The start of the 2025-26 college academic year is 11 months away, but delays in the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) system could again cause problems for students and parents.

The www.studentaid.gov website, which allows students to access FAFSA applications and information, is usually open to students in October.

Last year access was delayed until Dec. 30 for a relaunch of the site, which then crashed. The relaunch was plagued with technical glitches and limited access, which caused even more delays.

The process for the 2025-26 school year is scheduled to launch in early December, but local institutions are prepared after what they learned from last year.

Nicole Boelk, director of financial and scholarships at Oakland University, said they have been updating students on what lies ahead.

“We have communicated to our returning students that FAFSA should be available on December 1, but to continue to watch their communications from us and telling prospective students the same,” said Boelk.

Last year, students and parents had to scramble to get information from local universities, colleges and community colleges on how much financial aid schools could offer before deciding where to go this fall.

“At least a half dozen requirements for last year’s (FAFSA system) launch haven’t been cured, so there is still great concern that there could be a another debacle this year, maybe not as bad as last year though,” said Jack Wallace, director of governmental and lender relations at Yrefy, in Phoenix. “But there is still a lot of concern for the rollout for the coming year.”

Oakland Community College worked with community members and community organizations to do a lot of outreach to make sure students knew how to complete the FAFSA application.

“It was a complete shift in how we approached it, but we worked hard to accommodate every student who needed it,” said Kimberly Hurns, vice chancellor for student services.

She is leery of a successful rollout in six weeks.

“I am very disappointed that we can’t get back to our October date and we do not even know if the December date is good and I think most of us think it is probably not,” Hurns said.

OU’s Boelk said software vendors have resources already in place to help process applications and FAFSA specification guides are available for everyone to cut down on delays.

She explained how the process is currently working to have a smooth launch in December.

“Right now they are doing Phase 1 testing on a very small scale. Phase II testing will be thousands of students across multiple schools in the next few weeks, and Phase III will be tens of thousands of students for the full lunch on December 1,” said Boelk. “So we are ahead of where we were last year.”

She said OU is planning to have financial aid offers out by the end of January or beginning of February.”

Even with all the system crashes and delays at the federal level, Oakland University send aid to students who needed it.

“As dire as things seemed last year, we were successful in getting our financial aid disbursements to students, in order for them to pay their fall bills, on time,” said Boelk. “Our FAFSA completion rate was up over the prior year.”

OCC’s Hurns pointed out delays at the federal level lead to problems at the state level for FAFSA requirements in programs such as the Michigan Tuition Incentive Program, Michigan ReConnect and the Fostering Futures Scholarship.

She said financial aid staff at OCC is ready for the possible delays, but also sees the long-term effects of another cycle of problems with the FAFSA system.

“I think the worry is that students and families are getting frustrated and just choosing not to go to college and that is frustrating when there is so much work being done at the state level for post-secondary attainment,” said Hurns. “We were already, as a sector, dealing with people not coming to college, so things are now compounded by this financial aid issue.”