FAFSA
The 2022-23 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) launched at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. New and returning students who plan to attend college between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, should complete the FAFSA as soon as possible. To assist students and parents in the process, the Department’s Federal Student Aid (FSA) office has been sharing tips @FAFSA, including “7 Things You Need Before Filling Out the FAFSA Form” and “8 Steps to Completing the FAFSA Form.”
FSA continues to take steps to make it easier to complete and submit the FAFSA form. For example:
students’ prior drug convictions, as well as registration status with Selective Service, no longer affect their federal student aid eligibility;
gov is even easier to navigate to get help and information, with an entirely new look and feel; and
in most states, applicants only see the questions on the FAFSA form that pertain to them.
Students and parents may complete the FAFSA form online at FAFSA.gov and through the myStudentAid mobile application.
In related news, the Department released the latest federal student loan cohort default rate, which decreased (from 9.7% to 7.3%) for students who entered repayment between fiscal years 2017 and 2018 and subsequently defaulted before September 30, 2020. This new cohort default rate represents the lowest national rate since the three-year rate was first released in 2012. Schools with high default rates may lose their eligibility to participate in federal student aid programs.