Four steps you can do as a student or parent of a high school senior to prepare for the FAFSA 2025-26.
Today is October 1, the traditional date that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) opens for new and returning students. A recent announcement from the US Department of Education shared that the 2025-26 FAFSA is delayed opening to the public until December 1, 2024. Here are the things that you can do as a student or parent of a high school senior now:
The Mississippi Aid Application (MAAPP) is the single online application for all the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid administered grant programs. By completing this one application, eligible students who are Mississippi residents attending college in Mississippi will be applied for one of the four grant programs offered. These grant programs include MTAG, MESG, HELP, and FAITH. You can complete the MAAPP on the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid website.
This week Federal Student Aid (FSA) released a new online tool, “Who is My Parent for the FAFSA?” This tool is intended to assist students in determining which parent should be a contributor on their 2025-26 FAFSA application. It is an interactive flow chart that both students and parents can use ahead of completing the form or creating their FSA IDs. The “Who is My Parent for the FAFSA” tool can be found here. It is important to make sure you read all of the bullet points presented to you on the screen to ensure you know the correct contributor information.
To log into studentaid.gov which is where the FAFSA application is located, it requires each student and their contributors to have a unique username and password created prior to starting the application. For individuals (students and parents) who have a Social Security number, this process can take at least three days to validate their identity through the Social Security Administration. For parents who do not have a Social Security number, the identity verification is done either through TransUnion identity questions or by submitting documentation directly to Federal Student Aid. These individuals will have access to use their FSA ID immediately. Note: students who are not U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens are not eligible to complete the FAFSA for federal student aid. The FSA ID creation process is open now, and students and their contributors’ (parent(s) or stepparent) should go ahead and create their username and password to be prepared for when the FAFSA is available on December 1, 2024. For parents who have older children or completed the FAFSA in the past 10 years, you will use the same FSA ID that you used in the past for completing the FAFSA for all additional children. You can begin this process at studentaid.gov and review the resources around FSA ID from Get2College here.
Families can use the updated 2025-26 Financial Aid Estimator Tool to estimate how much federal student aid the student may be eligible to receive. It’s important to know that these are estimates based on the unique Student Aid Index (SAI) which is an index number used to determine federal student aid eligibility. Ultimately, the colleges will make the final determination and present in the financial aid package in the spring, including all the types of financial aid the student can receive. In the meantime, this tool is helpful for students and families to use prior to the FAFSA opening in December and in early financial aid conversations. You can find the Federal Student Aid Estimator here.