The 2027–28 FAFSA Is Open: What Families Should Do Now

A senior down the hall is filling out the FAFSA this month. Your student is in 9th or 10th grade, so it feels like someone else's problem.

It isn't, quite. The FAFSA your student files in a few years will run on the same rules, the same accounts, and the same deadline traps as this year's form — and the families who learn them early file faster and miss fewer dollars. This guide covers the 2027–28 form that's open right now, then shows what a younger student's family can do this fall.

By the end of this article, you will know:

• When the 2027–28 FAFSA opened, who it's for, and the federal deadline
• What to gather, how the FSA ID works, and who counts as a "contributor"
• Why state and school deadlines usually come first — and what 9th and 10th graders should do now

The 2027–28 FAFSA: what it is and when it opened

The FAFSA — the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — is the form colleges, states, and the federal government use to decide grants, work-study, and federal student loans. It's free. Federal Student Aid says plainly that "if a website asks you to pay to fill out the FAFSA form, you're on the wrong website" (studentaid.gov, "Filling Out the FAFSA Form").

The 2027–28 FAFSA is open now. The U.S. Department of Education announced on September 23, 2026, that the 2027–28 form was "online and available to the public," ahead of the October 1 launch date Congress requires (ed.gov press release, Sept. 23, 2026). StudentAid.gov's FAFSA page now reads: "The 2027–28 FAFSA form is now available for all students and contributors."

Who files this one? Per studentaid.gov, the 2027–28 form covers school attended between July 1, 2027, and June 30, 2028. In plain terms:

• Seniors (class of 2027) heading to college in fall 2027 file the 2027–28 form now.
• Juniors will file the 2028–29 form next fall.
• Sophomores and freshmen are two and three cycles out.

The federal deadline for 2027–28 is 11:59 p.m. Central time on June 30, 2028, with corrections due by September 12, 2028 (studentaid.gov, "FAFSA Application Deadlines"). That date is almost two years away. It is also almost never the deadline that matters — more on that below.

What to gather, the FSA ID, and contributors

The documents

Here's the good news from Federal Student Aid: "You can start, and usually finish, your FAFSA form without referring to any documents," because most people can import federal tax information directly from the IRS (studentaid.gov, "Filling Out the FAFSA Form"). Federal Student Aid says people typically finish their section in 12 minutes or less.

Still, the form may ask you to refer to some records. Studentaid.gov lists:

1. Tax returns
2. Records of child support received
3. Current balances of savings and checking accounts
4. Current amount of cash, if it's more than $1,000
5. The value of, and any debt owed on, non-retirement investments, businesses, and farms

The 2027–28 FAFSA asks for 2025 tax information — the return families filed this past spring. The 2026–27 form asked for 2024 tax information (studentaid.gov). That two-year look-back is why the tax year that counts arrives earlier than most families expect.

The FSA ID (your StudentAid.gov account)

The FSA ID is the username and password for a StudentAid.gov account. You need one "to start, access, or submit your FAFSA form," and it acts as a legal signature (studentaid.gov, "Filling Out the FAFSA Form" and "Key Facts About Your StudentAid.gov Account").

A few rules from Federal Student Aid that trip families up:

• One account per person. You can have only one StudentAid.gov account, and you shouldn't share it — not even between parent and child.
• Use a personal email. An email address can be tied to only one account. Federal Student Aid recommends against a school or work email you might lose.
• Names must match. Enter your name exactly as it appears on your Social Security card.
• Verification can lag. Social Security verification usually happens right away, but if it shows "Pending," it can take one to three days to resolve (studentaid.gov, "Key Facts About Your StudentAid.gov Account").
• Parents without an SSN can still participate. Contributors who don't have a Social Security number can create an account to fill out and sign their sections.

Contributors

A contributor is anyone required to provide information on the FAFSA, sign it, and give consent to have federal tax information transferred from the IRS (studentaid.gov, "Reporting Parent Information"). For a dependent student, that's the student plus one or two parents. Every contributor needs their own StudentAid.gov account.

Which parent counts? Per studentaid.gov:

• Married parents who filed taxes jointly: one parent contributes and reports for both.
• Married parents who filed separately: both are contributors.
• Unmarried parents who live together: both are contributors.
• Divorced, separated, or never-married parents who live apart: the parent who provided more financial support over the last 12 months is the contributor.

Grandparents, legal guardians, and other relatives are not FAFSA parents unless they've legally adopted the student. Studentaid.gov's "Who's My FAFSA Parent?" wizard sorts this out in a few minutes.

Students in unusual circumstances — for example, those who have left home because of abuse or are estranged from their parents — can be considered provisionally independent and should contact the college's financial aid office (studentaid.gov). College Decoded's guide to filing the FAFSA without parents walks through that path.

The deadlines that come before June 30, 2028

Federal Student Aid puts it directly: "since some aid is limited, you have to meet the deadlines!" (studentaid.gov, "FAFSA Application Deadlines"). There are three layers, and the federal one is the latest.

1. State deadlines. Each state sets its own, and many land months before the federal date. A few from studentaid.gov's 2027–28 list:

• Texas: for priority consideration, submit by January 15, 2027.
• Connecticut: for priority consideration, submit by February 15, 2027.
• California: for most state aid programs, submit no later than March 2, 2027.
• Illinois: for the Monetary Award Program, submit as soon as possible after October 1, 2026 — "Aid is awarded until all funds run out."

Several other states also say "as soon as possible after Oct. 1, 2026." That phrase means the money is first come, first served. In those states, filing in October instead of March can be the difference between receiving a state grant and not. Check your state on studentaid.gov's deadline page, then confirm it on your state higher education agency's website.

2. College deadlines. "Each college and career/trade school may have its own deadline," and studentaid.gov suggests asking how the school defines it — the date your FAFSA is processed or the date the school receives your data. Find each school's priority date on its financial aid page. Some colleges also require a second form, the CSS Profile, with its own deadline.

3. The federal deadline. June 30, 2028, for the 2027–28 form. One reassurance from studentaid.gov: missing a state deadline "doesn't impact your eligibility for federal student aid, so fill out your FAFSA form even if your state deadline has passed."

Seniors: file now. You can add up to 20 schools on the online form, add or remove schools after submitting, and schools can't see which other schools you listed (studentaid.gov). For a step-by-step on filing week, see The FAFSA Is Open: What to Do in the First Week.

What a 9th or 10th grade family should do now

Your student won't file for a while. But three moves this fall make that future FAFSA easier — and give you a real number to plan around.

1. Run the Federal Student Aid Estimator (about 10 minutes). Federal Student Aid's estimator gives "an estimate of how much federal student aid the student may be eligible to receive," based on the Student Aid Index (SAI), and it says most people finish in 5 to 10 minutes (studentaid.gov/aid-estimator). It isn't the FAFSA and doesn't submit anything. The current version estimates the 2027–28 award year, so for a younger student, treat the result as a ballpark — not a promise for your student's year. Run it once now and again each fall. (What the SAI means is covered in Student Aid Index, Decoded.)

2. Mark the tax year that will count. The 2027–28 form uses 2025 taxes, and the 2026–27 form used 2024 taxes — a two-year look-back. If that pattern holds, a current 10th grader's first FAFSA would use 2027 tax information, and a current 9th grader's would use 2028. That's the calendar year that starts in the middle of junior year. Rules can change, so confirm on studentaid.gov when the time comes.

3. Sort out the people now. Use the "Who's My FAFSA Parent?" wizard on studentaid.gov to see which parent or parents will be contributors. If your family situation is complicated, it's far easier to figure out in 10th grade than in October of senior year. Then put the federal, state, and college deadlines on one calendar in senior fall.

The bottom line

The 2027–28 FAFSA went online September 23, 2026, and seniors should file it now — before state and school deadlines, not the June 30, 2028, federal one.

For 9th and 10th graders, the move this fall is a 10-minute estimate, not a form: run the Federal Student Aid Estimator, mark the tax year that will count, and figure out who your contributors are. I built College Decoded so families see the money side years before the deadlines, not weeks before.

Dates, deadlines, and requirements are from studentaid.gov ("FAFSA Application Deadlines," "Filling Out the FAFSA Form," "Reporting Parent Information," "Key Facts About Your StudentAid.gov Account," and the Federal Student Aid Estimator) and the U.S. Department of Education press release of Sept. 23, 2026, all checked Oct. 7, 2026. State deadlines change every year; confirm yours with your state higher education agency. The Federal Student Aid Estimator gives estimates, not award offers. College Decoded is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education.