WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education is launching the first testing period for its phased rollout of the 2025-26 form to apply for federal financial student aid on Tuesday, with more students set to partake in this beginning testing stage than initially expected.

The department announced in August it would be using a staggered approach to launch the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid — or FAFSA — in order to address any issues that might arise before the form opens up to everyone by Dec. 1. The number of students able to complete the form will gradually increase throughout four separate testing stages, with the first one beginning Oct. 1.

The phased rollout makes the form fully available two months later than usual and comes as the 2024-25 form — which got a makeover after Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act in late 2020 — faced a series of highly publicized hiccups that the department has worked to fix.

Earlier in September, the department announced six community-based organizations chosen to participate in the first testing period: Alabama Possible; Bridge 2 Life, in Florida; College AIM, in Georgia; Education is Freedom, in Texas; the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, in California; and the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria, in Virginia.

“Thanks to the wonderful organizations, we expect closer to 1,000 students in Beta 1 as opposed to the 100 we initially thought,” FAFSA executive adviser Jeremy Singer said on a call with reporters Monday regarding the 2025-26 form.

During this first testing stage, U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal said the department will process students’ FAFSAs, “give students an opportunity to make corrections, if needed, and send the records to colleges and state agencies.”

“Colleges will be able to use these same records when it’s time for them to make financial aid offers,” said Kvaal, who oversees higher education and financial aid, including the Office of Federal Student Aid.

Three more testing periods

The department on Monday also named 78 community-based organizations, governmental entities, high schools, school districts and institutions of higher education to participate in its three subsequent testing periods for the 2025-26 form.

Three of the community-based organizations chosen to take part in the first testing period — Florida’s Bridge 2 Life; Texas’ Education is Freedom; and Virginia’s  Scholarship Fund of Alexandria — will also participate in subsequent testing stages.

To help students and families prepare for the 2025-26 application cycle, the department said this week it’s releasing a revised Federal Student Aid Estimator, updated resources for creating a StudentAid.Gov account, including a “parent wizard,” as well as an updated prototype of the 2025-26 FAFSA.

Last week, the department released a report outlining 10 steps it’s taking to improve the FAFSA application process. Part of those efforts include the department strengthening its leadership team and working to address issues for families without Social Security numbers when completing the form, in addition to vendors adding more than 700 new call center agents.

Even though the season is over for Iowa Hawkeyes legend Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, there is a lot to be excited about moving forward.

Clark and the Fever ended up being swept out of the first round of the WNBA Playoffs by the Connecticut Sun. It was a disappointing end to what had been a magical season for the team.

Despite being bumped out of the postseason, Indiana looks like a team to watch in the near future.

Tamika Catchings, a former superstar with the Fever and one of the all-time greats in the WNBA, did not hold back when talking about Clark. She believes that the former Iowa superstar has legitimate WNBA MVP potential.

“Coming in and the impact that she had on our team, you look at the MVP, and you look at the impact they’ve had on their teams. From the triple-doubles and her play on the floor, she does have to be in the (MVP) conversation. … I do think if Caitlin continues to grow and keep doing what she’s doing in this league, she’ll continue to be in those talks.”

During her rookie season, Clark just continued getting better. By the end of the year, she was dominating opposing defenses like she did with the Hawkeyes.

When everything was said and done, she averaged 19.2 points per game to go along with 8.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals. Clark shot 41.7 percent from the floor and 34.4 percent from the three-point line.

Those numbers show just a glimpse at what Clark could be capable of long-term.

Looking into the future, Indiana will have a chance to add more talent around Clark. If they make the right moves, they could be a championship contender in the very near future.

Hopefully, the Fever can put together a strong offseason. Having a franchise cornerstone like Clark certainly helps build a championship team.

Only time will tell, but Clark has lived up to the hype and her potential is through the roof for the future. Fans should expect to see more success next season and an even better version of Clark after a full offseason of work.