Despite an onslaught of technical issues last year, the U.S. Department of Education opened up the 2025-2026 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for a trial period on Oct. 1, ensuring that students have a smoother experience, College Counselor Kalene Heaton said.
Since the trial period began on Oct. 1, the Department of Education has focused on addressing issues and improving the user experience in the application. The form was released on Nov. 19, and Illinois seniors attending public high school must complete the FAFSA, or an alternative, for ineligible students as a prerequisite for a high school diploma, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. Many of the aid programs are need-based, dictated by student and parental income information, Heaton explained.
“[You are] not going to know whether or not you qualify for that need-based aid unless you complete the FAFSA,” Heaton said. “If you want to borrow any type of direct loan from the [U.S.] Department of [Education], you have to have a FAFSA on file.”
While many families were able to navigate the trial 2024-2025 FAFSA with few issues, people with unique family situations, such as students in mixed-status families, where parents may not have had a Social Security number faced many challenges when trying to complete the form, Heaton explained. However, for the most part issues still revolved around technology, where students would get stuck on a repeating screen, Heaton added.
“The [U.S.] Department of Education learned from their past mistakes, and this year they released a beta version of the FAFSA,” Heaton said. “They opened it up for a trial period for select groups to get in there and start working on it, and then they were troubleshooting the glitches for those groups.
The hope is that the issues will be ironed out to make filling out the FAFSA as smooth as possible as it is a graduation requirement, Heaton added. School counselors check in regularly with students to ensure that requirements are met, along with other support for the FAFSA running through the Student Services Department and College and Career Center, Principal Dr. Barbara Georges said.
“[These departments] are equipped to support all students, whether or not their plans after high school include college admission or not,” Georges said.
The College and Career Center offers various support services, such as post-secondary counseling appointments, programs, and events for students navigating financial aid or needing guidance beyond high school, Heaton explained.
“Our primary role in the College and Career Center is to help students plan their next steps, whatever they may be, so that they feel prepared to embark on life after high school,” Heaton said.
One big event the College and Career Center hosted was a FAFSA workshop on Dec. 17, where counselors and representatives from the Illinois financial aid agency answered any questions students had as they filled out the form, Heaton explained. Additionally, South hosted a webinar on Nov. 18 to help families learn more about applying for financial aid, Heaton said.
From January through March, the College and Career Center will also offer FAFSA Fridays, where a representative from Illinois Financial Aid agency will come in for individual appointments with students and families, Heaton explained.
While the FAFSA is dedicated to helping students planning to attend a traditional university, it is also a critical component of helping students pay for less traditional post-secondary schooling or certifications, Heaton said. South students are counseled based on their individual aspirations, not according to any set standard that the school determines, Georges added.
“While many students in South do pursue post-secondary aspirations at the collegiate level, many of our students do not, and that is appropriate and part of the very diverse mosaic that makes up South,” Georges said.
