First Stage pf FAFSA Beta Test Successful As Department Announces Launch of Beta Stage Two

Overview
Yesterday afternoon the U.S. Department of Education announced (www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-announces-successful-beta-1-testing-2025-26) the launch of the second stage of testing, Beta 2, of the 2025-2026 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Declaring Beta 1 a success, the Department stated that, “thanks to the help of community-based organizations, hundreds of students across the country successfully submitted their FAFSA form, the Department processed these forms, and institutions were able to access the records sent to them. Students were also able to make corrections to their forms. Throughout this process, the Department did not uncover any critical bugs.”

Moving on to Beta 2, the second of four stages in the phased rollout of the FASFA, the Department highlighted that the second phase would include “16 organizations that together will recruit thousands of students, including applicants from diverse income, geographic, family, and educational backgrounds. These include first generation students, first-time filers, returning students, and mixed-status families, among others. Half of the organizations are institutions of higher education that will ask their current students to submit the FAFSA form as returning students for the 2025–26 cycle – which will mark the first time returning students take part in beta testing. These institutions of higher education will also begin downloading and testing ISIRs to the extent that their financial aid systems are able to do so.”

What’s Next
The second stage, Beta 2, is scheduled to run through the end of October, with stages 3 and 4 taking place throughout the month of November, culminating in a target date of December 1st for full release of the FAFSA to all interested parties.

In sharing the latest information with the public, the Department stated that they are “committed to increasing transparency and will continue to share information about FAFSA testing broadly with all stakeholders. More detail about Beta 1 results and upcoming beta testing can be found at FAFSA.gov/beta (fafsa.gov/beta).“