The Department of Education reaffirms that students can no longer access incomplete FAFSA applications indefinitely. It is important that you remind students of this change which starts in the 24-25 academic year.
What is the policy?
The policy states that FAFSA applications will be deleted if they are marked as incomplete after 45 days of inactivity starting in the 24-25 academic year. Deletion in this context means that a student will lose all the information that they or anyone else has entered and must restart their application from the beginning. Each user will receive weekly reminders from the Department of Education to complete their respective portions until the time limit expires. Although this policy does not bar one from reapplying, it is strongly advised that all applicants complete their FAFSA so that they do not miss crucial deadlines from their Financial Aid offices.
What is considered an incomplete FAFSA?
The Department of Education defines an “incomplete” FAFSA as an application based on the following criteria: there is no account activity whatsoever, it is not submitted regardless of completion status, or required portions are unfinished by any contributor. Contributors not only include the student, but both parents, legal guardians, or anyone else who is needed to complete the FAFSA application for institutional review. While this policy applies to every user, administrators should be aware that students with extenuating circumstances (i.e. Dependency overrides, non-custodial parents, etc.) may be disproportionately impacted and prepare their staff accordingly.
How can students and families avoid application deletion?
The best way for FAFSA users to avoid losing their progress is to access their application and click “Save” on a given page to restart the time limit. The Department of Education will only delete the current FAFSA after 45 days of inactivity on the account; this means that the only solution is to log in to studentaid.gov and save any changes. The application still risks deletion if students and families only log into the website or do not click “Save” within one of the pages. As always, users are encouraged to complete the FAFSA in a timely fashion and to contact their institution’s Financial Aid office for questions.
For more information regarding this or other upcoming changes to the 2024-25 FAFSA, review the 2024–25 FAFSA Form Preview Presentation on the Federal Student Aid website.