When Is the FAFSA Due, and What Happens After You Submit Your Application?

Q: What is a common mistake people make on the FAFSA?

Common mistakes on the FAFSA often result from misentering your tax information. Always double-check for mistakes in this section, as they can affect your financial aid eligibility. You also have the option to link your financial aid through the IRS Data Retrieval Tool.

Q: What is the best time to submit the FAFSA?

The best time to submit the FAFSA is as early as possible — ideally when it opens in October of every year. That way, you can receive the maximum funding available since many grants and scholarship funds are first-come, first-served. The longer you wait, the greater the risk that funding will run out.

Q: Where do I go to submit my FAFSA application?

You can access and submit the FAFSA at the federal studentaid.gov website. This should be the only platform you use to fill out and submit the form to determine eligibility for financial aid.

Updated on April 15, 2026

Edited by

Challenging FAFSA Questions
FAFSA Deadline
What Happens After
What Aid Can I Get?
FAQ

The FAFSA is due this June. Find out in our guide how you can qualify for financial aid and what happens after you submit the FAFSA.

Key Takeaways

The FAFSA is your only way to qualify for federal student aid like grants, scholarships, and loans; file before June 30 to qualify.
Some of the most challenging FAFSA questions involve your income and tax documentation, and the schools you want to send the FAFSA to for financial aid.
The Department of Education calculates your potential aid based on your family income, how much it takes to sustain your family, and what your family can contribute to your education.

There can be a lot of confusion around submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), an essential piece of the puzzle for any student seeking financial aid.

The FAFSA has responded to concerns over excess complexity by becoming more streamlined since 2020, when the FAFSA Simplification Act shortened the application from more than 100 questions down to 18-36. Still, student confusion rates rose from 32% in 2024 to 51% in 2025, according to a report from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

In this guide, we’ll help you alleviate any confusion about when the FAFSA is due, how your aid is calculated, and what to expect after you submit.

What Are the Most Challenging Questions on the FAFSA Application?

The FAFSA may require you to answer as few as 18 questions, depending on your circumstances. The FAFSA asks demographic and family income questions. Some of the most challenging questions may be related to income and taxes if you’re not prepared with the right documentation.

To best prepare for those questions, it’s best to have these on hand before you begin:

Yours or your parents’/guardians’ Social Security Number
Federal tax information like W-2s or 1099s
Untaxed income
Documentation of noncash assets

If you’re unsure about any tax documentation or want to make sure it’s filled in correctly, you have the option to link your FAFSA to the IRS through the IRS Data Retrieval Tool.

Another difficult question may be where you want to send your FAFSA. You can send it to up to 10 schools. It’s important to list the name and address of your school and its corresponding Federal School Code, which you can find on the Federal Student Aid website. If you’d like to add more colleges after submitting the FAFSA, you can log in and do so.

If you want to look ahead at the FAFSA before applying, you can view the 2024-25 FAFSA.

When Is FAFSA Due?

The FAFSA is due on June 30, 2027, for the 2026-2027 academic year, and any corrections must be submitted by September 12, 2027. Typically, this deadline repeats every year, so you should expect similar deadlines for the coming years.

What Happens After the FAFSA Is Submitted?

The best time to submit the FAFSA is near its October opening each year. Financial aid funding is given on a first-come, first-served basis, so it’s important to maximize your chances to get the best financial aid possible, as early as possible.

Once you submit the FAFSA, the Department of Education (ED) takes your self-inputted and IRS information to calculate your Student Aid Index or SAI, which is how much financial support you may need.

ED uses this formula to calculate your level of need:

Total family financial resources (salary, assets, property, stocks, other financial assets ) –
The minimum amount needed to sustain family annual expenses =
The amount your family can use to pay for college (SAI)

This final number is your SAI, the total amount you and/or your family is predicted to pay for college. Colleges use this number, which can range from -1,500 to 999,999, to calculate how much financial aid you need. The lower your SAI, the more likely you are to qualify for need-based grants and scholarships.

ED calculates this within the Student Aid Report (SAR), which you should expect to receive within 3-5 days after you submit the FAFSA. Upon receiving the SAR, you can review it to correct and update any information if needed.

After you’ve corrected and reviewed it, there’s nothing left for you to do until you begin hearing back from the prospective colleges you sent your FAFSA to about your acceptance and financial aid package letters.

If you submitted your FAFSA in the fall, you should expect to receive these letters in the first few months of the next year, well before you need to make a final decision on a college.

What Kinds of Financial Aid Can I Get Through the FAFSA?

If you apply for financial aid through the FAFSA, there’s a good chance you’ll receive at least some financial aid. Almost all first-time college students (87.3%) received some financial aid in the 2023-24 academic year. In the same year, undergraduate students received an average of $11,610 in grants, $3,900 in federal loans, $760 in education benefits, and $90 in federal work study, according to the College Board.

There are three main types of financial aid you can get through the FAFSA: scholarships, grants, and loans.

Scholarships and grants are financial aid that are given to you, so you don’t have to pay them back. Both are very similar, but grants like the TEACH Grant for future educators require a contract to receive free aid. If that contract is broken, it becomes a loan.

The most common grant is the Pell Grant, which awards up to $7,395 per year to students in need.

Student loans are a type of financial aid that you have to pay back with interest. You may qualify for subsidized loans, where the government covers interest while you’re enrolled at least half-time in classes. Unsubsidized loans are available to anyone who applies for the FAFSA, regardless of need. However, you’ll be required to pay interest on these loans even while enrolled in school.

Another unique type of financial aid is the federal work-study program, which allows you to work while you study to earn a stipend to help you pay for college. These programs are typically on-campus, but can also occur through employers that partner with your college.

Frequently Asked Questions About the FAFSA Form

How long does it take to get your FAFSA results?

You should receive your initial FAFSA result, the Student Aid Report, within five days of submission. This is a good indicator of how much financial aid you should be eligible for.

If you submitted your application in the fall, you should expect to receive your financial aid letters from your prospective schools in the first few months of the following year to give you enough time to analyze your offers before enrollment deadlines in May.