Starting with the 2017­–18 application cycle, the following changes will be put in place with regards to submitting your FAFSA:

  • Students will be able to submit a FAFSA® earlier.  Students will be able to file a 2017–18 FAFSA as early as Saturday, October 1, 2016. The earlier submission date will be a permanent change, enabling students to complete and submit a FAFSA as early as October 1 every year. (There is NO CHANGE to the 2016–17 schedule. The FAFSA became available January 1 as in previous years.)
  • Students will use earlier income information. Beginning with the 2017–18 FAFSA, students will be required to report income information from an earlier tax year. For example, on the 2017–18 FAFSA, students (and parents, as appropriate) will report their 2015 income information, rather than their 2016 income information.