Should You Commit To A College Before The FAFSA Opens?

College students and their families should fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for each year of higher education, and there are almost no exceptions to this rule.

Not only is the FAFSA the key to unlocking all types of federal financial aid for college, but it’s the only way to access federal student loans with fixed interest rates and protections like deferment and forbearance.

Unfortunately, the FAFSA is opening late again this year after a long-overdue (and disastrous) start last year. The form will be open for the 2025-26 academic year in December of 2024, a few months later than the traditional October opening date.

However, the U.S. Department of Education already seems to anticipate problems with this year’s form. On its website, the department says it’s “conducting multiple beta tests to identify and resolve system errors that could derail the FAFSA process for students, contributors, and institutions of higher education.” It also says it will make the 2025-26 FAFSA available to limited groups over time so they can provide “feedback to improve the user experience.”

However, college application season is already in full swing, with students facing early decision deadlines soon – well before the FAFSA even launches. This begs the question: should students commit to a college without knowing their financial aid picture?

Should Students Commit To College Before The FAFSA Launches?

Most students are already knee deep in the process of selecting a college. There are even early decision (ED) and early action (EA) students who are accepted to top tier colleges and universities around this time of year, and they may be wondering how to move forward — and if they should — before they are able to fill out the FAFSA and get an idea of the financial aid they can qualify for.

Not surprisingly, there are quite a few downsides that come with accepting a college offer letter before having a chance to fill out the FAFSA.

According to Kevin Ladd of Scholarships.com, one of the pitfalls comes into play for students who commit to a school via early decision (ED). When students commit to early decision, they must withdraw applications they have submitted to other schools if accepted.

This can be a problem for those who haven’t filled out the FAFSA yet.

“Even if your household income is fairly high and you think you aren’t likely to get a lot of need-based financial aid, you are unable to compare financial aid letters from other colleges as regular decision applicants would,” says Ladd. “Since most of your financial aid will be coming from the college you attend, this could mean spending a lot more and taking out more student loan dollars you will have to repay later.”

Fortunately, the same requirement doesn’t apply to early action (EA) students. According to CollegeBoard, these students receive an early response to their college application but don’t have to commit to a school until the typical reply date of May 1st.

Aside from that, wealth planner Jack Wang of Innovative Advisory Group says families can’t really know how much college will cost without filling out the FAFSA and receiving information about available aid, including their Student Aid Index (SAI). Without knowing what their cost will be out-of-pocket, families cannot possibly determine if it’s something they can willingly pay for.

Wang says students may know about merit scholarships with an acceptance letter, but there can be other aid that only comes with the financial aid letter. Examples of aid that could apply includes federal or state grants, need-based aid from the college itself, work-study opportunities and even student loans. All of these can help students secure savings on the total costs of earning a college degree.

Wang adds that many colleges even have endowed scholarships (scholarships typically established by donors/wealthy alumni) that require the FAFSA as part of their granting criteria. This is yet another reason to wait until the FAFSA process is complete before committing to a school.

Why You Shouldn’t Wait For The FAFSA

While the U.S Department of Education claims the FAFSA for the 2025-26 academic year will open on December 1, 2024, some experts are skeptical the form will be ready to go by then. And if this year’s financial aid season goes anything like last year’s, it could be months after that before FAFSA applications are processed and students have specific financial aid information in their hands.

Ken Woods, who serves as VP of strategic enrollment management at Whittier College, adds that every student has a different journey, and there are many factors that go into waiting to commit. For example, many colleges will offer conditional financial aid packages, and some base financial aid awards on information submitted in the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA. Others have their own SAI calculators that give them a fairly accurate estimate of the financial aid a student will receive.

Higher education consultant Laurie Kopp Weingarten of One-Stop College Counseling also points out that, in light of all the FAFSA turmoil the last few years, some colleges have already said they will provide an estimate of what the college expenses would be and the outlay required by families. In this case, they are promising the aid a student receives won’t be any less than the college estimate infers. If a student is considering a school that makes this type of promise, they may feel comfortable enough to commit before they have the opportunity to fill out the FAFSA.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, it’s up to individual students and their families when it comes to waiting to fill out the FAFSA or moving forward with a school decision first. There’s really no right or wrong answer to this question, although there are consequences that can come into play.

The biggest downside of moving forward with a school comes into play if college winds up costing more than you realize or want to pay. Also, committing to a school before receiving a financial aid award letter means you don’t have the chance to compare college costs across several institutions you’re interested in.

This is ultimately why most experts recommend holding off until you fill out the FAFSA if you possibly can.

“Unless the student applied under a binding early decision plan, there isn’t usually a good reason to commit without seeing all the options,” says Weingarten.