<p>I am having ALOT of trouble deciding what order to list my schools on the fafsa.... I have five schools that I applied to and I would love to go to, four of them are UC schools and one is a private school. In addition to that I have my 2 safety schools that I suppose I will list last.</p>
<p>All of the schools have very low acceptance rates (<40%), but the private school has the lowest (15% acceptance rate). One of the UC schools I applied to I believe I would prefer to go to, but I feel as though the private school is more likely to care about what order I list them, and I do not want to jeopardize the small shot I feel I have at that school..... </p>
<p>Does anyone know have any advice to offer me?</p>
<p>In your case, you had better check out if UCs do treat the first school on FAFSA differently. I have read/heard that it might be the case. If so, you need to refile the FAFSA with each UC on the list being first. </p>
<p>As for the private school, it depends. Is this school need blind in admissions? Most schools don’t care but some do. The UCs or whatever public school system that operates that way for package notification seems to just be programed that way, not for any admissions purposes. Again, I may have this infor wrong-- I thought it was UCs, CA schools, but do verify.</p>
<p>Do a search for this topic. There are at least three or four threads asking the same question. </p>
<p>You will need to check the UCs.</p>
<p>For other schools…The VAST majority of colleges are need blind for admissions…meaning the admissions department had NO information at all about your financial aid…application or anything.</p>
<p>For the schools that are need aware, the admissions department knows your financial NEED, but that does NOT mean that they ever see your actual FAFSA form.</p>
<p>I hope I’m not out of line, but there is a regular poster here who is a financial aid officer. She has said a number of times…her job is to craft a financial aid award package. She does not have the time or interest in looking where else a student applies for aid.</p>
<p>And FYI…there are kids who submit FAFSA forms to schools that they actually don’t apply to. Also, colleges KNOW that students are applying to multiple schools, and if needed, for aid to multiple schools.</p>
<p>The schools only see that particular FAFSA info and schools on it. If CA is the state I think that does use FAFSA preference, there are other reasons, but I don’t remember exactly what is involved… Maybe someone familiar with CA and FAFSA order will jump in.</p>
<p>I think that it has something to do with Cal grant eligibility – I think that an in-state school (either public or private) needs to be listed – but it was a very long time ago that I dealt with that issue. My memory might be a off, or things could have changed.</p>
<p>Check each school’s common data set or its admissions tab on [CollegeData:</a> College Search, Financial Aid, College Application, College Scholarship, Student Loan, FAFSA Info, Common Application](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com%5DCollegeData:”>http://www.collegedata.com) . Look specifically if it considers “level of applicant’s interest”. Such schools may be the ones to consider where they are in the order schools are listed on your FAFSA. Note: it can be risky to use such a school as a “safety”.</p>
<p>Feeling rather disturbed by this as we filed the FAFSA a week ago with the schools in random order (maybe by due date? not sure, it’s not alphabetical, and it’s not priority order). It’s a “will file” FAFSA so we have to update – would it make any sense to change the order when re-submitting? Lots of DS’s schools do care about level of interest. Some he is already admitted to, but I guess they might use the info to influence the package, in theory.</p>
<p>According to the instruction, it may be critical to list your in state public school on top of the list to be considered for state aid in several states. In my opinion, the order on FAFSA would have little impact on the admission for most schools. The deadline for FAFSA submission may be too late for admission decision. However, it may be more critical for those on waiting list as they want to ensure the yield at the end of admission cycle.</p>
<p>We don’t qualify for any state aid, so that’s moot for us. But I’m wondering if he should contact his top choices and just state that the schools were not listed in priority order on his FAFSA, and he is very interested.</p>
<p>FAFSA does not ask you to list the schools in the order of interest. The only suggestion is for state aid purpose. It would be stupid to assume the student listing the schools in certain order. If that is the case, even you put them in alphabetical order would not help. What matter more is that the school would know which other schools you are also applying/considering.</p>
<p>I agree with listing your in state public school first. Even when students apply for TAP (NYS aid), the application only lists one school (this is usually the first NYS school listed on the FAFSA). However, once you can change the school on the TAP application to the NYS school where you will be attending (if applicable).</p>
<p>Check your state for any FAFSA listing requirements. There may be some for things like TAP and Calgrant.</p>
<p>Billc…MOST colleges are need blind for admissions. This means that the admissions folks never know a thing about your financial aid applications, including what OTHER colleges you are applying to.</p>
<p>For schools that are need aware, the admissions department knows your financial need. The financial aid department determines this…and these schools “can” use it when looking at admissions. However, the admissions department isn’t looking at your FAFSA. They are looking at how much need you have.</p>
<p>Folks working in the financial aid departments have said…their job is to craft a financial aid award. They don’t have the time, or inclination to look at EACH applicant’s list of schools. These folks are processing a ton of financial aid applications. Do you really think they look at the lists of schools on every single FAFSA? </p>
<p>Every admissions department KNOWS that students apply to multiple schools. Every financial aid department KNOWS that students apply for aid at multiple schools.</p>
<p>On the several other threads about this on this forum, there WERE posters who submitted each FAFSA alone to each college. They claim it made a difference in the amount of aid. I’m not sure how they would know that…since they didn’t submit multiple schools also! </p>
<p>If it makes you all feel better, you CAN submit to each college separately. Wait until that ONE college FAFSA is processed. Do college two…repeat until the list is all done. It’s going to take you a fair amount of time!</p>
<p>And remember, MOST colleges don’t meet full need anyway.</p>
<p>@thumper1,
The worry is not whether the school is need blind or not. People are worry that the order of schools on FAFSA would affect their chance for admission according to one recent article. I don’t think it is the case and people are over reacting. There is really nothing to worry.</p>
<p>I kind of think it’s absurd that the FAFSA shares the info about where else you applied in any case. There’s no need for them to do that, and until this year, I think the assumption was that they could NOT see where else you had applied.</p>
<p>Once more…if the school is NEED BLIND FOR ADMISSIONS…the admissions folks have NO information from the financial aid department…including the order of schools on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Admission would NOT be affected at need blind schools at all. Financial aid does not communicate with admissions when admissions decisions are being made.</p>
<p>Billc…are you confusing need blind with “meets full need”. Need blind is an admissions term. It means that the school does NOT consider your finances when reviewing your application for admission. Meets full need is a financial aid term. Schools that guarantee to meet full need for all students do so for all admitted students per their calculations.</p>
<p>There are schools that are need blind and meet full need for all. There are schools that are need blind and do NOT meet full need for all. There are need aware schools that meet full need for all and there are need aware schools that do not meet full need for all.</p>
<p>A school that is need blind for admissions…the admissions department would NOT see the FAFSA or have financial aid need information when making an admissions decision.</p>