If someone knowledgeable could please shed some light on this issue…
So a while ago I learned about the federal government’s barbaric practice of informing institutions which other institutions a financial aid applicant is applying to. NOW I just learned about the FAFSA preference ranking and I was absolutely aghast… I had put my first 10 colleges in alphabetical order. As a result Boston College came first and Harvard came 7th or so.
Absolute -___-.
Now, here’s my question: financial aid offices as far as I understand operate separately from adcoms; do they somehow communicate this information to the adcoms? Are they allowed to do that and does anyone know if it’s common practice? Hopefully they’ll recognize that the colleges are listed alphabetically and not in order of preference?! Should I actually email each school’s admissions counselors about this maybe??
Harvard is not going to care which order you list it. Alphabetic is what some counsellors suggest At need blind schools they aren’t usually communicating in that way.
It may only be of concern if any of the colleges consider “level of applicant’s interest” in admissions, or if you are applying for state grants that want a school in that state to be listed first.
Depends on the college. Some do communicate, others they are separate. I seriously doubt Harvard is going to care that you put Boston University above it in the FAFSA listing of schools considering its yield rate
Is there a list of states that offer grants that look at this? Sorry I really have no idea how the financial aid process works and I’m sure I’ve done loads of things wrong already that I’m not aware of.
It depends upon the school. They do communicate in that most apps (the common app) asks right out whether a student is applying for fin aid. When merit awards are given by admissions, the fin aid has to be integrated, and the aid packages are usually coordinated with acceptances.
But, IMO, most of the time there isn’t much coordination. Those schools need blind in admissions, which are most schools, do not deal with the fin aid info.
At need aware schools, the financial aid department will communicate your financial need to the admissions department…but I find it highly unlikely that they would,take the time to tell them the order of the schools on yoir Profile or FAFSA. And the admissions department won’t see your forms…they will be informed of your need.
At most need blind schools…no one is going to care one bit about the order of the schools on your FAFSA.
There are some states that do ask that specific schools be listed at the top of you are requesting certain state aid.
But really…barbaric? Hardly. And the federal government doesn’t inform anyone about anything…other than to transmit the data YOU submit!
This is your most recent chances thread. None of these schools give two hoots about the order on your FAFSA…or Profile.
What about the other 23 schools you applied to? On your closed thread, you said you were applying to 31 colleges.
if you want my opinion on your chances at the above…well…you say your first semester senior grades were mostly Bs with one A. That isn’t going to impress any of the above schools.
Funny. I guess you strongly hope that the schools’ AOs don’t find out about the 30 other schools you’re applying to. I guess they wouldn’t feel very special.
Btw, you have a pretty low bar for what is “barbaric.” I’m sure your essays are more proportional.
I brought that up on another thread and was told the cost of the applications was worth it in his ‘shotgun’ approach, that he had plenty of time to write all the essays, pay all the fees, keep track of all the deadlines.
Now he finds out that some colleges may learn he’s applied to others. And that maybe he should have sent the FAFSA 31 individual times so no school would learn he applied to more than just one.
They build a large stone wall with a moat around the FA office so they canot communicate with the admissions office. Any attempt to cross it is considered barbaric.
@twoinanddone Actually colleges still receive an update when you send a new FAFSA out. So FA offices ultimately find out about every other school where you’ve applied for FA.
To anyone making fun of my use of the word “barbaric:” I consider it ridiculous that the federal government not only does not try to keep this information confidential, but goes out of its way to inform schools which other schools a student is applying to. Common App and Universal App do not tell colleges which other institutions a student is applying to so why should the government??
The government doesn’t, YOU do. You file the FAFSA. You can put just one school on the form, then take that school off and send it to another, etc etc, which is what some people do when they have only applied to 2-3 school. You’ve applied to 31. You have that right, but it’s just a lot of work, especially if you/parents haven’t filed taxes yet and you have to update. To keep the schools from seeing others on your list, you’d have to update 31 times too. Your choice to do the work or let them see.
Exactly, twoinanddone. If its that big of a concern, send one at a time. Even with 31 apps, it will not take years off your life the way your angst about it might.
Barbaric is an over the top word in this context as is aghast. I’ve seen over the top words in my own kids writing and essays and suggested they find less dramatic ways to express themselves. So just a point for future writing. The part about someone discovering your 31 school thread is a good lesson that things posted on the internet last a long, long time, maybe forever.
Before, I would have considered this mindset silly but I did learn recently that some schools not only care about which other schools you applied to (which might be reasonable so that they know who their competitors are) but also care about the order in which their names are listed on the forms. I think it would actually be for the best if the FAFSA didn’t provide the names of the other schools too, if only to prevent that kind of nonsense.
For @Baloney1011 - I don’t know which 31 schools you applied to, but I doubt that all 31 reasonably expect them to be the only school you applied to. I can see why you would want to keep some secrets but chances are your list probably contains some schools that really don’t care. I would try to identify those schools to the best of your ability and group them together when submitting your FAFSA once, then send the ones that you think might care individually. It will still be a lot of time on your part but if you end up sending it (say) 10 times it won’t be as bad as sending the FAFSA 31 times.
Just make sure that you don’t miss any priority deadlines for either the FAFSA or the CSS Profile. That’s really the important thing; it’s unlikely that the Financial Aid office will be sharing your dirty secrets to the admissions people,
(Especially since they know that the deadlines are often spaced apart such that some people end up submitting the forms to schools that they don’t even apply to just in case.)
