U.S. Department of Education launches second stage testing for FAFSA

The U.S. Department of Education has launched the second (Beta 2) stage of testing for the 2025–26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), an announcement this week said.

According to a news release from the department, hundreds of students across the country successfully submitted their FAFSA forms over recent weeks through the first stage of testing, with help from community-based organizations. Students were also able to make corrections to their forms as needed, and department leaders said they did not uncover any critical bugs in the process.

The announcement noted that Beta 1 FAFSA events have now concluded, but submissions will continue to increase as students and families from those events continue to complete the form. It added that colleges and universities will also continue to ingest Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs).

Throughout the extensive Beta 1 testing, the news release said, the department noticed opportunities to improve the usability of the FAFSA form. Improving usability will continue to be a focus of the department, following the full launch of the FAFSA form on or before Dec. 1. 

“Our goal in this first stage of testing was to submit and process FAFSA forms for 100 students so that we could ensure the process worked as expected. Instead, we had more than six times that number of students and we were able to see the forms move from submission to processing – and even corrections – without any major issues,” FAFSA Executive Advisor Jeremy Singer said in a public statement. “We learned a tremendous amount from being able to observe students, families, and community-based organizations interacting with the FAFSA form in real time, and we are on track for a full launch on or before Dec. 1.” 

According to the news release, department staff were recently on site to support students and families in six cities across the country – Birmingham, Alabama; Santa Barbara, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Dallas, Texas; Alexandria, Virginia – during FAFSA events held Oct. 1-3. It said that during these events, hundreds of students and their families, as well as staff from community-based organizations and local colleges, gathered in school gyms and other venues to submit their 2025-26 FAFSA form and provide feedback.  

Through those events, over 650 students successfully submitted applications, 586 unique institutions received 6,266 ISIRs generated by those applications, and dozens of student corrections were successfully completed.

“On behalf of the Department of Education, I want to offer a huge thank you to all of the students, family members, counselors, financial aid experts, and others participating in the testing process. Their efforts are helping us get the FAFSA ready for everyone,” U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal said in a statement.

The announcement said Beta 2 includes 16 organizations which will work together to recruit thousands of students, including applicants from diverse income, geographic, family, and educational backgrounds. These include first generation students, first-time filers, returning students, and mixed-status families, among others.

Half of the organizations are colleges and universities that will ask current students to submit their FAFSA forms as returning students for the 2025–26 cycle, which the department says will mark the first time returning students take part in beta testing.

The testing follows the much talked about delayed rollout of the FAFSA for graduating high school seniors in 2024 to implement changes designed to streamline the application process.

For more information about Beta 1 results and upcoming beta testing, visit FAFSA.gov/beta.