The Free Application for Federal Student Aid has been a notoriously tedious task for many students and families.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid has been a notoriously tedious task for many students and families. However, many financial aid experts have found the process smoother this cycle, especially for returning students.

Like first-time applicants, returning applicants should follow the steps below to file the FAFSA.

How to File the FAFSA as a Returning Student

Log in to StudentAid.gov

If filing as a dependent, first-time applicants and other contributors – anyone required to provide information on the FAFSA form – need to create a StudentAid.gov account using a Social Security number, email address, full name and date of birth.

A contributor without a Social Security number can create an account, which is used for every year a student submits a FAFSA form.

For the 2026-2027 cycle, only an email is required to invite contributors to fill out the form. Previously, students needed to provide a contributor's name, date of birth, email address and Social Security number.

To be considered independent, a student must meet at least one of the following criteria: born before Jan. 1, 2003; working toward a master's or doctorate degree; married; homeless or at risk of being homeless; a parent who provides more than half of the financial support; in foster care, an orphan, or ward or dependent of the court since turning the age of 13; a veteran or active-duty military member; or an emancipated minor.

If a returning student or parent doesn't remember their login, there's an option to select "Forgot email, phone or username?" 

Fill Out the Form's Questions

Once logged in, students should select the application for the next academic year. Returning students' basic details tied to their StudentAid.gov account, including their name, date of birth, address and Social Security number, should autopopulate in the form, experts say.

Every contributor must give consent to allow the IRS to automatically transfer tax information to the online application or the student will not be eligible for federal aid.

Up-to-date financial and tax information from the "prior prior year" is required. This means that applicants filling out the 2026-2027 form, for instance, will use the 2024 federal income tax return.

Dependent filers report information from their own and their parents' taxed and untaxed income records, bank statements and investment records, if applicable. Those filing independently report the same things as well as provide a spouse's information, if married.

" I've seen students and their families submit a renewal FAFSA in as little as 10 to 15 minutes," says Michael Tocydlowski, assistant vice president for admission and financial aid at Pitzer College in California. "But I would say on average, plan for 25 to 30 minutes."

Sign and Submit the FAFSA

Before a FAFSA is considered complete, a signature is required by the student and any contributor. This can be done electronically for the online form.

Within one to three days after online submission, applicants can access the FAFSA Submission Summary of the information they disclosed on the form. The report also includes the student aid index, which helps colleges determine how much financial aid a family needs.

The FAFSA Submission Summary also indicates with an asterisk if the student was selected for verification by the Department of Education, a process that requires submission of additional documentation and usually delays creation of a financial aid package.

Once the Education Department processes a form, that information – known as the Institutional Student Information Record, or ISIR – is forwarded to an applicant's school.

"If there's any extenuating circumstances or any financial situations that have changed," Tocydlowski says, "reach out to the financial aid office to notify them of those changes so that way they're aware."

How Often Should the FAFSA Be Filled Out?

Students should complete the FAFSA for every year they want federal, state or even institutional financial aid. However, 29% of undergraduate families chose not to file the FAFSA in the 2024-2025 academic year because they believed their income was too high, according to the annual Sallie Mae/Ipsos survey "How America Pays for College."

High school students in the class of 2024 who didn't complete the FAFSA left $4.4 billion in available Pell Grant funding on the table, up from $400 million that went unclaimed by the previous class, according to National College Attainment Network data.

Students have until June 30, 2027 to submit the 2026-2027 FAFSA. State and institutional deadlines vary but are often well before the federal deadline, so filing as early as possible is best, experts say.

"There are some universities that are exceedingly flexible," says Shawn Abbott, vice president for enrollment management and dean of admission at Tulane University in Louisiana. "As long as funds are available in certain accounts, they will provide that aid all the way up until the first day of classes. And then you've got other(s) that are pretty ruthless about their deadlines and they have limited financial aid. And if you are late by even a day, you might potentially pull yourself out of the running for certain grant-based aid."

It's "definitely a cautionary tale that you want to not just meet these deadlines, you want to beat these deadlines," he says.