2027–28 FAFSA Development Begins: Trump Administration Unveils Sweeping Improvements for Students and Families

The U.S. Department of Education formally launched the development process for the 2027–28 Free Application for Federal Student Aid on Thursday, unveiling a package of significant improvements aimed at making the nation's gateway to college financial aid faster, simpler, and more accessible — while touting over $1 billion saved by combating rampant fraud exposed under the previous administration.

The Starting Gun: What Thursday's Announcement Means

By publishing its information collection notice in the Federal Register on February 13, the Department officially opened the multi-step development process for the 2027–28 FAFSA form — the version millions of students will use to apply for federal grants, loans, and work-study funds when planning for the fall 2027 semester.

The announcement sets the Department on track to launch the 2027–28 FAFSA by October 1, 2026 — the federally required opening date for FAFSA submissions — a benchmark the previous administration notoriously missed during the botched 2024–25 rollout that delayed aid notifications for millions of students by months.

"After years of mismanagement under the Biden Administration that left students and families struggling with delays and confusion, the Trump Administration promised to fix the FAFSA — and in just one year, we have delivered historic progress for students and families across the country," said Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent. "We welcome public comment and feedback as we continue to modernize and streamline the form to better serve American students, families, and institutions."

New Features Coming to the 2027–28 FAFSA

Thursday's announcement outlined three headline improvements students and families can expect when the 2027–28 form launches next October:

Pre-Populated Renewal Data

In one of the most student-friendly changes, returning applicants will find their personal and financial data already filled in from their previous FAFSA submission. Rather than re-entering the same household and financial information year after year — a frustration cited repeatedly in student surveys — students simply review, confirm, and update only what has changed.

This change is particularly meaningful for the millions of students who complete the FAFSA every year throughout their college careers. A student completing their junior year FAFSA, for instance, will no longer face the same time-consuming data-entry process they endured as a freshman. The result: a dramatically faster, less error-prone renewal experience.

Clearer, Jargon-Free Language

Questions and instructions on the 2027–28 FAFSA will be rewritten to strip out technical and bureaucratic language that has long confused first-generation college students and families unfamiliar with financial aid terminology. The overhaul targets phrases and concepts that research shows lead students to make errors, skip questions, or abandon the application entirely.

Financial aid administrators have long complained that FAFSA language assumes a level of financial literacy and familiarity with tax concepts that many families — especially those with the greatest financial need — simply don't have. Clearer language directly addresses one of the most persistent barriers to FAFSA completion among low-income and first-generation applicants.

Family-Friendly Multi-Child Applications

For the first time, parents with more than one child applying for federal financial aid simultaneously will be able to enter their information once and apply it across all of their children's applications — rather than being required to re-enter identical parental information for every individual child.

This change eliminates a significant burden for families with multiple college-age children — a situation increasingly common as college enrollment ages spread and gap years become more popular. Previously, a parent with three children attending different colleges could find themselves completing the parental section of three entirely separate FAFSAs, introducing repetition, fatigue, and the potential for inconsistencies.

What's Already Working: 2026–27 FAFSA Improvements

Thursday's announcement also highlighted improvements already implemented in the current 2026–27 FAFSA cycle — changes the Department says make this the most streamlined FAFSA form in history:

Redesigned Contributor Invite Process

Students can now invite a parent or other financial contributor to complete their portion of the FAFSA form using a simple code — a significant usability improvement over the previous system that required contributors to navigate complex account linking processes. The simplified code-based system reduces the technical friction that had caused many families to struggle with the multi-contributor requirement introduced during the major 2024–25 FAFSA overhaul.

Instant Verification for New StudentAid.gov Accounts

New account holders on StudentAid.gov now receive faster account confirmation, reducing the delays and frustration that had plagued the account creation process. Previously, students and parents sometimes waited days to verify new accounts, creating bottlenecks at the very beginning of the FAFSA process — particularly problematic early in the application cycle when millions of new high school seniors attempt to create accounts simultaneously.

Earnings Indicator: A Powerful New Transparency Tool

Perhaps the most consequential new feature for students deciding where to apply is the Earnings Indicator — a tool that shows whether graduates of colleges and universities to which students are applying have lower median earnings than a high school graduate.

This data point, surfaced directly within the FAFSA application process, gives students considering financially risky college choices a stark, data-driven warning: if the typical graduate of this institution earns less than someone who never attended college, is this investment worth taking on federal student loan debt?

The Earnings Indicator represents a significant shift in how the federal government uses its position as the primary college loan originator to steer students toward higher-value educational investments. Critics of some for-profit and low-completion institutions may welcome the transparency, while colleges with poor earnings outcomes may push back against what they view as an oversimplified metric embedded in the application process itself.

Aggressive Fraud Prevention: $1 Billion Saved

The Department reported that reversing what it characterized as "years of Biden Administration negligence" in FAFSA fraud prevention resulted in identifying and eliminating fraudulent applications that saved federal taxpayers over $1 billion last year alone.

FAFSA fraud — which includes identity theft schemes where criminals submit fraudulent applications using stolen personal information to redirect financial aid disbursements — had grown substantially in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, as federal student aid systems processed an unprecedented volume of applications under emergency conditions.

The $1 billion fraud savings figure, if accurate, represents a significant return on investment in verification and fraud detection systems, and sets a baseline for ongoing anti-fraud efforts in the 2027–28 cycle.

The Working Families Tax Cuts Act: FAFSA Changes From New Legislation

The current FAFSA cycle also reflects changes mandated by the Working Families Tax Cuts Act — the Trump administration's signature domestic policy legislation — which modified how financial need is calculated for certain applicants.

Specifically, the new law excludes from FAFSA asset calculations:

- Family-owned businesses with fewer than 100 full-time employees
- Family farms
- Commercial fishing operations

These exclusions mean families whose primary wealth is tied up in a small business, farm, or fishing enterprise will no longer see those assets counted against them when calculating financial need. Previously, a farming family with substantial land assets but modest cash income could be deemed ineligible for need-based aid despite having little liquid money available to pay for college.

For rural communities and small business owners — constituencies the Trump administration has emphasized supporting — this represents a potentially meaningful increase in financial aid eligibility. The full impact depends on how many families who previously appeared "too wealthy" on paper due to business or farm assets will now qualify for additional Pell Grant or subsidized loan eligibility.

The Shadow of the 2024–25 FAFSA Disaster

Any discussion of FAFSA improvements must be viewed through the lens of the catastrophic 2024–25 FAFSA rollout, which the Trump administration has made central to its higher education narrative.

The Biden administration's overhaul of the FAFSA — mandated by the FAFSA Simplification Act — launched months late due to programming errors, data privacy miscalculations, and technical failures. The delayed rollout cascaded through the entire financial aid ecosystem: colleges couldn't issue aid offers to admitted students, students couldn't compare financial aid packages to make enrollment decisions, and admission cycles at thousands of institutions were thrown into disarray.

At its worst, the crisis left hundreds of thousands of students unable to make informed college enrollment decisions. Some enrolled without knowing their actual cost of attendance. Others deferred or chose not to attend college while waiting for clarity on aid. Community colleges, which serve heavily price-sensitive populations, reported enrollment declines linked to FAFSA confusion.

The Trump administration inherited this crisis and has invested significantly in stabilizing and improving FAFSA operations, with Thursday's announcement representing its most forward-looking statement yet on the form's future direction.

Who Needs to Act and When

For students and families currently navigating the college financial aid process, Thursday's announcement has limited immediate impact — the changes announced are for the 2027–28 form, which won't be available until October 1, 2026.

Students currently completing the 2026–27 FAFSA — which opened October 1, 2025 — should focus on completing their current application promptly to maximize financial aid eligibility before institutional deadlines.

Students entering college in fall 2027 — meaning current high school freshmen and sophomores — will be the primary beneficiaries of the improvements announced Thursday.

For stakeholders who want to influence the 2027–28 form's design — including financial aid administrators, student advocates, higher education institutions, and members of the public — the comment window runs through April 14, 2026. Comments must be submitted electronically through regulations.gov.

Higher Education Community Reactions

Financial aid administrators and higher education policy experts have long advocated for FAFSA simplification, and many of Thursday's announced improvements align with longstanding recommendations from the field:

The pre-populated renewal data feature mirrors practices used in tax software and other government forms that store and reuse previously entered information, addressing one of the most frequently cited barriers to FAFSA completion among returning students.

The multi-child family improvement addresses a pain point that disproportionately affected middle-income families with multiple college-age children — families often squeezed between being too wealthy for maximum need-based aid and facing actual financial strain.

The clearer language initiative echoes years of research from organizations like the National College Access Network showing that confusing FAFSA language is a significant barrier to completion among first-generation and low-income students, precisely the populations the form is meant to serve.

The Earnings Indicator: Promise and Controversy

Of all the announced features, the Earnings Indicator carries the most significant policy implications and the greatest potential for controversy.

Embedding graduate earnings data directly in the FAFSA application — at the exact moment students are seeking financial aid for specific colleges — creates powerful behavioral nudges that could meaningfully shift enrollment patterns. Students considering a program whose graduates earn less than high school graduates may reconsider, potentially reducing enrollment at low-value programs.

Supporters argue this is exactly the kind of consumer information students need. The federal government provides the loans that fund these programs; it should inform borrowers about the likely return on their investment.

Critics will raise questions about how earnings are measured, what time frame is used, whether the metric fairly represents diverse career paths, and whether it disadvantages programs in lower-wage fields like social work, early childhood education, or the arts — fields with genuine societal value that simply don't generate high earnings.

The Earnings Indicator also continues a broader trend of the Trump administration using federal financial aid access as leverage to steer students toward higher-earning outcomes — a market-oriented approach to higher education quality assurance that diverges sharply from traditional academic values around the intrinsic value of education beyond its income effects.

FAFSA and the Broader College Affordability Crisis

Thursday's announcement, while focused on form improvements, occurs against a backdrop of escalating concern about college affordability and student debt.

Total outstanding federal student loan debt in the United States now exceeds $1.7 trillion, held by more than 43 million borrowers. The FAFSA is the gatekeeper to the federal grant and loan programs that finance the vast majority of college attendance for low- and middle-income students.

Making the FAFSA faster, simpler, and more accessible doesn't directly address the underlying cost of college — but it does reduce the administrative friction that prevents some students from accessing aid they're entitled to. Research consistently shows that FAFSA completion rates are strongly associated with college enrollment rates, particularly among first-generation and low-income students.

Every student who abandons the FAFSA because it's too confusing, too time-consuming, or too technically burdensome represents a failure of the system's core mission: connecting qualified students with the financial resources they need to pursue postsecondary education.

What to Watch Going Forward

In the months ahead, several developments will shape the 2027–28 FAFSA's final form and impact:

The public comment period through April 14 will reveal what students, families, institutions, and advocacy groups most want changed or preserved. High comment volumes on specific features signal strong stakeholder engagement that the Department typically must address in its final form development.

The Department's actual October 1, 2026 launch of the form will be the true test of whether it has successfully stabilized FAFSA operations after the Biden-era crisis. Meeting the October deadline — something the Biden administration failed to do for the 2024–25 cycle — is itself a major benchmark.

How the Earnings Indicator is ultimately designed and displayed will determine its practical impact. A prominent, clearly explained metric could meaningfully influence student decision-making. A buried or confusing presentation might have minimal effect.

Whether additional FAFSA simplifications — including further reducing the number of questions required — are pursued in the 2027–28 cycle will signal the administration's appetite for deeper structural reform versus incremental improvement.

How to Submit Comments

Students, families, educators, financial aid administrators, and higher education institutions that want to shape the 2027–28 FAFSA form have until April 14, 2026 to submit public comments.

Comments must be submitted electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. The Department will not accept comments submitted by fax or email. Comments should reference the 2027–28 FAFSA information collection to ensure proper routing.