Completing the FAFSA
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) must be completed for every academic year a student wishes to receive federal financial aid. Some state aid and scholarship programs also require a valid FAFSA.
The 2025-2026 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is delayed! The 2025-2026 FAFSA is anticipated to open for all students on or before December 1, 2024! Keep an eye on this webpage or follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram for updates!
- What should I do first?
- When should I apply for aid?
- Where do I complete the FAFSA?
- How can I get assistance submitting the FAFSA?
- Which year's financial or tax information do I need?
- Do I need to provide parent information on my FAFSA?
- What if my parents' or my marital status has changed since taxes were filed?
- What happens after I submit my FAFSA?
- What if my FAFSA does not accurately reflect my financial need or circumstances have changed?
- When will I receive a financial aid offer?
Need more help? See the Federal Student Aid help website for filling out the FAFSA.
What should I do first?
See our Preparing for the FAFSA webpage for steps you should take and documents and information you may need.
When should I apply for aid?
Submit your FAFSA early!
- The FAFSA typically becomes available on October 1 for the following academic year (example: October 1, 2024 for Fall 2025, Spring 2026, and Summer 2026). Student Aid has initiated the release of the 2025-2026 FAFSA via a soft launch and is expected to be available for all students by December 1. Students might encounter intermittent outages while improvements are made. Visit our Preparing for the FAFSA webpage for information on steps you and your contributors should take to be ready to complete your 2025-2026 FAFSA application.
- The priority submission deadline for submitting the FAFSA is usually March 1.
- FAFSAs submitted after the priority deadline will not be considered for certain types of aid, such as the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant or Federal Work-Study.
Where do I complete the FAFSA?
The FAFSA can be completed online via the Federal Student Aid website.
You can submit your FAFSA to up to twenty different institutions. To send your FAFSA information to WVU (including divisional campuses), you can search WVU by name or use the school code 003827 within the FAFSA.
How can I get assistance submitting the FAFSA?
The WVU Hub offers free, one-on-one appointments to students who need assistance submitting the FAFSA. Click on the button below to view the online sign-up form and register for a time slot today!
For assistance completing the FAFSA, students and other contributors must have their Federal Student Aid ID (FSA ID) available at the time of the appointment. See our Preparing for the FAFSA webpage for more information on FSA IDs.
Which year's financial or tax information do I need?
See our Preparing for the FAFSA webpage for documents and information you may need.
Here are the pertinent, specific financial years based on the FAFSA year.
| FAFSA Aid Year | Semesters Covered | Financial Year Requested |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-2024 | Fall 2023 and Spring/Summer 2024 | 2021 financial information (unless the question is specifically requesting current information) |
| 2024-2025 | Fall 2024 and Spring/Summer 2025 | 2022 financial information (unless the question is specifically requesting current information) |
Do I need to provide parent information on my FAFSA?
Most students are considered dependent for federal aid purposes, which means parent information must be included on the FAFSA. Visit the Federal Student Aid website for dependency information to determine if you are dependent as well as details on which parent's information should be reported on the FAFSA (if parents are divorced, separated, etc.).
If your parents refuse to provide information for your FAFSA, for your FAFSA and you answer “Yes” to the Apply for Direct Unsubsidized Loan Only question on the FAFSA, you may be eligible for limited unsubsidized loan eligibility if your parent(s) complete the FAFSA Parent Information Refusal form.
If you have no contact with your parents, do not know where they live, your parents are incarcerated or deceased, or you have left home due to an abusive situation, answer “Yes” to the Student Unusual Circumstances question on the FAFSA to complete the application without their information, then you may submit an Unusual Circumstances form.
What if my parents' or my marital status has changed since taxes were filed?
Here are some tips for this type of situation using the example of the 2025-2026 FAFSA (which requests 2023 tax information):
- Your FAFSA asks for marital status "as of today" (the day it’s filled out). So if you or your parent are married now but were not for your 2023 taxes (and therefore didn’t file taxes as married), the spouse’s 2023 income will need to be added to the FAFSA.
- Similarly, if you or your parent filed 2023 taxes as married but are no longer married when filling out your FAFSA, the spouse’s income will need to be subtracted.
- And if you or your parent were married when filing 2023 taxes, then got divorced and are now married to someone else, there’s a bit more math to do: Subtract the ex’s income, then add the new spouse’s income.
The FAFSA help text covers all these situations in more detail as you’re filling out the application.
What happens after I submit my FAFSA?
- Financial aid is a process, so there will be additional steps after submitting your FAFSA. You may need to make corrections, submit additional documentation, or simply accept/decline your aid after it is offered.
- Students receive a
FAFSA Submission Summary — a summary of their FAFSA information.
- It does not tell you how much aid you will receive, but it does list if you may need to make corrections to your FAFSA or if you have been selected for verification of data you provided on your FAFSA.
- WVU will also send a notification to your MIX email (via your WVU Portal) if you need to make corrections or submit additional documentation. See our Unsatisfied Requirements webpage for more information.
What if my FAFSA does not accurately reflect my financial need or circumstances have changed?
If the information you provided on your FAFSA no longer accurately reflects your or your family's financial situation, there are certain circumstances in which you can submit an appeal. Students who wish to appeal an SAI calculated from a 2025-2026 FAFSA should visit our SAI Calculation Appeal webpage.
When will I receive a financial aid offer?
If a FAFSA is received and there are not any unsatisfied requirements preventing the institution from reviewing you for financial aid eligibility, notifications of financial aid offers usually begin in December for the following academic year for new/incoming students for the upcoming aid year. They usually begin in March for current/continuing students.
Once aid offers have begun for the upcoming year, students can see their aid via their Financial Aid Information in the WVU Portal.
- New, incoming students offered aid are notified starting in December via their MIX email (unless they have not submitted a FAFSA or have unsatisfied requirements preventing their aid review).
- Returning students offered aid are notified starting in March via their MIX email (unless they have not submitted a FAFSA or have unsatisfied requirements preventing their aid review).
Incoming students for the 2025-2026 academic year may start receiving scholarship offers in December 2024.
Due to the delayed release of the 2025-2026 FAFSA by the Department of Education, we do not have an estimated time for when full financial aid offers for fall 2025 will begin. We cannot begin reviewing federal and state financial aid eligibility until the Department of Education makes the FAFSA available and all new processes and policies have been implemented and tested.