The 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is now available. The main application for college financial aid has gone through a significant overhaul this year, and as a result, launched almost three months later than usual. Federal Student Aid (FSA), an office of the U.S. Education Department, is calling this period of the FAFSA's initial availability a "soft launch" to let families know that it will be a period when FSA is closely monitoring the application and users’ experience with it. While in this soft launch period, there may be periods of downtime when the FAFSA is not available while FSA conducts maintenance on the system.
Colleges, universities, and state agencies will not receive completed FAFSA data until the end of January, and at that point, the FAFSA tools (CR307/607) for Massachusetts schools will be available in DESE’s Edwin tool.
Almost every individual who needs to report information on the FAFSA (called a "contributor") will need an FSA ID to do so. The FSA ID is simply a username and password that allows access to FSA systems. An individual cannot set up an FSA ID and start the FAFSA on the same day, because it takes a few days for the FSA ID to be verified. Therefore, families should prioritize setting up their FSA ID now.
Students who are considering attending college in the fall should complete the FAFSA, and the state has resources available to help them do so. Please see www.mass.gov/financialaid and the Massachusetts Educational Finance Authority (MEFA).