The new FAFSA timeline added 14 weeks to the filing cycle. Instead of filing on January 1, students could file as early as October 1. As shown below, about 1.13 million high school seniors took advantage of the earlier and easier form:
We are still about 300,000 behind “Week 14” of last year’s cycle. But “Week 14” used to be in April, so we have plenty of time to catch up. The old cycle was pretty condensed and the new cycle is elongated: the gray line should soon flatten out and the black line will catch (and hopefully surpass) it. We’ll keep monitoring to see when that moment occurs.
Data:
| Week | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
| 2 | 135,387 | 196,736 |
| 3 | 239,605 | 328,607 |
| 4 | 334,837 | 448,958 |
| 5 | 444,951 | 563,560 |
| 6 | 591,914 | 672,694 |
| 7 | 711,858 | 740,843 |
| 8 | 852,752 | 842,620 |
| 9 | 990,403 | 882,778 |
| 10 | 1,198,080 | 976,563 |
| 11 | 1,269,537 | 1,023,711 |
| 12 | 1,332,608 | 1,067,470 |
| 13 | 1,380,565 | 1,099,324 |
| 14 | 1,425,995 | 1,130,204 |