Pennsylvania Statutes Title 24 P.S. Education § 16-1617. Free Application for Federal Student Aid

(a) Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, prior to completing high school, a student who attends a school entity or nonpublic school in this Commonwealth, unless exempted under subsection (e), shall file a FAFSA with the United States Department of Education or submit an opt-out form in accordance with subsection (b).

(b) The parent or legal guardian of a student or, if a student is at least eighteen years of age or legally emancipated, the student may opt out of filing the FAFSA under subsection (a) by completing and submitting to the school entity or nonpublic school an opt-out form developed by the department, in consultation with the agency.  The opt-out form shall include the following information:

(c) The department shall make the opt-out form available to school entities and nonpublic schools and post the opt-out form on the department's publicly accessible Internet website.

(d) A school entity or nonpublic school shall provide a copy of the opt-out form to parents, legal guardians and students.

(e) If a FAFSA is not filed or opt-out form is not submitted on behalf of a student, the school entity or nonpublic school shall exempt the student from the provisions of subsection (a).  Prior to making an exemption, the school entity or nonpublic school must make a reasonable effort to contact the parent or legal guardian of the student and provide the parent, legal guardian or student with information explaining the purposes of the FAFSA and the benefits available from completing the form.

(f) No student shall be prevented from graduating or be penalized by the school entity or nonpublic school in any way for failing to complete the FAFSA or opt-out form.

(g) The agency shall provide a school entity or nonpublic school with information indicating whether a student of the school entity or nonpublic school has completed the FAFSA, provided the agency has access to the information.

(h) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to require a parent, legal guardian or student to provide personal financial information to a school entity or nonpublic school or indicate a reason for not completing the FAFSA or opt-out form.

(i) Personal financial information inadvertently obtained from a parent, legal guardian or student by a school entity or nonpublic school as a result of administering this section is not a public record accessible for inspection and duplication in accordance with the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L. 6, No. 3),  1 known as the “Right-to-Know Law.”

(j) As used in this section, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

“Agency” shall mean the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.

“Department” shall mean the Department of Education of the Commonwealth.

“FAFSA” shall mean the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

“Nonpublic school” shall mean a school, other than a public school within this Commonwealth, in which a resident of this Commonwealth may legally fulfill the compulsory school attendance requirements of this act and that meets the applicable requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-352, 42 U.S.C. § 2000 et seq.).

“School entity” shall mean an area career and technical school, charter school, cyber charter school, regional charter school or school district.