Scholarships

FAFSA 2027-28 Deadline: Federal, State, and College Dates You Need to Know

Published

5 days ago

October 31, 2026

Key Facts:

Federal deadline: 11:59 p.m. Central time, June 30, 2028

Corrections deadline: 11:59 p.m. Central time, September 12, 2028

Form opened: September 23, 2026 (the earliest launch in the program’s history)

Award period covered: July 1, 2027 to June 30, 2028

Tax year used: 2025

Cost: free

The FAFSA 2027-28 deadline is June 30, 2028, but that date is the last of three deadlines. State agencies and colleges set earlier dates, and those earlier dates decide most grant money. This guide explains each deadline, who should apply, how to apply, and which mistakes cost students aid.

What Is the FAFSA 2027-28 Deadline?

The FAFSA 2027-28 deadline is the final date a student can submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid for the July 1, 2027 to June 30, 2028 award year.

Federal deadline

The U.S. Department of Education closes the 2027-28 FAFSA at 11:59 p.m. Central time on June 30, 2028. Students who miss this date lose access to federal grants, work-study, and federal student loans for that award year. The official Federal Student Aid FAFSA deadlines page lists the federal date and the state dates in one place.

Corrections deadline

Federal Student Aid accepts corrections and updates until 11:59 p.m. Central time on September 12, 2028. Students use this window to fix household details, enrollment information, or the school list.

October 1 is a launch date, not a deadline

Many students read “October 1” and assume it is the application deadline. It is not. Federal law requires the Department of Education to open the form by October 1. The Department opened the 2027-28 FAFSA on September 23, 2026, eight days earlier. The form then stays open for almost 21 months.

The Three FAFSA Deadline Layers

A FAFSA deadline is a date set by one of three organizations. Each organization controls a different pool of money.

Layer	Who sets it	What it controls	Typical timing
Federal	U.S. Department of Education	Pell Grants, federal work-study, federal loans	June 30, 2028
State	State grant agency	State grants and scholarships	Often January to June 2027
College	Each college’s financial aid office	Institutional grants and scholarships	Often winter before enrollment

The federal date comes last and matters least. By June 2028, most state and college grant money has already been awarded.

Sample state deadlines for 2027-28

State	Deadline	Note
Texas	January 15, 2027	Priority consideration
Missouri	February 3, 2027	Priority date
California	March 2, 2027	Many state programs; Cal Grant also requires a school-certified GPA by the same date
North Carolina	June 1, 2027	Priority deadline
Illinois	As soon as possible after the form opens	Monetary Award Program (MAP)

State rules change, so students must confirm their own state’s date with the state grant agency before they file.

Who Should Apply and Who Should Not Apply

The FAFSA serves students who qualify for federal student aid. Eligibility depends on citizenship status, enrollment plans, and education history.

Who should apply

High school seniors who plan to start college in fall 2027
Returning college students, because the FAFSA covers one award year and needs refiling each year
Graduate and professional students who need federal loans
Transfer students and adult learners who start or return in the 2027-28 award year
Students who think they will not qualify. Unsubsidized federal loans do not depend on income, and many colleges use FAFSA data to award their own scholarships.

Who should not apply

International students on student visas. Federal aid requires U.S. citizenship or eligible noncitizen status. These students should use college-specific international aid and direct scholarship applications instead.
Students who do not plan to enroll in an eligible program during July 1, 2027 to June 30, 2028
Students who need aid for a different award year. A student who needs money for 2026-27 files the 2026-27 FAFSA, and a student who starts in fall 2028 waits for the 2028-29 form.

Step-by-Step FAFSA 2027-28 Application Guide

Create an FSA ID. The student and every contributor (such as a parent) each need their own StudentAid.gov account. Create accounts before starting the form, because identity confirmation can take time.
Open the application. Start the form on the official FAFSA application page at StudentAid.gov. The application is free, and websites that charge a fee are not official.
Enter student information. Answer the identity, background, and enrollment questions.
Invite contributors. The student sends an invitation to each parent or spouse who must provide information.
Give consent for tax data. The student and each contributor consent to share 2025 federal tax information directly from the IRS. This removes the need to type most tax figures manually.
Add schools. List every college the student wants to receive the results. Each school appears on the form by name or school code.
Sign and submit. The student and each contributor sign with their FSA ID, then the student submits.
Review the FAFSA Submission Summary. The summary shows the information the colleges will receive. Students should read it line by line and correct errors before September 12, 2028.

Required Documents Explained

Item	Why the FAFSA needs it	Where to find it
FSA ID (student and contributors)	Signs the form electronically	StudentAid.gov account creation
Social Security number	Identifies the applicant	Social Security card
2025 federal tax information	Determines income for the Student Aid Index (SAI)	Transferred from the IRS after consent
Records of untaxed income	Completes the income picture	Employer or benefits statements
Bank and investment balances	Counts assets in the SAI formula	Account statements
Alien Registration Number (eligible noncitizens)	Confirms eligible noncitizen status	Immigration documents
School list	Sends results to chosen colleges	College financial aid pages

Each contributor must provide consent for tax data. A form is incomplete until every required contributor completes their part.

Common Mistakes Applicants Make

Waiting for the federal deadline. State and college money often disappears months earlier. Fix: file soon after the form opens.
Treating October 1 as the deadline. It is the launch date. Fix: use the federal, state, and college dates in the table above.
Forgetting contributor tasks. A parent who skips consent or signature leaves the form incomplete. Fix: send invitations early and confirm completion.
Skipping the school list or adding the wrong schools. Colleges cannot see an application they were never sent. Fix: add every school before submitting.
Not checking state and college deadlines. The federal date does not protect state or institutional aid. Fix: check each financial aid office’s page.
Filing right at the deadline. Colleges need time to receive and process the form, so a last-day submission can miss a file-completion date. Fix: submit weeks early.
Ignoring the Submission Summary. Errors stay in the file until someone corrects them. Fix: review it and correct mistakes through StudentAid.gov.

Selection Process Explained: How Aid Is Decided

The FAFSA is not a competition, and no committee reads it for merit. Aid is decided through a process.

The FAFSA calculates the Student Aid Index (SAI). The SAI is a number built from family income, assets, household size, and other inputs. A lower SAI signals higher need.
The college receives the results. Each school on the list gets the FAFSA data.
The college may select the file for verification. Verification means the college asks for documents that confirm what the student reported.
The college builds an aid package. The package can combine federal aid, state aid, and institutional aid.
The student receives an award letter. The student compares letters and accepts the aid they want.

“First-come, first-served” applies to many state and college funds, because they distribute money until it runs out. That is why early filing raises the chance of receiving that aid.

Previous Years’ FAFSA Trends

The FAFSA launch date moved from late and unpredictable to early and consistent. The Department of Education’s announcement of the earliest FAFSA launch in program history confirms the second straight record.

Award year	Opening	What happened
2024-25	Late December 2023	Launched late after a major form redesign; students and colleges had less time to complete aid steps
2026-27	September 24, 2025	Earliest launch recorded to that point
2027-28	September 23, 2026	New record, one day earlier

The federal deadline stays at June 30 of the award year’s end, so the 2026-27 deadline is June 30, 2027 and the 2027-28 deadline is June 30, 2028. The pattern for students is simple: the form opens in the fall, and the aid that matters closes in the winter and spring.

Our Research Notes

The deadline stack matters more than the federal date. A student who files in December 2026 meets the Texas priority date (January 15, 2027) and the California date (March 2, 2027). A student who files in June 2027 misses both.
Almost 21 months separate the form’s opening from its federal deadline. That long window creates a false sense of safety, because the earlier state and college dates are the real cutoffs.
October 1 causes the most confusion. Many search results and articles mix the launch requirement with the application deadline, so we separated them in this guide.
International readers need a different path. Most visa holders cannot receive federal aid, so college-specific international aid and direct scholarships are the correct route.
Dates can change. Check StudentAid.gov and your state grant agency before relying on any date. Last verified: October 31, 2026.

What to Do After You Submit

Open the FAFSA Submission Summary and confirm every answer.
Respond quickly if a college requests verification documents.
Watch your email for award letters and compare packages.
Submit any correction before the September 12, 2028 deadline.
Apply for scholarships in parallel. Browse scholarships for undergraduate students and read our guide on how to apply for scholarships.

FAQs

1. What is the FAFSA 2027-28 deadline? The federal deadline for the 2027-28 FAFSA is 11:59 p.m. Central time on June 30, 2028. Corrections and updates are accepted until September 12, 2028. State and college deadlines usually fall months earlier, so students who want grants should file as soon as possible after the form opens.

2. When did the 2027-28 FAFSA open? The U.S. Department of Education opened the 2027-28 FAFSA to the public on September 23, 2026. That date is the earliest launch in the program’s history and arrived before the October 1 date that federal law requires. The form covers enrollment between July 1, 2027, and June 30, 2028.

3. Is the FAFSA first-come, first-served? Federal Pell Grants are not awarded on a first-come basis, but many state grants and college funds are. Those programs distribute money until funds run out, which rewards early filers. Submitting the FAFSA soon after it opens protects access to limited state and institutional aid.

4. What happens if I miss my state’s FAFSA deadline? Missing a state deadline can make a student ineligible for that state’s grant program, even when the federal application is still open. The student can still file the FAFSA before June 30, 2028, and receive federal aid. Students should contact the state grant agency and the college financial aid office immediately to ask about exceptions.

5. Can I submit the FAFSA after June 30, 2028? No. The federal deadline of June 30, 2028, closes the 2027-28 application. A student who needs aid after that date must file the FAFSA for the next award year instead. Filing near June 30 also leaves little time for processing, so students who plan to attend summer terms should submit well before.

6. What is the FAFSA 2027-28 correction deadline? Federal Student Aid accepts corrections and updates to the 2027-28 FAFSA until 11:59 p.m. Central time on September 12, 2028. Students can fix household, enrollment, or school list information through StudentAid.gov. Colleges may set earlier internal cutoffs for packaging aid, so students should submit corrections as early as possible.

7. Which tax year does the 2027-28 FAFSA use? The 2027-28 FAFSA uses tax information from the 2025 tax year. Applicants and contributors consent to share that data directly from the IRS through StudentAid.gov. Students therefore do not need to wait for 2026 tax filing before applying, which allows submission as early as the form opens.

8. Is the FAFSA free? Yes. The FAFSA costs 0 USD to complete and submit. Official applications run through StudentAid.gov. Websites that charge a fee to file the form are not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education, and students should avoid them. Help is available at no cost by calling 1-800-4-FED-AID.

9. Can international students file the FAFSA? Most international students on student visas cannot receive federal aid through the FAFSA, because federal aid requires U.S. citizenship or eligible noncitizen status. Many colleges offer separate institutional aid and scholarships for international applicants. Students should check each college’s international financial aid page and apply directly.

10. Do I have to refile the FAFSA every year? Yes. The FAFSA covers one award year only, so students must submit a new form every year they want federal aid. The 2027-28 FAFSA covers July 1, 2027, to June 30, 2028. Returning students typically find some information pre-filled, which shortens the process, but they must still review and sign the form.

11. How long does FAFSA processing take? Processing time varies by cycle and by college. Students typically receive a FAFSA Submission Summary after submitting, and the college then uses the results to build an aid package. Because colleges need time to receive and review applications, filing close to a deadline can cause a student to miss a file-completion date.

12. Should I file the FAFSA if I think I will not qualify? Yes, if the student is eligible to apply. Federal aid includes unsubsidized loans that do not depend on income, and many colleges use the FAFSA to award their own scholarships. Filing costs nothing and keeps every option open, while skipping it guarantees no federal aid.

Conclusion

The FAFSA 2027-28 deadline is June 30, 2028, but the dates that decide your aid come earlier. Check your state’s priority date and each college’s deadline, then file as soon as possible. Once you submit, compare award letters and keep applying for scholarships.