The FAFSA is now open for the 2026-2027 academic year. Here's what you need to know about the tweaks to this year's application and changes to federal education funding.
Two years ago, the rollout of a new online system for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid was marked with glitches, delays and frustration that in some cases left students feeling uncertain about whether they'd be able to afford to go to college.
Most of the issues from that debacle have been resolved. This year, the application portal even went online a few days ahead of the scheduled Oct. 1 opening date for students planning to attend college in the 2026-2027 academic year.
Students who want to be considered for federal financial aid programs such as grants, work-study and student loans must complete the FAFSA. The form is also often used to determine eligibility for state-level financial aid, as well as institutional aid and private scholarships.
The application pulls information from the IRS and asks about the financial situation of both the student and their parents.
Cardinal News asked financial aid professionals at two colleges to highlight changes to this year's application for financial aid -- and to correct misconceptions they sometimes hear from students.
At Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap, financial aid coordinator Sherry Whitaker offered insight.
A team of three people at Ferrum College provided tips on this year's FAFSA: Angela Payne, the vice president of enrollment management; Lola Cannaday, the comptroller and senior director of financial aid; and Samuel Martin, the associate director of financial aid.
Here are four things you should know if you or someone in your family is planning to attend college next year.
The new, simplified FAFSA that rolled out in fits and starts two years ago was mandated by Congress to make the process of applying for federal aid more straightforward.
The 2026-2027 application doesn't include major changes, but has a few new features.
First, students and their parents will access the application separately, Whitaker said, with their own user name and password.
Either the parent or student can start the application and then send the other an email invitation to log in and complete their portion of the application, the Ferrum team said. It's designed to reduce errors when matching data records for both parties, they wrote in a document sent to Cardinal News.
Another change this year is the addition of real-time identity verification for users who create StudentAid.gov accounts with a Social Security number, the Ferrum team said.
"This verification allows applicants to instantly upload their tax information from the IRS," instead of waiting two or three days for their account to be verified, they said.
Immediate verification means you won't have to wait as long to find out your student aid index -- the number the FAFSA calculates that tells schools your level of financial need -- and start thinking about your financial aid options.
A lot of financial aid options are first-come, first-served, the team at Ferrum said. "The earlier you claim your seat" by filing your FAFSA, "the more options are open to you," they said.
Students who delay may miss out on state- or institutional-level aid.
Submitting the FAFSA isn't a contract, the Ferrum team said; it's just the application. Students can pick and choose which types of aid they accept, they said, for instance, by accepting grants but declining loans. Similarly, the FAFSA doesn't lock you into a single college choice. The application allows multiple schools to review your eligibility and make aid offers.
Keep in mind that completing the FAFSA isn't a one-time process. Your financial situation may change from year to year, so you need to apply again for each academic year for which you're seeking aid.
The Ferrum team said that having a part-time job or a 529 college savings plan won't disqualify you from financial aid eligibility. Even if you think your family makes too much money to get help paying for college, you should fill out the FAFSA anyway, they said, because the FAFSA is often used to determine scholarship aid, including for merit scholarships based on academic performance.
Another helpful tip: If you support yourself, you may still need to provide financial info for your parents, Whitaker said. There are only a few situations where the FAFSA considers students to be independent of their parents.
The second Trump administration has announced sweeping changes to American higher education funding, from threatening to pull funding from schools if they don't eliminate equity programs to cutting funding for research conducted at some universities.
But implementing those changes often takes time and can go through several iterations before being finalized.
"Stay focused on what's current and official," the Ferrum financial aid team said. "We remind students that until regulations are formally changed, existing financial aid programs -- Pell Grants, federal loans, and work-study -- remain in place."
State and institutional-level funding are also still available, the team said. If you have questions or concerns, they advise contacting your school's financial aid office, rather than making decisions based on speculation or anticipated changes to federal aid.
One area of financial aid where there are changes under the Trump administration is student loans.
Under Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, passed by Congress this year, there are new caps on how much you can borrow for some student loans. Parent PLUS loans, which can be taken out by the parent of a student in college, will be capped at $20,000 per year with a $65,000 lifetime limit as of July 2026. Graduate school PLUS loans are being eliminated in 2026.
"We're walking students through what this means for their projected loan burden and whether their original plan is still feasible under these caps," the Ferrum team said.
Federal loan changes may not be a factor depending on where you're going to school, however. Not all community colleges in Virginia participate in the federal student loan program; Mountain Empire is one that does not.