FAFSA Colors

Each year, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) uses different colors. Ever wonder why? Read on as we reveal the secrets of the FAFSA color schemes.

The FAFSA Four-Year Color Rotation

The FAFSA goes through a four-year color rotation, from orange to green to blue to yellow. The parent section of the FAFSA always is in purple.

The color rotation aims to prevent confusion between the FAFSA application cycles for consecutive years since there is a nine-month overlap from October to June. Also, most students file four or fewer FAFSAs, so four colors is sufficient to distinguish the FAFSAs filed by most students.

The FAFSA colors through the year 2029-2030 are as follows:

• Green (2017-2018) 
• Blue (2018-2019) 
• Yellow (2019-2020)
• Orange (2020-2021)
• Green (2021-2022)
• Blue (2022-2023)
• Yellow (2023-2024)
• Orange (2024-2025)
• Green (2025-2026)
• Blue (2026-2027)
• Yellow (2027-2028)
• Orange (2028-2029)
• Green (2029-2030)

Official FAFSA Colors

The official Pantone colors for the FAFSA are shown in this table. The “U” stands for uncounted paper. The Pantone colors do not match the actual colors in the PDF versions of the FAFSA, which are shown in RGB and Hex formats.

Pink (PMS 196U) was previously used in the 2000-2001 and 2004-2005 FAFSAs.