The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the FAFSA Deadline Act on Thursday, less than a week after the House unanimously passed it. Now the legislation heads to President Biden’s desk. The bill would mandate that the Education Department launch the federal aid form by Oct. 1 each year; currently the deadline is Jan. 1.
While most years the FAFSA has launched around Oct. 1, the past two years it’s been delayed. Last cycle, a congressionally mandated overhaul of the form led to months of delays and setbacks, upending the financial aid cycle and impeding families from applying for needed aid. This year the Education Department set the launch date to Dec. 1 in order to test the form and attempt to prevent a similar debacle; it officially released the 2025–26 FAFSA Thursday morning, a week ahead of schedule.
“No student should have their dreams threatened because of bureaucratic incompetence,” Dr. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican and ranking member of the Senate education committee, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement. “This commonsense bill holds the Department of Education accountable and ensures students have the financial information to choose the best, affordable college option for them.”
In a press call Thursday, a senior department official said they “don’t have a position” on the Deadline Act, but added that after two years of delays they anticipate no issues releasing the 2026–27 FAFSA on Oct. 1, 2025.
When the bill advanced from the House Education and the Workforce Committee in July, some Democrats and college-access advocates cautioned against legally mandating a release date in case it forced the department to launch the FAFSA before it was ready, as many say it did in 2024–25.
