FAFSA Form Archive: 2008–2012 FAFSA Forms
Each year the FAFSA form goes through a variety of changes and updates to make the filing process simpler. This page provides some historical background on the forms from the past few years, and includes major updates to color, wording, and format.
To file for the upcoming year, please use the most recent 2013-2014 FAFSA form or file online.
If you're looking to file online, visit our FAFSA Form Guide page for a walkthrough of this year's application, and to start your own. Or, just start the application process now.
2011–2012 FAFSA Changes
2011–2012 FAFSA Form
The 2011–2012 FAFSA colors are yellow for student information and purple for parent information.
- Additional clarifying text was added for questions 26, 27, and 28.
- Questions 43d and 91d were adjusted to specify that only taxable aid should be reported.
- Questions 44i and 92i were updated by removing the statement clarifying combat pay "(if you are not a tax filer)".
- "As determined by a court in your state of legal residence" was added to questions 53 and 54.
- A variety of enhancements were made to the online FAFSA form. For a complete breakdown of the updates, read the Department of Education's Summary of Changes for 2011-2012.
For more information, download the 2011–2012 Summary of Changes.
2010–2011 FAFSA Changes
2011–2012 FAFSA Form
The 2010–2011 FAFSA colors are blue for student information and purple for parent information.
- IRS tax line numbers were updated where applicable.
- Questions 44(f) and 92(f) were added to collect amounts for earnings from work under a cooperative education program offered by an institution of higher education.
- Questions 44 and 45, relating to veterans benefits, were removed.
- Revisions were made to marital status responses on question 16.
- Updates were made to improve the IRS Data Retrieval Tool for the online application.
For more information, download the 2010–2011 Summary of Changes.
2009–2010 FAFSA Changes
2009–2010 FAFSA Form
The 2009–2010 FAFSA colors are green for student information and purple for parent information.
- Added TEACH Grant question (question 32).
- Veterans education benefit questions were reformatted to determine if the applicant received benefits (question 44) and if so, which benefits were received (question 45).
- Added the email address field for parents in question 71.
- Added 'dislocated worker' to the list of criteria for the Simplified Needs Test and/or Automatic Zero EFC (question 85).
- Revisions for dependent students who have special circumstances, allowing them to submit their online application without parental financial information. However, this method requires a financial aid administrator to perform a dependency override for the students.
- The IRS Data Retrieval Tool was launched for the FAFSA on the Web Application. This allowed filers to pull tax information directly from the IRS.
For more information, download the 2009–2010 Summary of Changes.
2008–2009 FAFSA Changes
2008–2009 FAFSA Form
The 2008–2009 FAFSA colors are orange for student information and purple for parent information.
- Question 21 was revised to ask "are you male" by adding "are you female".
- Question 27 was revised to include two additional school completion options: "home schooled" and "other".
- Accompanying notes were changes for questions 16, 27, 34, 78, 71-75, and 92-96.
For more information, download the 2008–2009 Summary of Changes.
