FAFSA 2024 - When/How to send to more than 20 colleges?

Paying for College FAFSA & CSS Profile
1

FAFSA states that you can send your FAFSA to more than 20 colleges after it has been processed.

Our FAFSA has been processed. However, none of the first 20 colleges we sent it to have received it yet. We are getting college acceptances now from colleges other than the first 20 we registered to get the FAFSA, and they need the FAFSA to calculate aid.

How do I know when it’s safe to add more colleges (since they will replace the first 20, who have yet to receive it), and where in the FAFSA portal can we even do that?

Thank you all! I’m sure we’re not the only family in this predicament!

2

Once the FAFSA is available for updates … hopefully by April 1 … you can replace the original schools. You don’t actually have to verify that the first set of schools received it. The new schools you add will be on a whole new transaction. That said, you do need to make sure that there is nothing that has to be done to correct your original FAFSA first. As long as you get a confirmation that your FAFSA has been accepted & no updates are needed (such as signatures), you’ll be fine to change the schools. If you do need to make some changes first, you’ll need to wait until you receive a confirmation that the changes have been accepted before updating your school list.

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3

Is there a way to see when a college has “downloaded” your FAFSA data, or do you need to use the specific college’s finanical aid portals?

4

You don’t need to worry about whether or not they’ve downloaded it. It might sit in their mailbox for awhile before they download it it, due to their internal processing. But no, there is no way to know if the school has downloaded it, other than to ask the school.

5

So even if I remove a school to add some more once that opens up, it will still be waiting for the original school even if they have not pulled it into their system yet? Thanks!

6

Yup! Just be sure it’s been processed with no issues first. If it is, you can go ahead & make the changes to the schools.

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7

Awesome. Thank you so much.

8

Thanks Kelsmom. If my FAFSA says “processed,” does that mean it’s been processed and that no updates/corrections are needed? It’s a bit unclear.

And to reiterate, wait til April 1 to send it to more schools?

9

You’ll need to read the summary that will be emailed (and should be available to the student in their FSA account) to make sure that there are no issues.

You won’t be able to make any changes, including changes to schools, until that magical time when FSA allows students to update their FAFSA. The expectation is that will happen around April 1.