<p>I have heard that once you receive your SAR, you may add additional schools if you applied to more than six.</p>
<p>The problem- Would this wipe out the access of information on the fafsa to the first 6 schools? I called a couple of schools and none have downloaded the info yet, and one will not do so until March 1. My understanding is that if the school is not currently listed, they will not be provided with the information they require to give a student an aid package. </p>
<p>Also, how many changes is one allowed to make to the fafsa, and is each pce. of info one change, or if one changes 15+ pieces of info at once, equal to one change?</p>
<p>Yes, if you change the schools before the schools have downloaded the information, the original schools will not have access to it.</p>
<p>Lousy system, but hey, it's the federal government.</p>
<p>Check to see if any of the schools you have applied to will download earlier and substitute those. Otherwise, you may have to wait. Make sure the early priority dates are on the filing first.</p>
<p>scottaa thanks. This is very important to know!</p>
<p>How many changes are you allowed to make? I was told that it is limited to 29, and that this adds up quickly. Fafsa person did not recommend making changes so soon in the process. They were unsure if each change counted as one change, or 99 changes at one time counted as one change. They suggested that meeting with a financial aid office, or giving them a paper copy of the SAR would be better. First school I called said that they do not accept paper copies and need the info directly from FAFSA. Also, this is not convient if the school is 1000+ miles away. It could work for students applying to schools within an hour or two from home. Changes can add up quickly if changing Podunk College and staying on campus (2 changes here) is changed to Intelligent University and staying on campus.</p>
<p>Thanks Sybbie. Is the priority filing date the same as the deadline date that is listed on some websites? I only noted one that had the phrase "priority filing date. </p>
<p>Person my DH spoke with said that it is not the date that the school receives the info that is important, but the date that you completed your fafsa that is important. I suppose this would be accurate if the school is listed. If that school is not one of the six, then I suppose the priority filing date is an issue. Is this accurate?</p>
<p>I think what you should do is quickly list the schools and their deadline dates in ascending order. Those with the earliest dates, should go on the FAFSA together and they should be the first group to be submitted.</p>
<p>If your priority deadline is associated with getting some type of merit money, make sure that is in your first set of schools to be submitted.</p>
<p>Then when you make changes, put in the next set of schools by date order.</p>
<p>I looked up the FA policy at one of the schools which you are interested in and it says:</p>
<p>**It is important that the central processor receives your FAFSA before the deadline to assure receiving all of the financial aid to which you are entitled. **</p>
<p>If you are doing the process on line then the school receives an electronic feed of all of the information.</p>
<p>underthebelljar, Some will do it begin soon and do it daily, others will do it a couple of time per week, and one told me they won't begin until March 1. So, like Scottaa said, you have to call them.</p>
<p>Is there a safe amount of time you can wait, say like two weeks, where you can be sure that they will all have filed them by now (if you don't feel like calling)?</p>
<p>Just got off the phone with FAFSA. This is what they said: Adding schools does NOT wipe out the previous schools. For example, you submit the first 6 schools. That version of FAFSA becomes edition 1. After receiving the SAR, you "correct" the FAFSA by adding a few more schools. You can do this by deleting all 6 schools and adding, say, 3 more schools, or by deleting 3 schools from the original list and adding 3 new schools. That version of FAFSA becomes edition 2. It does not replace edition 1.</p>
<p>Whenever College X downloads from FAFSA, they will get all reports with College X's name on it. If the dealine for FAFSA filing is Feb. 1, or March 1, they are looking to see if the FAFSA was submitted before that date. </p>
<p>Later on, when you put in corrected (updated) figures in the spring, that edition becomes edition 3 (and edition 4, if you still have 6+ schools).</p>
<p>I asked the FAFSA rep why they limit to 6 schools. She said most kids apply to 3 schools. (Huh?) I said OK, keep the list at 6, but have an option to add more if necessary. The way it is now is so unwieldy. She said she'd pass it on to her supervisor.</p>
<p>Well that information is totally different than the information we got today. My H called this morning. He was told that once you correct for 6 more, the first 6 will not have access to the information. Also, they said that you need to concern yourself with the number of changes you make, as there are limitations on this too.</p>
<p>By the way, I agree with you about the number of spaces.</p>
<p>I called them the fafsa customer service and was told that one must wait for a school to download the information before making a correction where one deletes a school and adds another.</p>
<p>Today I spoke with financial aid officers at 2 schools that my kids "deleted" from their FAFSAs to make room for 2 additional schools. One of the schools I spoke with was an Ivy; the other was a top LAC. Both told me unequivocally that as long as a SAR was issued and was sent by FAFSA to the applicant (which it was, 2 days after my kids' original FAFSA submission), the schools will be able to retrieve that SAR. They told me that it does not matter when the school downloads since all SARs with the school's name/code on it will get to them. Both financial aid officers said they are inundated with queries like mine but assured me not to worry. As long as a SAR was issued, they will get it.</p>
<p>I'm completely comfortable with their explanation. It corroborates the info on the FAFSA site, despite the fuzziness of some of the FAFSA reps on this issue.</p>