The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) provides various types of aid to support eligible students to pay for college with federal grants, loans, work study programs, state aid, as well as institutional aid.
The 2025-26 FAFSA opened in November after multiple testing periods to ensure proper functionality and successful processing. Recent changes to the FAFSA have streamlined the application experience, reducing the amount of questions and time needed to complete the form.
On February 25, FCAN hosted a webinar to inform Florida high school counselors on the 2025-26 FAFSA. The webinar was a collaboration between FCAN and the Florida Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (FASFAA). Alicia Keaton, Interim Associate Vice President for Enrollment Planning and Management at University of Central Florida, served as guest presenter.
Getting Started
To begin, students and their contributor should go to StudentAid.gov to create a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID – this serves as their login for the FAFSA. Students will need this login information to apply for the FAFSA every year they attend school, therefore this information should be saved carefully.
Who is a contributor? A contributor is anyone who is required to provide information on the FAFSA form, sign the FAFSA form, and provide consent and approval to have their federal tax information transferred directly from the IRS into the form. This includes: student, student’s spouse (if student is independent), student’s biological or adoptive parent (if student is dependent), or parent’s spouse (stepparent).
The FAFSA will ask various questions about the student and contributor including federal tax information. Dependent students will need to report their own information and parent information. For the 2025-26 FAFSA, 2023 income will be directly imported from the IRS.
The student should list all the institutions they are interested in attending to ensure the student’s FAFSA is received. Since some aid is first come first served, it is important students complete the form as soon as possible and keep track of deadlines – state deadline, university/college deadline, and federal deadline.
FCAN has a YouTube playlist to help address more FAFSA-related questions.
After Completing the FAFSA
After a student submits the FAFSA, the schools the student listed on the form will receive the completed FAFSA to calculate aid the student is eligible to receive. Students should check their email for notification of their award letter. Award packages can vary by school depending on eligibility and aid availability – students should compare packages to understand if there is sufficient aid to cover their expenses.
Students can also research local, state, and national scholarships that could fund their education after high school.
FCAN Resources
FCAN has resources to help you support students with their education after high school including:
