Starting today, community-based organizations (CBOs); high schools; districts representing multiple schools; county or state organizations; and institutions of higher education can submit an interest form to participate in Beta 2-4 for the 2025–26 FAFSA cycle. The purpose of Beta 2-4 is to test the FAFSA form at a larger scale with a wide variety of users. Organizations may express interest in: Beta 2 (beginning in mid-October); Beta 3 (beginning in early November); and Beta 4 (beginning in mid-November). The deadline for submitting the interest form is Sept. 20, 2024, at 3 PM EDT.
On Aug. 7, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) announced that, on Oct. 1, it will release the 2025–26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) for beta testing with a limited set of students and institutions of higher education (IHEs) as part of a new process in alignment with software industry best practices. The Department will make the FAFSA form available to all students on or before Dec. 1. On Aug. 27, the Department announced the opportunity for community-based organizations (CBOs) to submit an interest form for participating in the first beta test - Beta 1 - which will begin on Oct. 1.
In all stages of the testing periods, students and their contributors will submit real FAFSA forms, and students can include any postsecondary institution’s school code on their FAFSA directing that their Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) be sent to of the schools they choose. Those ISIRs will be delivered to the mailboxes of all the institutions they select and to any applicable state agencies.
How Betas 2-4 Will Work
For Beta 1, the Department is working with a small number of CBOs that can recruit students to participate in in-person FAFSA completion sessions, many of whom will apply to the same institution of higher education, which will download and test the students’ ISIRs.
The goals of Betas 2-4 include testing at a larger scale and with a wide variety of CBOs, high schools, institutions, and state agencies. The number of students in each stage is expected to grow to over 1,000 in Beta 2 and to over 10,000 in Betas 3 and 4.
Ideally, all participating organizations are expected to:
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Recruit students to submit the FAFSA form. These may be new college applicants (for CBOs, high schools, states, and institutions) or returning students (for states and institutions).
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Support students in the process of identifying contributors and obtaining FSA IDs for themselves and their contributors.
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Ensure that students and contributors submit the FAFSA form within the first four days of the Beta period launch.
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Collect feedback and provide it to the Department.
CBOs and high schools are expected to:
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Recruit at least 100 students to submit the FAFSA form. This expectation may be relaxed for certain CBOs or schools, as discussed below.
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Hold in-person FAFSA completion sessions for students.
Postsecondary institutions are expected to:
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Recruit at least 200 returning students to submit the FAFSA form. This expectation may be relaxed for certain institutions, as discussed below.
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Download ISIRs into their financial aid systems and test those ISIRs according to criteria determined by the Department, such as verifying the calculations of SAIs and Pell eligibility amounts; checking consistency between comment codes and data fields; and determining whether aid can be packaged correctly.
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Provide feedback to the Department on the accuracy of ISIR processing as early as possible, ideally within seven days of the beta period launch.
Although the Department is not directly recruiting state agencies via this Interest Form, it will reach out to state agencies in the states where participating institutions are located and invite them to participate in beta testing. Ideally, the Department expects state agencies to:
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Download ISIRs into their systems.
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Test the ISIRs according to criteria specified by the Department.
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Test state aid eligibility calculations and FAFSA completion tracking.
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Provide feedback to the Department on the accuracy of ISIR processing.
About the Selection Process
The following factors will make an organization a better candidate for participation because they help meet the goals of the beta testing:
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For all organizations, the ability to recruit students who are members of target populations for testing purposes (e.g., students with contributors who do not have Social Security numbers, students at risk of homelessness).
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For postsecondary institutions interested in participating in Beta 3 or Beta 4, the ability to recruit at least 500 returning students.
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In selecting organizations, the Department may also consider the willingness and ability of the applicable state agencies to engage in ISIR testing.
In addition, the Department will select organizations to ensure participation by a broad range of high school types and institution types, and to ensure test coverage of certain use cases and target populations. In some cases, the Department will include organizations that do not meet all expected criteria in order to meet these goals.
An organization may express interest in more than one stage of beta testing and may be selected for more than one stage. Organizations that expressed interest in Beta 1 but were not selected are encouraged to submit an interest form for Beta 2-4.
Next Steps
The Department intends to announce the organizations selected for Beta 2 by Sept. 24 and for Betas 3 and 4 shortly thereafter. After selection, the Department will provide additional information to those organizations about how to recruit and work with students; how to test ISIRs; and how to work with the Department during beta testing. Students participating in any Beta test will be able to select any institution to receive their FAFSA data, and those institutions and relevant states will also be able to access those ISIRs after they are processed, regardless of whether they expressed an interest in participating in the beta test.
The Department will share regular updates broadly with all stakeholders, including information about the bugs that are uncovered and the resolution status of those bugs, so that our partners will have a view into our progress.
As in any beta test, participants should expect to encounter system issues that may cause challenges or delays, including difficulty obtaining FSA IDs, issues submitting the FAFSA form, or errors in ISIRs. The Department is grateful to those organizations that are willing to work with us throughout this process to identify and address issues in order to ensure a more reliable FAFSA form for the broader community.
Contact Information
Any questions about this announcement should be sent to betainterest@ed.gov.