The FAFSA Application Volume declined nearly 11% for the application cycles from June 30, 2014 through June 30, 2017 based on data from Federal Student Aid and analyzed using the Financial Aid Interactive. FAFSA application cycles are based on an 18-month period for any one particular school year. Note the June 30, 2017 cycle has one quarter to go but the last quarter is historically less than 1% of the total volume.
The volume change was almost exclusively concentrated with independent students which declined nearly 19% during the same period. Dependent students remain relatively flat during the same period as noted in the following graph.
