Update on June 12, 2026: We have added the initial version of Volume 5.
Federal Student Aid (FSA) is pleased to announce the initial posting of the 2027–28 FAFSA Specifications Guide. The FAFSA Specifications Guide is designed to meet the reference needs of financial aid administrators (FAAs), programmers, data processing staff, and other FSA partners who want to incorporate electronic Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) functionality into their institutional systems and communicate electronically with the FAFSA Processing System (FPS). It includes FAFSA-related processing information and guidance in a multi-volume resource.
For the 2027–28 processing cycle, the initial posting of the FAFSA Specifications Guide includes the Microsoft Excel version of the 2027–28 Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) record layout, the Introduction section, and Volumes 4A, 4B, and 8. We will publish additional volumes in July and August 2026. Refer to the “Planned Releases” schedule in the Introduction for publication timeframes.
We will post revised versions of volumes throughout the processing cycle to implement new requirements or address issues in earlier published drafts. To assist in tracking these changes, we include a “Change History Table” in each volume to outline changes made to the volume over time, after its initial publication.
Continue to monitor the Knowledge Center for updates throughout the 2027–28 cycle.
Introduction
This section provides an overview of the information in the guide and a schedule of the planned releases for all volumes of the guide.
Volume 1 – Summary of Changes
This volume provides an overview of major processing system changes related to the FAFSA processing cycle. Included are descriptions of enhancements to the online and hard-copy FAFSA forms, and updates to the FAFSA Partner Portal and the FPS.
Volume 2 – FPS Schedule and Getting Help
This volume provides key FPS processing deadlines and anticipated document and software release dates. It also includes resources for assistance, such as customer service contact details, FPS mailing addresses, and helpful publications and websites for further support.
Volume 3 – Electronic Data Exchange and FAFSA Processing
Volume 3 – Electronic Data Exchange and FAFSA Processing
This volume provides guidance to schools and other entities who want to develop mainframe systems or third-party software to exchange data electronically with FSA. It includes an overview of the Electronic Data Exchange and our software products (including EDExpress for Windows, EDconnect, and TDClient), a description of FPS input data and electronic output data files (including the ISIR), a review of the types of ISIR files available from the ISIR Datamart, and information for making electronic corrections to a student’s FAFSA data.
Volume 4A – Record Layouts
This volume provides record layouts for schools and organizations that need to design or use software systems to interface with the FPS. It includes the ISIR record layout; valid field content updates; and field length, number, and position changes for multiple fields. The ISIR record layout is also provided in Excel for users who prefer the spreadsheet format.
Volume 4B – Processing Codes
This volume provides tables of codes, messages, and data specifications to assist you in defining your institutional system, submitting your data, and correcting errors or FAFSA data. It also includes the correction data entry specifications.
Volume 5 – Edits and Rejects
This volume contains descriptions of data edits for various FAFSA contributors (dependent or independent student, parent, parent spouse or partner, and student’s spouse). It also contains record-level, processing, verifiable, and non-verifiable reject codes, and resolution guidance. The edits are used to prevent illogical and inconsistent data, and are also used to set rejects, comment codes, highlights, and other indicators used to determine federal student aid eligibility.
Volume 6 – ISIR Guide
This volume helps FAAs interpret student information on the ISIR and FAFSA Submission Summary. The ISIR includes FAFSA responses, processing results, and National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS®) information, and refers to all processed student records that the FPS sends electronically to institutions.
Volume 7- Comment Codes
This volume contains comment code and text information for the FAFSA Submission Summary (electronic and hard-copy) and ISIR, as well as the actions schools need to take to resolve FPS C flags or rejects associated with the comment.
Volume 8 – Agency Matches
This volume provides guidance about processed comment codes, status codes, and reject codes from matching agencies such the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and NSLDS.
Volume 9 – Testing
This volume provides details about the test 2027–28 ISIR data files supplied by FSA for use by its partners.
The U.S. Department of Education strives to make all content accessible to everyone. While these documents do not currently meet the standards of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, Federal Student Aid is working to create accessible versions. If you need access to these documents before the accessible versions are available, please contact the Information Technology Accessibility Program Help Desk at ITAPSupport@ed.gov to help facilitate.
2027–28 FAFSA Specifications Guide – Introduction in PDF Format
2027–28 FAFSA Specifications Guide – Volume 4A (Record Layouts) in PDF Format
2027–28 FAFSA Specifications Guide – ISIR Record Layout in Excel Format
2027–28 FAFSA Specifications Guide – Volume 4B (Processing Codes) in PDF Format
2027–28 FAFSA Specifications Guide – Volume 5 (Edits and Rejects) in PDF Format
2027–28 FAFSA Specifications Guide – Volume 8 (Agency Matches) in PDF Format