As you may have heard, the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, won’t be available until Dec. 1. The first step in completing the FAFSA is creating a StudentAid.gov account (username and password). If you haven’t already, we encourage 2025 seniors and their parents to create their StudentAid.gov accounts now. It may take up to 3-5 days to confirm your account information, so it’s best to set it up now. Besides, you’ll need your account username and password to access and sign the FAFSA. Here are a few key points to know:
- To create your account, go to StudentAid.gov and click Create an Account.
- The StudentAid.gov account is a username and password combination you’ll use to log in to U.S. Department of Education (ED) online systems.
- The StudentAid.gov account is also used as your legal signature on the FAFSA and any student loan applications and shouldn’t be created or used by anyone other than you.
- You’ll use your account username and password every year to complete the FAFSA and view your financial aid history.
- All contributors to the FAFSA will need an account to complete their portion of the form.
Creating a StudentAid.gov account is easy and there are many resources to help you.
- StudentAid.gov Account Worksheet also available in Spanish – Guides you through the account creation process and provides a place to document the required information for future reference.
- Who Needs a StudentAid.gov Account? – A flowchart to see if one or both parents of a dependent student must create an account before starting the 2025-26 FAFSA.
- Dependency Questionnaire – Lists the questions used to determine your dependency status on the FAFSA. If you answer “Yes” to any one of these questions, you’ll be considered an independent student and will not need to include your parents’ information on the FAFSA.
- How to Create Your StudentAid.gov Account Username and Password PowerPoint – This informative PowerPoint walks you through the process of creating your own StudentAid.gov account username and password.
Create your account now so you can complete your FAFSA in December.