Better Late Than Broken: Associations Say ‘Fully Functional’ FAFSA Is Paramount for the Fall

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, must be fully functional for students and colleges this fall — even if its arrival is delayed by two months. That’s what the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) and four other associations wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona on Tuesday. As the start of the 2025-26 financial-aid cycle approaches, the letter says, “we are wrestling with the trade-off between timeliness and functionality, and have concluded that the consequences of releasing a product that does not come with full end-to-end functionality for students, families, state agencies, and aid administrators would be too great.”