The 2025 FAFSA State Priority Deadline Is April 2. Here's What to Know

Wednesday, April 2 is the state priority deadline for the Free Application for Student Aid, a.k.a FAFSA — the deadline California students should meet for the best chances of receiving the biggest aid package.

And even as the federal government continues to slash away at the U.S. Department of Education, which administers FAFSA and student loans, the California agency that handles financial aid for colleges and universities is still encouraging students to apply for aid before that April 2 deadline hits.

“Regardless of what is happening at the federal level, that does not impact your ability to apply for aid. Especially here in California, there are multiple options,” California State Aid Commission spokesperson Shelveen Ratnam said. “If you are able to access and complete the FAFSA, we encourage you to do so.”

In a March 27 statement, several California lawmakers condemned “misinformation regarding the availability of the FAFSA and state financial Aid” that President Donald Trump’s actions against the Department of Education had already caused, creating “additional anxiety and worry for families.” State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, the chair of the Senate Education Committee, said that the efforts to “dissolve the U.S. Department of Education” have already negatively impacted students and families, and that “here in California, we must protect our students and ensure we remain resilient in light of these regressive actions.”

“I urge all California students to not give up hope, to continue to fight for their dreams, and persist through their educational journey — which starts by applying for aid,” Pérez said.

Keep reading for what options are available for California students planning to apply for FAFSA by the April 2 state priority deadline.

What could happen with FAFSA — and student loans — at the federal level?

Since the January inauguration, the second Trump administration has made major moves to weaken the Department of Education — an agency that’s been the focus of Republican ire for years.

On March 20, President Trump signed an executive order calling on the U.S. Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, to dismantle the DOE entirely. Constitutionally, the executive branch alone does not have the power to eliminate an agency like the DOE and would require approval from Congress.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration laid off over 1,300 DOE employees, reducing the agency’s workforce by nearly 50%, when added to the 600 staffers who opted to leave by resigning or retiring. The layoffs eliminated workers who assisted students and families with their questions about FAFSA. Other laid-off staff handled disputes between borrowers and loan services, leaving many borrowers languishing in uncertainty about the future of their repayments.

The California State Aid Commission’s Ratnam said many students reached out to CSAC through social media with their worries about FAFSA itself being eliminated after Trump’s executive order. But, “just because there’s going to be changes at the federal level to the U.S. Department of Education doesn’t mean the FAFSA is going away,” he said, adding that the recent changes from the federal government “does not impact the state aid yet.”

Students may also be concerned about where student loan portfolios may end up in the future if the DOE is indeed shuttered. Student loan experts like Betsy Mayotte, the founder of the nonprofit Institute of Student Loan Advisors, said to KQED earlier this month that even if a person’s student loan portfolio was moved out of the Department of Education and into another office like the Treasury, as Trump has proposed, “it would just mean that a different agency was performing the oversight. … Terms and conditions of the loans aren’t going to change, the servicers aren’t going to change.”

KQED has an explainer on what borrowers focusing on repayment should know about their student loans.

What mixed-status families should know about FAFSA this year

During the 2023–24 FAFSA cycle, the federal government launched a new version of the financial aid application in hopes of making the traditionally lengthy process more streamlined, but it resulted instead in a glitchy, delayed rollout. The errors especially impacted mixed-status families, where a student has a Social Security number but one parent does not due to their immigration status. These students were blocked entirely from completing the application because they could not enter a parent’s Social Security number.

This was an especially pertinent problem in California where, according to 2021 numbers by the California Immigrant Data Portal, 20% of all individuals under 18 live with a mixed-status family.

The federal government has taken steps to make the FAFSA easier this year for people without Social Security numbers. For example, the FAFSA expanded the list of acceptable ID documents parents needed to have to make an account. However, the California State Aid Commission’s Ratnam said that, unfortunately, many students this year are facing similar “technical difficulties in completing the FAFSA” as last year.

As a result, Ratnam said that concerned students from mixed-status families should know that “another viable option” is to apply for aid through the California Dream Act right now instead of FAFSA.

The California Dream Act Application is the state-specific financial aid process for students without a permanent immigration status, with funds limited to schools within California. Using this application will allow students “to apply for — and be eligible for — state-based aid and institutional aid,” Ratnam said. “They will always have the option to go back and complete a FAFSA at a later date, maybe when those technical issues have been resolved.”

While students from mixed-status families can apply for state aid through the California Dream Act without applying to FAFSA at all, this would mean they wouldn’t have access to federal aid for their studies.

Mixed-status students have also expressed their concerns that applying for federal student aid could reveal their parents’ immigration status to a hostile presidential administration that has promised “mass deportations,” most recently transferring hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador by invoking the Alien Enemies Act.

There have also been reports that immigration authorities are close to obtaining access to Internal Revenue Service data concerning immigrants who have filed their taxes — and tax information is needed to complete the FAFSA.

In November, the National College Attainment Network acknowledged the fear many families were feeling, admitting that “at this time NCAN cannot assure mixed-status students and families that data submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, as part of the FAFSA process, will continue to be protected.”

“We believe mixed-status families should make a considered decision about whether to submit identifying information to the federal government in an FSA ID or FAFSA,” NCAN’s November guidance read — even though the 1965 Higher Education Act explicitly prohibits the use of this type of student data for any purpose other than determining federal financial assistance.

In January, NCAN cautioned students and families that “to the extent that you or a contributor has already provided [DOE] with information when creating a StudentAid.gov account or previously filling out the FAFSA, [DOE] likely still has that information.”

According to NCAN, a new application would just update this existing information — and according to studentaid.gov, borrowers cannot delete a submitted or processed form.

Echoing the California State Aid Commission’s Ratnam, “if you are concerned about how your data will be used by the federal government, you can still apply via the California Dream Act Application, California’s own financial aid application,” Daisy Gonzales, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission, said in a statement. “It supports your access to state aid and institutional aid, and your data will only be used for the purposes of determining and awarding financial aid.”

“We urge you to complete your financial application and believe in your dreams,” Gonzalez said.

In December, Gonzales told KQED that “the California Student Aid Commission never shares their data with the federal government.”