Will an Incomplete FAFSA Be Deleted After 45 Days Of Inactivity?

This AskRegs Knowledgebase Q&A was updated on May 3, 2024 to indicate that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is currently, temporarily not expiring draft FAFSAs due to inactivity--per the May 3, 2024 webinar, 2024–25 FAFSA: Update on FAFSA Processing and Filing for Applicants Without SSNs.

Yes. According to the 2024–25 FAFSA Form Preview Presentation (slides 50 to 52), and after the temporary pause mentioned above, an incomplete FAFSA will be deleted after 45 days of inactivity. NASFAA has confirmed with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) that an incomplete FAFSA is one that is started, not submitted, and abandoned (no activity in 45 days).

A FAFSA cannot be considered submitted until all required contributors have completed, signed, and submitted their respective sections. When a student or other contributor completes their section of the online FAFSA, they will invite the other contributor(s) to log in and complete their own sections of the FAFSA. The other contributor(s) will then receive the invitation and reminder emails every 7 days throughout that 45-day period until the FAFSA is submitted. If a contributor does not complete their section within that 45-day window, and there is no other activity, the FAFSA will be deleted and all contributors (including the student) will have to start over.

Example: The dependent student has two additional required contributors. The student starts and completes their section. One parent starts and completes their section, and identifies another parent (stepparent) who is required to complete the FAFSA. The student and parent 1 complete their sections, but the stepparent doesn’t. The FAFSA will be deleted after 45 days of inactivity from any of those contributors. So, if parent 1 was the last to enter and save the FAFSA, and no activity happens after 45 days from then, it will be deleted. Everyone will have to start over.

Logging Activity: It's not as simple as logging into StudentAid.gov. The student or contributor must go beyond logging into the StudentAid.gov dashboard and accessing the FAFSA itself. The student or contributor has to log into StudentAid.gov and enter the FAFSA by clicking on the FAFSA link. Then, they must go far enough to save the FAFSA, meaning they must at least navigate to any page that has the save option and click "Save" on that page:

FAFSA Contributor Notification: The FAFSA contributor is alerted in several places that the FAFSA will be deleted after 45 days of inactivity. For example, this is an image of the slide that displays a StudentAid.gov view of a parent opening the FAFSA invitation from their email:

Note: NASFAA has learned that, for now, ED will not be deleting FAFSAs after 45 days of inactivity. Likewise, email reminders will not be sent for any “saved, but not submitted” FAFSAs. ED did not provide a timeline as to when the emails will begin, or when they will start deleting any applications after 45 days of inactivity.