This guide is intended for college financial aid administrators and counselors who help students with the financial aid process—completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) form, verifying information, and making corrections and other changes to the information reported on the FAFSA form.

Throughout the Federal Student Aid Handbook, we use “college,” “school,” and “institution” interchangeably unless a more specific use is given. Similarly, “student,” “applicant,” and “aid recipient” are synonyms. “Parents” in this volume refers to the legal parents of dependent students, and “you” refers to the primary audience of the Handbook: financial aid administrators at colleges. “We” indicates the U.S. Department of Education (the Department, ED), and “federal student aid” and “Title IV aid” are synonymous terms for the financial aid offered by the Department.

We appreciate any comments that you have on the Application and Verification Guide (AVG), as well as all the volumes of the FSA Handbook. We revise the text based on questions and feedback from the financial aid community, so please reach out to us about how to improve the FSA Handbook through the “Contact Customer Support” feature in our Partner Connect Help Center clicking on “FSA Handbook” under the Topic section.

The FAFSA Simplification Act, passed on Dec. 27, 2020, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, mandated a significant overhaul of federal student aid, including the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) form, need analysis, and many policies and procedures for schools that participate in the Title IV programs. FSA implemented the FAFSA Simplification Act alongside the FAFSA portion of the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act to streamline the FAFSA application process.

The Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act authorized a direct data exchange – the FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX) – with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to facilitate completing the FAFSA form. The previous tool to transfer U.S. income and tax information from the IRS – the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) – was retired after the close of the 2023-24 application cycle. Implementation of the FA-DDX eliminated the need for most applicants (and their spouse or parents) to self-report their income and tax information reported to the IRS. Also, federal tax information (FTI) that is transferred via the FA-DDX to the FAFSA form is considered verified for Title IV purposes.

Unlike with the IRS-DRT, which allowed applicants to opt in, the FA-DDX requires applicants and contributors (student’s spouse and/or parents, as appropriate) to provide consent and approval for the Department to obtain FTI from the IRS via the FA-DDX and use it to determine the student’s eligibility for federal student aid.

Throughout the AVG, all dates, pertinent tax return and schedule information, along with various resources and references have been updated to support the requirements associated with the 2025-26 processing year and the 2023 base tax year. Where appropriate, links and publications associated with FSA’s Partner Connect and Knowledge Center have been properly updated. We also removed references to COVID-19 guidance and waivers.

Some sections were moved to better align topics and assist with narrative flow. Use the search feature to find sections that may have been relocated. The following describes changes made in each chapter.