Federal Student Aid has released volumes of the 2025-26 FAFSA Specifications Guide. The volumes contained in this guide contain FAFSA Processing System (FPS) technical information for the 2025-26 award year and are only available as PDF documents at this time.
Update on October 8, 2024: FSA has published Volume 1 – Summary of Changes. This volume provides an overview of major processing system changes related to the FAFSA processing cycle. Included are descriptions of enhancements to the online and PDF FAFSA forms, and updates to the FAFSA Partner Portal and the FAFSA Processing System (FPS).
The following volumes remain unchanged:
- Introduction
- Volume 4A – Record Layouts
- Volume 4B – Processing Codes
- Volume 5 – Edits and Rejects
- Volume 7 – Comment Codes
- Volume 9 – Testing and Web Demo
The following volumes have yet to be published:
- Volume 2 – FPS Schedule and Getting Help
- Volume 3 – Electronic Data Exchange and FAFSA Processing
- Volume 6 – ISIR Guide
- Volume 8 – Agency Matches
SOURCE: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide (October 2024 Update #2)