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Short answer: yes. The FAFSA covers one academic year, and one of the most common ways students lose thousands in aid is forgetting to re-file. Here's how annual renewal works — and how to make it quick.
Yes — you file the FAFSA every single year
The FAFSA covers one academic year. To keep your grants, work-study, and federal loans, you (and your parents, if dependent) must file a new FAFSA for each year you're in college. The most common way students lose aid is simply forgetting to re-file.
The Renewal FAFSA is faster
After your first year, you file a "Renewal FAFSA" that pre-fills your unchanging information (name, school history, some demographics). You confirm or update everything and pull in the new tax year. It usually takes far less time than the first one.
The income year rolls forward
Each year's FAFSA uses tax data from two years prior (the "prior-prior year"). If your family's income changed, the new FAFSA reflects a different year — which can change your aid up or down, so never assume last year's package repeats.
Deadlines reset every year
State and school priority deadlines come around again annually, and some of the best aid is first-come. File as soon as the new FAFSA opens — for most years that's the fall before the school year.
1. Mark the new FAFSA opening on your calendar
Set a reminder for when the next year's FAFSA opens. Filing early protects your spot for limited, first-come aid like some state grants and work-study.
2. Log in with the same FSA ID
Use the same StudentAid.gov account (FSA ID) you created the first time. Don't create a duplicate — it causes matching problems. Parents reuse their own FSA ID too.
3. Update what changed
Income, family size, number in college, your school list, and dependency answers can all change year to year. Review every section — pre-filled does not mean still-correct.
4. Re-check your school's priority deadline
In Arizona, UA, ASU, and NAU each set their own FAFSA priority date for the best institutional aid. Confirm this year's date and beat it.
The "I filed once" trap
Aid does not roll over automatically. Every fall, a wave of returning students misses the renewal deadline and watches their grants and work-study vanish for the next year. Put the renewal date in your calendar the day you read this.
Renewing the FAFSA keeps federal aid flowing, but you also have to keep meeting your school's Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standards — minimum GPA and pace. Renewal + SAP together are what protect your money year over year.
Stay on top of it: see the Arizona FAFSA guide, the financial aid timeline, and how to keep your aid (SAP).