Institutions of higher education and students seeking federal financial aid can finally breathe a sigh of relief. After last year’s widely panned FAFSA debacle, this year’s FAFSA has finally launched. And, according to the agency, it has launched “early.”
The 2025–26 FAFSA was released on November 21, 2024, 10 days earlier than the original goal of December 1. But however grateful students and institutions may be to begin the application process in November rather than December, the “early” launch, although welcomed, is a bit misleading.
You see, on August 7, we, Conversion Media Group wrote, “the U.S. Dept. of Education announced the upcoming FAFSA form will be open to all students by December 1, roughly two months later than its typical release date.
“Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona said of the late rollout, ‘Following a challenging 2024-25 FAFSA cycle, the Department listened carefully to the input of students, families, and higher education institutions, made substantial changes to leadership and operations at Federal Student Aid, and is taking a new approach this year that will significantly improve the FAFSA experience.’[1]
“Of course, we all hope this is the case, but delaying the rollout by two months (hopefully that’s all) does not instill much confidence in either students or institutions.”
With a November launch, is confidence in FAFSA back?
Although FAFSA did launch in November (technically late, not early), prospective students, their families and institutions of higher education are in a much better position this year than they were last. And yes, confidence in the financial aid system may be back, and this is fantastic news for higher ed.
Jill Desjean, senior policy analyst at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administration said of the launch, “We are feeling good that students can go in and can apply for financial aid, which last year they couldn’t.”[2]
It has been noted that this year’s application process may take only 10 to 15 minutes to complete. Compare this to last year’s rollout, where the process was, well, impossible to complete in many instances.
So…
With FAFSA now live, and apparently working fairly smoothly, now is the time for your institution to consider ramping up its new student enrollment initiatives… especially if you operate a primarily online institution, offer an array of online degree programs, or even operate a trade school.
You see, if your school is accredited, and uses FAFSA, federal aid is, as you know, available to your prospective students, even if they only take online courses or are wanting to learn a trade.[3]
Because of this, you should mention financial aid opportunities to your prospects when you have them on the phone. Doing so could lead to a higher enrollment rate. Now, chances are you may already be doing this…
But chances are you may also be looking for more prospects to get on the phone.
This is where Conversion Media Group comes in.
We, Conversion Media Group, physically speak with hundreds, sometimes thousands of prospective college and trade students on the phone, every week. And once they show genuine interest in one of our partner schools or its programs, we transfer those live calls directly into their enrollment departments, as live transfer leads.
This means that if you partner with us, we can do it for you too.
You see, with live transfers, we could potentially increase your new student leads by 50, 100, 1,000 or more.
It all depends on how many new enrollments you’re looking for, or how many phone calls with real new student prospects your enrollment department can actually handle.
On our end it’s a bit more complicated than this, but for you it’s simple.
Call us now at (+1) 800 419 3201, or feel free to contact us HERE, and an enrollment initiative expert will get back with you ASAP.
We’re more than happy to walk you through our process.
And again, rejoice. FAFSA has launched!
[1] FAFSA forms delayed again after last year’s shaky rollout of revamped applications
[2] New FAFSA launches early to cautiously positive reception