The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the primary gatekeeper to secure financial aid for college. The federal government instituted two changes to the process in 2017, commonly known as “prior-prior year” FAFSA: (1) an earlier start date that lengthens the filing period and (2) the ability to use completed taxes from the prior calendar year. This paper uses descriptive statistics to examine resulting changes in application filing behavior in California. Students submitted their FAFSA substantially earlier and refiling rates increased among independent students in the policy year. Although these changes may have reduced the burden of applying, the earlier submissions did not appear to substantially alter state aid receipt or postsecondary attendance.

联邦学生援助免费申请 (FAFSA) 是确保大学经济援助的主要看门人。联邦政府在 2017 年对该流程进行了两项更改，通常称为“前一年”FAFSA：(1) 较早的开始日期延长了申请期，以及 (2) 使用前一个日历年的已完成税款的能力. 本文使用描述性统计数据来检查加利福尼亚州申请提交行为的变化。学生更早提交了他们的 FAFSA，独立学生的重新提交率在政策年度有所增加。尽管这些变化可能减轻了申请的负担，但较早的提交似乎并未显着改变国家援助的收据或高等教育出勤率。