FAFSA
Updating UX & UI for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid’s 2025 - 2026 Rollout
Streamlined the FAFSA user experience, improved the AI tool Aidan, and introduced public experiences to reduce user confusion for the October rollout.
Project Summary
User personas, journey maps, web designs for FAFSA updates, and comps for user experience concepts.
Deliverables
See the full project breakdown below. ⬇️
Impact
My proposed FAFSA solutions were rated an average of 4.15 out of 5 by users.
Navigation Hub
My Role
Researcher and Designer
Google Scholar, Midjourney and Notebook LM
My Research Tools
Figma
My Design Tools
4 Weeks
Timeframe
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a vital tool for helping students—especially those from low-income and minority communities—access higher education. Yet, access to aid remains uneven. Applications from communities with higher shares of Black, Latino, non-traditional, or low-income students are nearly twice as likely to be incomplete—even before government processing issues are considered.
To address long-standing equity and usability concerns, the federal government introduced major changes in 2020 and 2021, including replacing the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) with the Student Aid Index (SAI). These reforms delayed the 2024–2025 FAFSA release to December 2023.
However, the rollout was plagued by technical issues, communication breakdowns, and errors in aid calculations—putting an estimated $1.8 billion in federal aid at risk of going unclaimed. Disparities in form completion also remained stark depending on the financial dependence status of the applicants: following the revamp, dependent students took an average of five days to complete the application, while independent students completed it in just 15 minutes.
One positive step forward in improving the user experience was the introduction of Aidan, an AI-powered support tool. Between 2019 and May 2022, Aidan engaged with 2.6 million unique users and handled over 11 million user messages—receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback.
My research aimed to understand students’ experiences with the FAFSA process, uncovering usability barriers and identifying opportunities to better support users navigating this essential application.
The Context
How might we enhance the user experience of the FAFSA application ahead of the 2025–2026 release?
The Ask
Main Insight
FAFSA Processing Hinges on Financial Documentation
Having accurate financial documentation, such as tax records, is crucial for streamlining the FAFSA process—especially for dependent students, who must also include their guardians' financial information, adding to the time required to complete their applications.
This issue became particularly evident during the 2024-2025 FAFSA rollout when 20% of the millions of submitted applications were initially blocked from processing. It was only after significant pressure that the Department of Education finally agreed to move forward with processing them in 2024.
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“After FAFSA Issues, Education Department Faces ‘Crisis of Credibility,” Inside Higher Ed
“Exclusive: The Education Department says it will fix its $1.8 billion FAFSA mistake,” NPR
“FAFSA Fallout: Application Dropoff Threatening to Widen College Gaps,” The Century Foundation
Kantrowitz, M. (2020, September 24). FAFSA application statistics. Saving for College. Retrieved from https://www.savingforcollege.com/article/fafsa-application-statistics
“Two years of Federal Student Aid’s virtual assistant lead to lessons learned and a clear vision of the work ahead.” Digital.gov
“Watchdog sheds light on FAFSA fiasco, from a birthday bug to call center failures,” LAist
“What factors influence the time it takes to complete the FAFSA form, and how can I minimize them?,” SharedWisdom
UX & Product Considerations
Initial context and research uncovered key factors that informed how I could improve the FAFSA user experience.
Due to recent extensive updates, another major FAFSA overhaul isn't feasible.
Existing tools—like the Aidan AI assistant—offer valuable opportunities for improvement.
Many users struggle with the financial section due to a lack of awareness about required documents.
Based on existing research, I developed two primary user personas to represent those most impacted by the FAFSA changes. Anne is the guardian of Keisha, a dependent student. While they have different levels of tech literacy, both struggle with preparing the necessary documents for the FAFSA process.
Check out the mini slideshow below for a closer look at these users. ⬇️
User Personas
In the months leading up to the FAFSA opening period, I focused on introducing users to Aidan—the FAFSA AI owl—early, helping them build familiarity and trust with the tool before ever starting their applications. Examples of this early engagement include a FAFSA-themed Spotify playlist partnership and a calming FAFSA ASMR video, freely available on YouTube.
To improve the in-app experience, I reimagined Aidan as a proactive guide rather than a passive chatbot. Now, Aidan plays a more visible and supportive role—offering real-time, step-by-step instructions and instant answers without users needing to search or prompt.
View the slideshow below to see how Aidan’s presence has been expanded both outside and within the FAFSA experience to better support applicants. ⬇️
Solution
FAFSA on Spotify, Reminding Users of Application Opening Date
FAFSA on Spotify, Reminding Users of Application Opening Date - In-Depth
FAFSA ASMR Partnership
Aidan's VO During Surprise Appearance at School Basketball Game
FAFSA Billboard In The Wild
FAFSA ASMR Partnership with Miracle Forest
Aidan's Update for FAFSA Intro
Aidan's Update for FAFSA Section One
Aidan's Update for FAFSA Section Two
Aidan's Update for FAFSA Section Three
Aidan's Update for FAFSA Section Four
Aidan's Update for FAFSA Section Five
As a first-generation student, I am passionate about accessibility and improving educational experiences for future students. I thoroughly enjoyed adjusting FAFSA’s user experience, especially drawing from my personal experiences to enhance the project.
Project Reflection
Check out my other projects below. ⬇️
