2025-26 FAFSA
The 2025-2026 FAFSA will open December 1, 2024.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is required every year to remain eligible for most types of aid, including grants, loans, Federal Work-Study, the HOPE/Lottery Scholarship, and more.
The 2025-2026 FAFSA determines your financial aid eligibility for the fall 2025, spring 2026, and summer 2026 terms.
What do I need to fill out the FAFSA
To fill out the FAFSA you need:
Your FSA ID. It is the same as it was last year, if you filed a FAFSA. You can select forgot my username/password if you don’t remember it. If you have never signed a FAFSA, apply for your FSA ID at least 3 days prior to using it. You will not be able to complete the FAFSA the same day as applying for your FSA ID.
Social Security Number
A-Number (if you’re not a U.S. citizen)
2023 Federal Tax Return
2023 W2 Form(s)
Bank statements and records of investment (if applicable)
Records of net worth of investments, businesses, and farms
Records of untaxed income (if applicable)
UT Martin’s school code: 003531 – if UT Martin is your first choice, be sure to list it first on the FAFSA.
NOTE: All Contributors must supply their financial information. If you’re a dependent student, then your parent(s) will be considered contributors and will also need most of the above information.
If you’re a married student who did not file a joint tax return with your spouse, then your spouse will be a contributor and will need most of the above information, also.
Pro Tips
- Read all questions and instructions carefully.
- Meet FAFSA deadlines. Tennessee’s priority deadline is March 3, 2026
- Check your email (including spam) regularly for any messages from the U.S. Department of Education or UT Martin
Getting help
- In the online FAFSA form, select the question mark icon next to a FAFSA question to view a “tool tip” that provides information about how to answer that question.
- Visit the “FAFSA®Help” to find answers to common questions.
- In the online form, chat with Aidan®, a virtual assistant.
- Chat with, email, or find a phone number for the Federal Student Aid Information Center.
- Contact UT Martin’s One Stop at 731-881-4677 or email financialaid@utm.edu
- Click here for FAFSA Form Frequently Asked Questions.
I’ve filed my FAFSA. Now what?
Check the status of your FAFSA
You can check the status of your FAFSA by logging in and finding your application status in the Status Center under “My Activity,” which displays after you log in, if you have already started or completed a FAFSA form.
The status of your FAFSA form will be one of the following:
- Draft: Your section of the FAFSA form is incomplete.
- In Progress: You provided your consent, approval, and signature to your section of the FAFSA form, but the FAFSA form has not been submitted yet.
- In Review: Your FAFSA form was submitted but hasn’t been processed yet.
- Action Required: You are missing your consent and approval or signature or the FAFSA form was processed, but a correction is required.
- Processed: Your application was processed successfully. No further action is needed.
- Closed: Your FAFSA form was never submitted and can no longer be submitted because the federal FAFSA deadline passed.
- Note: If you submitted a paper FAFSA form, you can check the status of your form once it’s processed (paper FAFSAs take longer to process).
UT Martin will download your FAFSA. If all requirements are met, we will award your financial aid. We will then send you an Estimated Financial Aid Notification and tell you how to view and accept it in Banner Self-Service. Typically, FAFSA downloads begin a few weeks after the FAFSA opens. For 2025-26, we will begin awarding first time students in March or April, 2025. Returning students are awarded their financial aid after grades post after the spring semester ends.
Review Your FAFSA Submission Summary
You will get a Summary of the information you provided on the FAFSA after your FAFSA form is processed. Look over your FAFSA Submission Summary carefully, make sure you didn’t make a mistake on your FAFSA form, and make corrections to your FAFSA data if necessary. Reach out to us if you have questions about making corrections.
What Not to Expect From the FAFSA Submission Summary
The FAFSA Submission Summary will not tell you how much financial aid you’ll get. Also, if you provided consent and approval to obtain your federal tax information from the IRS, the FAFSA Submission Summary won’t show the details of your (or parent) income and tax information.
Provide Required Verification
You might see a note on your FAFSA Submission Summary saying you’ve been selected for verification. Verification is the process your school uses to confirm that the data reported on your FAFSA form is accurate. If you’re selected for verification, your school will request additional documentation that supports the information you reported.
Don’t assume you’re being accused of doing anything wrong. Some people are selected for verification at random. All you need to do is provide the documentation we ask for. In most cases, you won’t have to verify income and tax information. However, if you are selected for verification, we may ask you to submit a tax transcript or other documentation to confirm the information you reported.
Terminology Introduced with FAFSA Simplification
Contributors
A contributor—a new term introduced on the 2024-25 FAFSA—refers to anyone who is required to provide information on a student’s form (such as a parent/stepparent or spouse). A student’s or parent’s answers on the FAFSA will determine which contributors (if any) will be required to provide information.
Contributors will receive an email informing them that they’ve been identified as such and will need to log in using their own FSA ID (if they don’t already have one) to provide the required information on the student’s FAFSA.
Being a contributor does not mean they are financially responsible for the student’s education costs, but it does mean the contributor must provide information on the FAFSA or the application will be incomplete, and the student will not be eligible for federal student aid.
Who are considered “Contributors?”
If your parents are divorced or separated, the contributing parent(s) is the parent (and their spouse, if remarried) who provided the greater portion of your financial support during the 12 months immediately prior to filing the FAFSA. It is not automatically the parent you primarily lived with during the past 12 months.
All Contributors–student, student’s spouse (if married), and student’s parents(s) (if a dependent student)–must provide consent to have tax data transferred directly from the IRS to the FAFSA. If consent is not provided by all parties, the student will not be eligible for federal financial aid. In previous years, transferring IRS data was optional. It is now required.
The Student Aid Index
Student Aid Index (SAI) is replacing Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
The need analysis formula to determine financial aid, formerly known as the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), will now be referred to as the Student Aid Index (SAI). Unlike the EFC, the SAI may be a negative number.
Assets
Assets now include small businesses and family farms.
When required, families must now report the value of their small business or family farm. If the family farm includes the principal place of residence, applicants should determine the total net value of all farm assets and subtract the net value of their principal residence to determine the final value of their farm assets.
Resources
2024-25 FAFSA
FAFSA completion date
Instead of opening in October, the 2024-2025 FAFSA will not be available until December 2023. This is only temporary for 2024. After the 2024-2025 aid year, the FAFSA will be available in October as usual.
Streamlined application process
The FAFSA will feature fewer questions, fewer requirements, and retrieve tax information using a direct data exchange from the IRS instead of the previous IRS Data Retrieval Tool.
Applicants will be required to use the IRS Direct Data Exchange
Previously, users had the option to enter their tax information manually or use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Beginning with 2024-25, all persons on the FAFSA must provide consent for the Department of Education to receive tax information or confirmation of non-filing status directly from the IRS. In a very small number of cases, students and families will have to enter their tax data manually, but for most, that data will be automatically transferred into the application. This change makes it easier to complete the FAFSA and reduces the number of questions to be answered.
All “contributors” must provide financial information
A contributor—a new term being introduced on the 2024-25 FAFSA—refers to anyone who is required to provide information on a student's form (such as a parent/stepparent or spouse). A student's or parent's answers on the FAFSA will determine which contributors (if any) will be required to provide information.
Contributors will receive an email informing them that they've been identified as such and will need to log in using their own FSA ID (if they don't already have one) to provide the required information on the student's FAFSA.
Being a contributor does not mean they are financially responsible for the student's education costs, but it does mean the contributor must provide information on the FAFSA or the application will be incomplete, and the student will not be eligible for federal student aid.
Who are considered “Contributors?
If your parents are divorced or separated, the contributing parent(s) is the parent (and their spouse, if remarried) who provided the greater portion of your financial support during the 12 months immediately prior to filing the FAFSA. It is not automatically the parent you primarily lived with during the past 12 months.
All Contributors–student, student's spouse (if married), and student's parents(s) (if a dependent student)–must provide consent to have tax data transferred directly from the IRS to the FAFSA. If consent is not provided by all parties, the student will not be eligible for federal financial aid. In previous years, transferring IRS data was optional. It is now required.
The Student Aid Index (SAI) is replacing Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
The need analysis formula to determine financial aid, formerly known as the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), will now be referred to as the Student Aid Index (SAI). Unlike the EFC, the SAI may be a negative number.
Small businesses and family farms are now considered assets
When required, families must now report the value of their small business or family farm. If the family farm includes the principal place of residence, applicants should determine the total net value of all farm assets and subtract the net value of their principal residence to determine the final value of their farm assets.
The number in college will not be used to calculate SAI
The number of family members in college will still be asked on the FAFSA, but it will be excluded from the federal, state, and institutional financial aid calculation.
Expanding Pell Grant eligibility
The adjustments to the new Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation will expand Federal Pell Grant eligibility to more students.
Families making less than 175% and single parents making less than 225% of the federal poverty level will see their students receive a maximum Federal Pell Grant award. Minimum Pell Grants will be guaranteed to students from households below 275%, 325%, 350%, or 400% of the poverty level, depending on household structure. Pell awards between the maximum and minimum amounts will be determined by SAI.
What isn’t changing?
While the FAFSA is receiving an update and the aid eligibility calculation has been revised, there are several aid-related matters that will not change.
- The general types of aid available to students and federal student loan limits will not change.
- The FAFSA will still be required for consideration of federal and state financial aid every year.
- Dependency status questions that determine if your parent(s) must complete the FAFSA will remain the same.
- The FAFSA will still request tax information from the prior-prior year, which means you'll report 2022 income and assets on your 2024-25 application.
- The questions regarding an applicant's gender, race, and ethnicity will have no effect on federal student aid eligibility and are included for statistical purposes and data collection only. In fact, UTM won't even receive this data from the FAFSA.
Timeline
The following timeline provides an overview of upcoming changes due to the FAFSA Simplification Act. Additional dates will be added as we learn more information.
December 2023
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2024-2025 year opens.
Mid-Spring 2024
Estimated Financial Aid Notifications begin going out to undergraduate first-year and transfer students.
If you are admitted to the University and have completed the financial aid process, you will receive an Estimated Financial Aid Notification in the mail.
Returning students will receive an Estimated Financial Aid Notification in their university email after grades post in May.
Prepare for the FAFSA
While the 2024-2025 FAFSA won’t be available until December, you can still prepare by doing the following:
- Create a user ID and password (formerly FSA ID) for StudentAid.gov on the Federal Student Aid websiteand assist contributors, such as your parent(s) or spouse, in creating an FSA ID.
- StudentAid gives you access to the Federal Student Aid’s online system and serves as your electronic signature.
- You can use it to fill out the FAFSA when it’s available, sign your Master Promissory Note (MPN), apply for repayment plans, complete loan counseling, and use the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Help Tool.
- Complete the FAFSA as soon as it opens in December.