The  Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA typically opens on October 1, however, it was delayed last year due to technical glitches in what was supposed to be a more streamlined form. We will see this delay again for the 2025-2026 FAFSA as the U.S. Education Department has signaled they will fully launch the FAFSA on December 1, with a limited number of students and schools having access during a testing period starting October 1, 2024. Students are encouraged to complete the form as soon as it opens because some of the funds are awarded on a first-come first-served basis and it allows students more time to research options and create a financial plan that works best for them.

Each year the U.S. Department of Education awards more than $120 billion in federal grants, loans, and work-study funds to approximately 13 million students. However, according to the National College Attainment Network (NCAN), the high school class of 2023 left more than $4 billion in Pell Grants on the table by not completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), nearly 58 million of those dollars being from Wisconsin graduates. This is alarming because the Pell Grant is a needs-based grant available to low-income students who often face historical and structural inequities and by not filling out the FAFSA, the opportunity gap only widens.

As NCAN points out, “Without sufficient financial aid, students take out more loans to afford the cost of college. This burden falls heavily on Black students, who for a variety of reasons (such as the racial wealth gap) borrow at higher rates than their peers.” Student advisors provide students with direction toward their career and educational goals. One way to accomplish this is to educate them about the FAFSA and set them up for success when filling it out. Money Path, a powerful tool for student advisors that helps students make the connection between post-high school planning and long-term financial well-being, helps students see the importance of completing the FAFSA.

The following are 5 tips to help prepare your students:

1. Create a StudentAid.gov Account

Students will need to obtain their Federal Student Aid (FSA) IDs by creating a StudentAid.gov account to access and fill out the FAFSA. Both the student and the parent of a dependent student will need to create their own accounts. These “contributors” as they’re referred to on the form, are anyone required to provide information on the FAFSA. To set up their account, students and parents will need to have their Social Security number and mobile phone number or email address. Starting in the 2024-2025 academic year contributors who do not have a social security number can create an account to fill out and sign their required section of the FAFSA. However, if a student doesn’t have a social security number they cannot submit a FAFSA form for themselves or be eligible for federal student aid unless they are a citizen of one of the freely associated states. It is recommended that students and parents create their separate accounts early to avoid delays because it can take up to three days before they can use their FSA IDs.

2. Gather Personal Financial Information

Let your students know that they will need federal tax returns, W-2s, bank statements (both checking and savings), and any records of investments. If they are a dependent student, they will need this information for both their parents and themselves. Since this information can be time-consuming to gather, it is best to find it all prior to sitting down and filling out the FAFSA. For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, students and their parents will need their 2022 tax forms. Data from that tax year is used as a predictor of the family’s financial situation for the current year. The Money Path app allows students to enter their family’s income level to estimate their financial aid and provides valuable facts about financial aid and the different types available.

3. Make a List of Schools They’re Interested in Attending

There’s room for 20 schools on the online FAFSA or 10 schools on the FAFSA PDF. Encourage students to make a list of all schools they’re considering attending even if they haven’t sent an application yet. It doesn’t hurt their application to add more schools and if they decide later to not apply or do not get accepted, the school will just disregard their FAFSA form. If the student wants to send the FAFSA to more than 20 schools they can go into their form, delete out schools, and add more once it has been processed (they should wait to receive confirmation of this). Encourage them to complete the FAFSA for the colleges with the earliest deadlines first. Money Path can help them narrow their college search by showing them tuition for both in-state and out-of-state as well as the cost of living on campus vs. off so they can include only the most affordable schools on the form.

4. Know Parent Demographics

For dependent students, parents will need to provide basic demographic information. It’s important that the students know who counts as a parent on the form prior to filling it out. If the student’s parents are married to each other, information should be reported for both. If their parents live together but were never married, are divorced, or are separated, they still need to provide information for both. And if their parent remarried, they would need to report information for their stepparent.

5. Avoid Common Mistakes

Filling out the FAFSA incorrectly can delay your student’s application and impact the amount of money they’re eligible for so it’s important for them to be aware of common mistakes. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators keeps a running list, here are a few of them:

  •  Leaving blank fields. Enter a ‘0’ or ‘not applicable’ instead of leaving a blank.
  • Using commas or decimal points in numeric fields. Always round to the nearest dollar.
  • Forgetting to list the college they’ve applied to or are considering applying to.
  • Forgetting to sign and date the form. If not signed and dated the form is incomplete.

By implementing these 5 tips and using the Money Path app to educate students about the importance of filling out the FAFSA, students, especially historically marginalized students from under-resourced areas, can have access to hundreds or even thousands of dollars that will help lower their college costs. Money Path can also help students determine how much funding they’ll need (from savings, scholarships, or family) in addition to federal financial aid, to cover the cost of college, and it gives them the ability to compare in-state vs. out-of-state tuition and two-year vs. four-year colleges.

“I think the Money Path app is a very valuable experience for students. It is important for students to see real data about college finances. It is also important for students to consider the financial implications of their decisions.” – Luke Meuler, Marquette University High School

Money Path is currently available at no cost to Wisconsin school districts thanks to generous sponsors. To learn more about Money Path and prepare your students for life after high school sign up for one of our hassle-free, 15-minute Demo Days sessions where you can witness Money Path in action without any commitments. You don’t even have to turn on your camera!