Beginning With 2024-25, Will a Financial Aid Administrator Be Able To File the FAFSA On the Student's Behalf?

No. According to the U.S. Department of Education (ED), beginning with the 2024-25 award year, the financial aid administrator (FAA) will no longer be able to file an original or a renewal FAFSA on the student's (or parent's) behalf. This means the FAA will no longer be able to file a FAFSA on the student's behalf using the online FAFSA, FAFSA Partner Portal (FPP; formerly FAA Access), EDExpress, or any other method. There are no exceptions, not even for incarcerated students.

As in the past, the FAA can assist the student or parent when preparing to file the FAFSA (as a preparer), such as when completing the paper FAFSA, but the FAA cannot enter that data into the online FAFSA, FPP, etc. for the student or parent; the paper FAFSA will need to be mailed to the Federal Processing System (FPS, formerly CPS). Also, as in the past, the FAA will still be able to submit corrections, updates, and adjustments to FAFSA data.

This restriction is due to requirements under the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act (FUTURE Act), which requires consent from each FAFSA contributor (student, spouse, parent as applicable) to obtain federal tax information (FTI) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as well as to protect the confidentiality of that FTI. See the May 12, 2023 Electronic Announcement (GENERAL-23-34), Access and Use of Federal Tax Information (FTI) for Federal Student Aid Programs Beginning with the 2024-25 FAFSA Processing Cycle.