gateway to college access and affordability to millions of students,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

However, this year will mark the second year in a row that the Education Department delayed the rollout of the FAFSA past Oct. 1 — the date it has been released to students and prospective students since 2017.

The department’s release of the revamped FAFSA form during the last aid cycle was mired in technical glitches and delays. The chaos created challenges for college administrators, who often worked overtime trying to process the forms and resolve corrections on an abbreviated timeframe.

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