{
  "$schema": "https://govschema.org/spec/v0.2/govschema.schema.json",
  "govschemaVersion": "0.2.0",
  "id": "us/ed/federal-student-aid-fafsa",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "title": "Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA, 2025-26 award year)",
  "description": "Apply for U.S. federal student financial aid (Pell Grant, federal student loans, and work-study) for the 2025-26 award year using the FAFSA form, administered by Federal Student Aid (an office of the U.S. Department of Education). The 2025-26 FAFSA is organised by 'contributor': the student, and — where applicable — the student's spouse, a parent, and a parent's spouse or partner each complete their own section, provide consent and approval to retrieve their federal tax information (FTI) from the IRS via the FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX), and sign. Income figures use the 2023 (prior-prior) tax year. This document describes the 2025-26 edition; a new edition is published each award year (see the edition member). It does not submit the application; the live Federal Student Aid source is always authoritative (see VERIFICATION.md).",
  "status": "draft",
  "jurisdiction": {
    "country": "US",
    "level": "national"
  },
  "authority": {
    "name": "U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid",
    "abbreviation": "FSA",
    "url": "https://studentaid.gov/"
  },
  "process": {
    "type": "application",
    "language": "en-US"
  },
  "edition": {
    "scheme": "award-year",
    "label": "2025-26"
  },
  "source": {
    "url": "https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa",
    "retrievedAt": "2026-06-30",
    "documentRef": "FAFSA 2025-26"
  },
  "verification": {
    "method": "manual-source-review-v1",
    "lastVerifiedAt": "2026-06-30",
    "verifiedBy": "GovSchema Engineering",
    "nextReviewBy": "2026-12-30",
    "notes": "Source-derived reference schema authored from the official Federal Student Aid 'Filling Out the FAFSA Form' guidance and the 2025-2026 Federal Student Aid Handbook, Application and Verification Guide, Chapter 2 (question-by-question layout). It models the inputs the applicant and contributors actually ENTER: identity and contact, eligibility and dependency-determination questions, the colleges/Federal School Codes list, contributor identification, the FTI consent/approval gate, the manually-entered financial items (assets, child support received), and the signatures. It deliberately does NOT model the tax-return values transferred automatically from the IRS via FA-DDX (AGI, taxes paid, etc.), which are not applicant-entered inputs when consent is given; those are summarised in field descriptions. Several FAFSA requirements are conditional (parent fields apply only to dependent students; spouse fields only when married and not filing jointly; manual financial entry only when FA-DDX is unavailable) and v0.2 has no conditional-required mechanism, so they are encoded in field descriptions rather than as constraints (tracked in GSP-0004). This is an edition-axis document (award-year / 2025-26, GSP-0005). Question numbering and labels follow the AVG Chapter 2 structure but were not transcribed box-by-box from the live online form; status remains 'draft'. See VERIFICATION.md."
  },
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "fields": [
    {
      "name": "studentFirstName",
      "label": "Student's first name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. The student's legal first name, exactly as it appears on their Social Security card if they have one.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 1 — Student Identity Information",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 80 }
    },
    {
      "name": "studentMiddleName",
      "label": "Student's middle name (optional)",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. The student's legal middle name, if any.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 1 — Student Identity Information",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 80 }
    },
    {
      "name": "studentLastName",
      "label": "Student's last name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. The student's legal last name, exactly as it appears on their Social Security card if they have one.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 1 — Student Identity Information",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 80 }
    },
    {
      "name": "studentDateOfBirth",
      "label": "Student's date of birth",
      "type": "date",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. The student's date of birth. Age (as of the application) is one of the factors that determines whether the student is a dependent or independent applicant.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 1 — Student Identity Information"
    },
    {
      "name": "studentSsn",
      "label": "Student's Social Security number",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. The student's nine-digit U.S. Social Security number, e.g. 123-45-6789. Leave blank if the student does not have an SSN; some eligible applicants (for example certain eligible noncitizens) complete the FAFSA without one.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 1 — Student Identity Information",
      "validation": { "pattern": "^[0-9]{3}-?[0-9]{2}-?[0-9]{4}$" }
    },
    {
      "name": "studentEmail",
      "label": "Student's email address",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. The student's personal email address. Used to create or match the student's StudentAid.gov account (FSA ID) and to receive FAFSA notifications.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 2 — Student Contact Information",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 254 }
    },
    {
      "name": "studentMobilePhone",
      "label": "Student's mobile phone number (optional)",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. The student's mobile phone number.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 2 — Student Contact Information",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 32 }
    },
    {
      "name": "addressLine1",
      "label": "Permanent mailing address (number and street)",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. The student's permanent home mailing address.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 2 — Student Contact Information",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 120 }
    },
    {
      "name": "addressLine2",
      "label": "Apartment, suite, or unit (optional)",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 2 — Student Contact Information",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 120 }
    },
    {
      "name": "addressCity",
      "label": "City",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 2 — Student Contact Information",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 80 }
    },
    {
      "name": "addressState",
      "label": "State",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Two-letter USPS state or territory abbreviation (e.g. CA, NY, TX). Leave blank for a foreign address; record the country and province in the address lines.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 2 — Student Contact Information",
      "validation": { "pattern": "^[A-Z]{2}$" }
    },
    {
      "name": "addressPostalCode",
      "label": "ZIP code",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "U.S. ZIP code in 5-digit or ZIP+4 format (e.g. 90210 or 90210-1234). Leave blank for a foreign address.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 2 — Student Contact Information",
      "validation": { "pattern": "^[0-9]{5}(-[0-9]{4})?$" }
    },
    {
      "name": "addressCountry",
      "label": "Country (if outside the United States)",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Country of the permanent mailing address when it is outside the United States. Leave blank for a U.S. address.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 2 — Student Contact Information",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 60 }
    },
    {
      "name": "studentMaritalStatus",
      "label": "Student's marital status",
      "type": "enum",
      "required": true,
      "description": "The student's marital status as of the date the FAFSA is signed. If 'married' (and not filing 2023 taxes jointly with the current spouse), the spouse is a contributor and must provide consent and a signature.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 3 — Student Current Marital Status",
      "validation": {
        "enum": ["single", "married", "separated", "divorced", "widowed"]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "studentCitizenshipStatus",
      "label": "Student's citizenship status",
      "type": "enum",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Whether the student is a U.S. citizen, an eligible noncitizen (e.g. a permanent resident with a Permanent Resident Card), or neither. Only U.S. citizens and eligible noncitizens can receive federal student aid.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 13 — Student Citizenship",
      "validation": {
        "enum": ["us-citizen", "eligible-noncitizen", "neither"]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "studentAlienRegistrationNumber",
      "label": "Alien Registration Number (A-Number)",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. The student's USCIS Alien Registration Number (A-Number), required only when citizenship status is 'eligible-noncitizen'.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 13 — Student Citizenship",
      "validation": { "pattern": "^A?[0-9]{7,9}$" }
    },
    {
      "name": "studentStateOfLegalResidence",
      "label": "Student's state of legal residence",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Two-letter USPS abbreviation of the U.S. state or territory the student legally resides in. This determines which state's poverty guideline is applied and which state grant agency receives the application.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 14 — Student State of Legal Residence",
      "validation": { "pattern": "^[A-Z]{2}$" }
    },
    {
      "name": "isGraduateOrProfessionalStudent",
      "label": "Will the student be working on a master's or doctoral program?",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Check (true) if, during the 2025-26 award year, the student will be enrolled in a master's, doctoral, or other graduate/professional program. Graduate/professional students are automatically independent and do not provide parent information.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 4 — Student College or Career School Plans"
    },
    {
      "name": "isActiveDutyOrVeteran",
      "label": "Is the student on active duty in the U.S. armed forces (other than training), or a veteran?",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Check (true) if the student is currently serving on active duty in the U.S. armed forces for purposes other than training, or is a veteran of the U.S. armed forces. Either makes the student an independent applicant.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 5 — Student Personal Circumstances"
    },
    {
      "name": "hasDependentsOtherThanSpouse",
      "label": "Does the student have children or other dependents who receive more than half their support from the student?",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Check (true) if the student has children, or other people (excluding a spouse), who live with the student and receive more than half of their support from the student now and through 30 June 2026. This makes the student an independent applicant.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 5 — Student Personal Circumstances"
    },
    {
      "name": "isOrphanWardOrFosterCare",
      "label": "At any time since age 13, was the student an orphan, in foster care, or a ward of the court?",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Check (true) if, at any time since the student turned 13, both parents were deceased, or the student was in foster care, or was a dependent/ward of the court. This makes the student an independent applicant.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 5 — Student Personal Circumstances"
    },
    {
      "name": "isEmancipatedOrInLegalGuardianship",
      "label": "Is the student an emancipated minor or in a legal guardianship (as determined by a court)?",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Check (true) if a court in the student's state of legal residence has declared the student an emancipated minor or placed the student in a legal guardianship. This makes the student an independent applicant.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 5 — Student Personal Circumstances"
    },
    {
      "name": "isUnaccompaniedHomelessYouth",
      "label": "Is the student an unaccompanied youth who is homeless or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless?",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Check (true) if, since 1 July 2024, the student was an unaccompanied youth who was homeless, or was self-supporting and at risk of being homeless. This makes the student an independent applicant.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 6 — Homelessness Status"
    },
    {
      "name": "parentFirstName",
      "label": "Parent's first name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. Required for dependent students only. The first name of the contributor parent the student invites to complete the parent section. The invited parent provides their own consent, federal tax information, and signature.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 30 — Parent Identity Information",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 80 }
    },
    {
      "name": "parentLastName",
      "label": "Parent's last name",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. Required for dependent students only. The last name of the contributor parent.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 30 — Parent Identity Information",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 80 }
    },
    {
      "name": "parentSsn",
      "label": "Parent's Social Security number",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. The contributor parent's nine-digit U.S. Social Security number, e.g. 123-45-6789. Leave blank if the parent does not have an SSN; a parent without an SSN can still be invited and create a StudentAid.gov account.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 30 — Parent Identity Information",
      "validation": { "pattern": "^[0-9]{3}-?[0-9]{2}-?[0-9]{4}$" }
    },
    {
      "name": "parentDateOfBirth",
      "label": "Parent's date of birth",
      "type": "date",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. Required for dependent students only. The contributor parent's date of birth, used to match or create their StudentAid.gov account.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 30 — Parent Identity Information"
    },
    {
      "name": "parentEmail",
      "label": "Parent's email address",
      "type": "string",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. Required for dependent students only. The contributor parent's email address; FSA uses it to invite the parent to complete and sign their section of this FAFSA.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 31 — Parent Contact Information",
      "validation": { "maxLength": 254 }
    },
    {
      "name": "familySize",
      "label": "Family size",
      "type": "integer",
      "required": false,
      "description": "The number of people in the family. For 2025-26 this is initially derived from the federal tax information (number of tax exemptions/dependents); the applicant confirms it or reports a different number if the household has changed.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 9 / Question 34 — Family Size",
      "validation": { "minimum": 1 }
    },
    {
      "name": "numberInCollege",
      "label": "Number in college",
      "type": "integer",
      "required": false,
      "description": "The number of people in the family size who will be enrolled in college during 2025-26. Reported for context; it no longer divides the Student Aid Index but may be used in a school's professional-judgment review.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 10 / Question 35 — Number in College",
      "validation": { "minimum": 0 }
    },
    {
      "name": "receivedMeansTestedBenefits",
      "label": "Did anyone in the family receive certain federal benefits in 2023 or 2024?",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Check (true) if the student, or anyone in the family size, received a means-tested federal benefit during 2023 or 2024 — for example the Earned Income Tax Credit, federal housing assistance, SNAP, TANF/free or reduced-price lunch, SSI, Medicaid, WIC, or a Marketplace premium tax credit. May affect Pell Grant eligibility.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 18 / Question 36 — Federal Benefits Received"
    },
    {
      "name": "studentTaxFilingStatus2023",
      "label": "Did the student file a 2023 IRS tax return?",
      "type": "enum",
      "required": true,
      "description": "Whether the student filed a 2023 U.S. federal income tax return (IRS Form 1040 / 1040-NR), did not file, or filed a foreign or U.S. territory return. When the student consents to FA-DDX and filed a U.S. return, the return values are transferred automatically from the IRS and are not entered here.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 19 — Student Tax Filing Status",
      "validation": {
        "enum": ["filed-us-return", "did-not-file", "filed-foreign-or-territory-return"]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "annualChildSupportReceived",
      "label": "Annual child support received",
      "type": "number",
      "required": false,
      "description": "Total annual child support received in the last calendar year for all children in the family size, in U.S. dollars. Manually entered. Enter 0 if none.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 21 — Annual Child Support Received",
      "validation": { "minimum": 0 }
    },
    {
      "name": "assetsCashSavingsChecking",
      "label": "Total of cash, savings, and checking accounts",
      "type": "number",
      "required": false,
      "description": "The current total balance of cash and of savings and checking accounts, in U.S. dollars. Always manually entered (not transferred from the IRS). Enter 0 if none.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 22 / Question 39 — Assets",
      "validation": { "minimum": 0 }
    },
    {
      "name": "assetsInvestmentsNetWorth",
      "label": "Net worth of investments",
      "type": "number",
      "required": false,
      "description": "The net worth (current value minus debt owed against them) of investments, in U.S. dollars — including real estate that is not the primary residence, and qualified education savings accounts. Excludes the home the family lives in and retirement accounts. Manually entered. Enter 0 if none.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 22 / Question 39 — Assets",
      "validation": { "minimum": 0 }
    },
    {
      "name": "assetsBusinessFarmNetWorth",
      "label": "Net worth of businesses and investment farms",
      "type": "number",
      "required": false,
      "description": "The net worth (current value minus debt) of businesses and investment farms, in U.S. dollars. Under the FAFSA Simplification Act all business and farm net worth is now reported (the small-business and family-farm exclusions were removed). Manually entered. Enter 0 if none.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 22 / Question 39 — Assets",
      "validation": { "minimum": 0 }
    },
    {
      "name": "federalSchoolCodes",
      "label": "Colleges to receive your FAFSA information (Federal School Codes)",
      "type": "string",
      "required": true,
      "description": "One or more colleges or career schools the FAFSA information should be sent to, identified by Federal School Code (a six-character code, e.g. 001234 or B12345) or by complete school name and address. Up to 20 schools may be listed on the online form (10 on the paper form). Provide codes as a comma-separated list.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 23 — Colleges",
      "validation": { "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 300 }
    },
    {
      "name": "consentApprovalToRetrieveFederalTaxInfo",
      "label": "Consent and approval to retrieve federal tax information",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": true,
      "description": "The student must consent and approve (true) the IRS disclosure of their federal tax information to FSA via the FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange. Each contributor (spouse, parent, parent's spouse/partner) must separately provide this consent in their own section. Without consent from every contributor, the student is not eligible for any federal (Title IV) student aid, even if the family did not or was not required to file taxes.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 24 / Question 40 — Consent, Approval, and Signature"
    },
    {
      "name": "studentSignatureFsaId",
      "label": "Student signature (sign with FSA ID)",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": true,
      "description": "The student signs the FAFSA (true) by certifying the Statement of Educational Purpose and signing online with their StudentAid.gov account (FSA ID), or with a physical signature on the paper form. Each contributor also signs their own section. The signature certifies the information is correct and that federal aid will be used only for educational purposes.",
      "sourceRef": "Question 24 — Student Consent, Approval, and Signature"
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "id": "student_identity",
      "title": "Student identity and contact information",
      "fields": [
        "studentFirstName",
        "studentMiddleName",
        "studentLastName",
        "studentDateOfBirth",
        "studentSsn",
        "studentEmail",
        "studentMobilePhone",
        "addressLine1",
        "addressLine2",
        "addressCity",
        "addressState",
        "addressPostalCode",
        "addressCountry"
      ],
      "next": "student_eligibility"
    },
    {
      "id": "student_eligibility",
      "title": "Marital status, residence, and citizenship",
      "fields": [
        "studentMaritalStatus",
        "studentCitizenshipStatus",
        "studentAlienRegistrationNumber",
        "studentStateOfLegalResidence"
      ],
      "next": "dependency_status"
    },
    {
      "id": "dependency_status",
      "title": "Dependency status questions",
      "fields": [
        "isGraduateOrProfessionalStudent",
        "isActiveDutyOrVeteran",
        "hasDependentsOtherThanSpouse",
        "isOrphanWardOrFosterCare",
        "isEmancipatedOrInLegalGuardianship",
        "isUnaccompaniedHomelessYouth"
      ],
      "next": "contributors"
    },
    {
      "id": "contributors",
      "title": "Parent contributor (dependent students)",
      "fields": [
        "parentFirstName",
        "parentLastName",
        "parentSsn",
        "parentDateOfBirth",
        "parentEmail"
      ],
      "next": "financials"
    },
    {
      "id": "financials",
      "title": "Family size, benefits, and finances",
      "fields": [
        "familySize",
        "numberInCollege",
        "receivedMeansTestedBenefits",
        "studentTaxFilingStatus2023",
        "annualChildSupportReceived",
        "assetsCashSavingsChecking",
        "assetsInvestmentsNetWorth",
        "assetsBusinessFarmNetWorth"
      ],
      "next": "colleges"
    },
    {
      "id": "colleges",
      "title": "Colleges to receive your FAFSA",
      "fields": [
        "federalSchoolCodes"
      ],
      "next": "consent_and_signature"
    },
    {
      "id": "consent_and_signature",
      "title": "Consent, approval, and signature",
      "fields": [
        "consentApprovalToRetrieveFederalTaxInfo",
        "studentSignatureFsaId"
      ]
    }
  ]
}