FAFSA Deadlines: Federal, State | Financial Aid Scholarship

By Steve Levine · Updated November 8, 2026

The FAFSA has three deadlines, not one. The federal deadline is the last day the Department will accept the form for an award year. State deadlines decide state grant money, and college deadlines decide the college’s own aid. The federal date is the latest of the three by many months, so the FAFSA deadline that matters most is usually the earliest one on your list.

The 2027-28 FAFSA, for school starting in fall 2027, opened on September 23, 2026, according to CNBC’s report on the launch. You can file it now.

The federal FAFSA deadline

The federal deadline is set each year in a Federal Register notice. For the current 2026-27 award year, the notice published in June 2026 states that “the deadline date for the receipt of a FAFSA form by the Department’s FAFSA Processing System (FPS) is June 30, 2027, regardless of the method that the applicant uses to submit.” That language is in the 2026-2027 Award Year Deadline Dates notice.

The federal deadline tracks the end of the award year, June 30. The 2027-28 award year runs from July 1, 2027 to June 30, 2028. The Department usually publishes that year’s deadline notice in the summer before the year starts, so check the Federal Register for the official 2027-28 date. Electronic submissions are due by 11:59 p.m. Central time on the federal deadline date, according to the 2027-28 FAFSA Specifications Guide.

2026-27 federal date	What it covers
June 30, 2027	Last day a 2026-27 FAFSA can be received by the processing system
September 11, 2027	Last day for corrections, address or school changes, or a duplicate FAFSA Submission Summary
Last day of enrollment or September 18, 2027, whichever is earlier	Your school must have your processed FAFSA record by then
120 days after last day of enrollment, or September 18, 2027, whichever is earlier	Verification documents due to the school, for most verification groups

Source for every row: the Federal Register deadline notice. The last two rows matter for students who file late in the year. Your school has to receive your processed record while you are still enrolled, so filing on June 30 after the spring term ends can be too late for that year.

State FAFSA deadlines

Most states use the FAFSA to award their own grants, and many states run out of money. In its 2027-28 form language, the Department added a sentence clarifying that “state or college aid may be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.” The change appears in the “Apply by the Deadlines” and “2027-28 FAFSA Deadlines” sections, according to the 2027-28 Specifications Guide.

Oregon shows how that works in practice. The Oregon Opportunity Grant is awarded based on Student Aid Index and filing date, and “awards are first-come, first-served until funds are depleted.” For 2026-27, the cutoff came on May 15, 2026, according to the Oregon Office of Student Access and Completion. A student who filed in June that year would have missed Oregon’s grant entirely, even though the federal deadline was more than a year away.

State deadlines come in three types:

A fixed date. The grant has a hard cutoff, often in late winter or spring.
A priority date. Early filers are considered first, and later filers may get money only if funds remain.
“As soon as possible.” The state awards until money runs out, which means there is no safe date to wait for.

Your state’s higher-education agency publishes the current year’s rule. Our guide to state grants for college explains how to find your agency and what other forms some states require.

College FAFSA deadlines

Colleges set their own dates for their own grants and scholarships, and these are often the earliest of all. Kansas State University, for example, set a priority date of December 1 for the 2027-28 FAFSA. Filing by then lets its aid office review students “for the widest range of aid, including federal, state, and university scholarships, grants, work-study, and loans,” according to K-State’s October 2026 announcement. The college said students can still file after that date, but the pool of available aid may be smaller.

Private colleges that use the CSS Profile often set the same deadline for both forms. Each college’s financial aid page lists its date. Look for “priority deadline” or “financial aid deadline,” which is often separate from the admission deadline.

A deadline worksheet for 2027-28 applicants

Build a list for every school you are considering. Fill in each date from the school’s or the state’s own site, then file by the earliest one.

Deadline	Where to find it	Typical timing
Each college’s priority aid deadline	The college’s financial aid page	Often late fall to early spring
CSS Profile deadline, if required	The college’s financial aid page	Often matches the college’s FAFSA date
Your state grant deadline	Your state higher-education agency	Fixed date, priority date, or until funds run out
Federal deadline	Federal Register deadline notice	June 30 at the end of the award year

Why filing early helps even without a deadline

Processing takes days, and errors take longer. The handbook says you get a link to your FAFSA Submission Summary within one to three days after the form is processed, according to the Application and Verification Guide. A missing contributor signature or consent can add weeks.
Verification takes time. If your school selects you, it cannot pay aid until it has your documents.
Your award letter arrives sooner. Earlier offers give you more time to compare award letters before admission deposit deadlines.
Tax data is already available. The 2027-28 form uses 2025 tax information, according to the Specifications Guide, so you do not need to wait for 2026 taxes.

Deadlines for current college students

You need a new FAFSA every year. If you are in college now on a 2026-27 FAFSA, file the 2027-28 form for next year. State and college deadlines apply to returning students too, and some state grants require you to reapply every year to keep the award. A Pell Grant you get this year does not carry over automatically. See our Pell Grant eligibility guide for the rules.

Scholarship sponsors run on their own calendars as well. Our free scholarship finder shows each award’s deadline next to its eligibility rules.

If you missed a deadline

File anyway. Missing a state or college priority date usually means a smaller pool of money, not none, and federal aid such as the Pell Grant and Direct Loans stays available until the federal deadline. Then call the college’s financial aid office and ask what is still open to you. Some colleges hold back funds for late filers or special circumstances. If your family’s finances have changed, our guide to the financial aid appeal process explains how to ask for a review.

If you have not filed yet, start with our step-by-step guide to filling out the FAFSA. For the 2026-27 award year, the last day to correct a FAFSA already on file is September 11, 2027.

Sources

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