<prompt> Human: There are some important changes for FAFSA deadlines starting Oct 1, 2016. Instead of starting the FAFSA on Jan 1, FAFSA will now be open for business Oct 1 giving students, parents and financial aid offices more time to evaluate aid packages. Also FAFSA will be using the data for the prior tax year, ie parents and students will use the same 2015 tax records used to apply for 20162017 school year again. This is a one time correction which should make it easier in the future as all self employed parents or those with complicated returns will not need to estimate income and then amend the FAFSA as they are taking older returns. edit adding link  <response>: Opening on Oct 1st just means it will give people even longer to procrastinate 