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 Nov. 14, 2025:
FSA has updated Volume 4A, the Excel version of the ISIR record layout, 4B, 5, and 7. For more information, review the Change History Table in each volume and the “Changes” column in the Excel file.
View the latest specification guide here.
2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide
- Introduction: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide – Introduction in PDF Format, 7 Pages, 310KB
- Volume 1 – Summary of Changes: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide Volume 1 – Summary of Changes in PDF Format, 22 Pages, 790KB
- Volume 2 – FPS Schedule and Getting Help: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide Volume 2 – FPS Schedule and Getting Help in PDF Format, 16 Pages, 527KB
- Volume 3 – Electronic Data Exchange and FAFSA Processing: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide Volume 3 – Electronic Data Exchange and FAFSA Processing in PDF Format, 29 Pages, 513KB
- Volume 4A – Record Layouts:
- Volume 4B – Processing Codes: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide Volume 4B – Processing Codes in PDF Format, 65 Pages, 1.09MB
- Volume 5 – Edits and Rejects: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide Volume 5 – Edits and Rejects in PDF Format, 63 Pages, 732KB
- Volume 6 – ISIR Guide: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide Volume 6 – ISIR Guide in PDF Format, 46 Pages, 538KB
- Volume 7 – Comment Codes: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide Volume 7 – Comment Codes in PDF Format, 139 Pages, 1.20MB
- Volume 8 – Agency Matches: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide Volume 8 – Agency Matches in PDF Format, 19 Pages, 725KB
- Volume 9 – Testing and Web Demo System:
SOURCE: 2025–26 FAFSA Specifications Guide (October 2025 Update)