New school year, more FAFSA delays for Iowa students

DES MOINES, Iowa — The U.S. Department of Education announced that the 2025-2026 FAFSA Application will be delayed again this year.

While the application is typically released on October 1st, last year’s new application wasn’t available until January. This year, the department expects the application to be available by December 1st.

The new application was rolled out last year and was riddled with glitches. Several Des Moines seniors described having trouble filling out the form. However, the glitches weren’t the only issue students faced.

Since the form was released at a later date, the entire financial aid timeline was pushed back. Colleges were delayed in providing financial aid offers to students, which resulted in students having less time to make decisions.

The Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow said that while Iowa saw a decrease in FAFSA applications last year, the state did better than others, and was even lower than the national rate.

“Where Iowa has about a 2.4% decrease, some states are experiencing a 10-plus percentage point decrease. And that’s because of the hard work of our institutional financial aid teams, of our local college access networks, and of our high school counselors also supported by the department’s Iowa College Aid team and coming around families and ensuring successful FAFSA completion,” she said.

Lincoln High School seniors are optimistic about this year’s FAFSA application, despite the delay. However, high school counselors are still expressing concern.

Lincoln High School Counselor Julia Minnehan said, “The timeline is honestly the biggest problem. I’m less worried about the glitches. I’m more worried about the short window for students to make decisions.”

In May, Minnehan said the problems associated with the new FAFSA application were the likely reason fewer Lincoln High School students filled out the application and fewer students committed to college .

Minnehan also said that several seniors last year decided to take a gap year to avoid the problems associated with the previous year’s FAFSA application, but this year’s delay may continue to impact their decision.

Director Snow said the department will continue to support families as they navigate the application process.

“We’re there to support families across the state because we know that a form should never be a barrier to students accessing postsecondary opportunities and pursuing their incredible potential,” said Director Snow.

One way that the department helped families is through summer transition associates . They are high school counselors who were recruited to work alongside families throughout the summer to help them with college readiness, including FAFSA. The department also hired several bilingual summer transition associates to help all families in Iowa.

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