FAFSA FAQ
As of Monday.
2026-27 FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) FAQ
The 2026-27 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will open by October 1. Students and their contributors can complete the form by visiting www.studentaid.gov. If you want to apply before October 1 during the open beta testing period, the 2026–27 FAFSA form is available now to all students and their contributors. Your FAFSA form can be submitted during the beta test and you won’t need to resubmit your FAFSA form for the 2026–27 academic year.
If you are applying for aid to cover the spring 2026 spring semester or summer classes through June 30, you will need to complete the 2025–26 FAFSA form which is available now for the award year that runs from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026. The 2026–27 FAFSA form will be available on or before Oct. 1, 2025, for the award year that runs from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.
If you will be completing the FAFSA for the first time for 2026-27, we highly encourage you and your parent/guardian to create your FSA Account(s) as soon as possible. Visit StudentAid.gov for instructions and resources (available in English and Spanish).
In order for all colleges and universities—including Longwood—to determine your eligibility for financial aid, state financial aid, federal loans, and federal work study, the Department of Education must first send us information from your filed FAFSA application. When completing the application, be sure to include Longwood’s school code, 003719, so that we will receive your information.
If you experience any issues accessing the FAFSA website or logging into your FAFSA account, please reach out to our Financial Aid staff directly at finaid@longwood.edu.
What is the timeline for filing?
It is important that you file your FAFSA by March 1 (Longwood’s priority filing date) to ensure full consideration for grant funding. You may file the FAFSA after March 1; however, grant funds are limited after March 1.
Please note that after the initial login, students and their contributors must complete the FAFSA within 45 days. Any form left incomplete after 45 days will be deleted and will need to be restarted.
Will I know if Longwood has been sent my FAFSA information?
There are two ways you can find out if your FAFSA information has been sent to us.
First, you should get an email from the Department of Education when your FAFSA information begins to be sent to universities. (Note that not all universities you choose to send your information to may receive it on the same day.)
Second, you can look in the Department of Education’s FAFSA portal. When you can view your FAFSA Submission Summary, it has been processed by DOE and will become available to institutions.
How will I know when Longwood has processed my FAFSA information?
New Students: You can log into your Longwood Admissions portal. If the “Submit the FAFSA" box on the Next Steps Checklist is checked, we have processed your FAFSA information and are preparing to share it with you. Because we are working on a compressed timeline, it may take some time to process your FAFSA information. We know you’re eager to have all the information to make a decision about higher education, and we are eager to welcome you to Longwood! We appreciate your patience as we process this information as quickly and as accurately as possible.
Current Students: To view or accept your financial aid offer and check for any outstanding requirements, you’ll need to log into myLongwood, select the Financial Aid section and choose the correct aid year. The Home tab will show which documents have been received and which ones are still needed to complete your financial aid file. To review and accept your offer, go to the Offer tab.
How will I receive my financial aid offer?
New Students: You will receive an email with a personalized link. Just click the link to open a PDF of your financial aid offer which you may download or print.
Current Students: You will receive an email when your offer is available in myLongwood.
I got the email from the Department of Education that my FAFSA information has been sent to Longwood, but the box in my Admissions Portal isn’t checked.
As soon as we begin to receive FAFSA information from the Department of Education, we’ll begin processing. We expect a heavy influx of data in March, however, so it may take some time to process everyone’s information.
How long will it take Longwood to process my FAFSA information and share my Financial Aid offer with me?
We will share financial aid offers with students and families as soon as we possibly can. That timeline depends solely on how quickly the Department of Education can get us a substantial portion of the FAFSA information we need.
It's understandable that such a major decision can cause students and family members to become anxious, so we are here to help. You can call our financial aid office at (434) 395-2077 or email finaid@longwood.edu, and we will talk you through the process and answer any questions you might have.
We know you’re eager to have all the information to make a decision about higher education, and we are eager to welcome you to Longwood! We appreciate your patience as we process this information as quickly and as accurately as possible.