<p>The vast majority of schools don’t give a hoot about the other schools listed on your FAFSA, or about the order in which you listed schools. And I do mean the VAST majority.</p>
<p>I read the article…and I truthfully believe this is all hype…especially when it comes to admissions.</p>
<p>billchso, if a school is genuinely need blind, admissions isn’t even allowed to know whether or not you submitted a FAFSA, so they wouldn’t be allowed to ask for or use info from it.</p>
<p>But I have to admit that I’m annoyed that FAFSA reveals the information about where else you applied, not to mention what order your listed the schools in, and I’m a little concerned that somehow it could end up hurting my son – either his admissions chances at non-need-blind schools he applied to, or packages at schools that do not meet full need, and choose to use the “information” they think they can glean from the order of schools listed.</p>
<p>I also don’t believe that article is that creditable, but it does triggered several threads here. Go figure.</p>
<p>Mathmomvt…you have no way of knowing how schools that do NOT meet full need leverage their need based aid awards. And for schools that do not accept the vast majority of applicants, you have no way of knowing why some are admitted and others are not.</p>
<p>If I were a betting woman, I would say the order of the schools on your FAFSA is not a factor.</p>
<p>But like I said…anyone CAN submit FAFSA ONE school at a time to reduce their paranoia about this issue.</p>
<p>Well, yes, except that it’s too late for us – my son’s FAFSA has already been submitted with the schools in random order. So now, all we can do is worry that somehow it might be used against him. I realize that that’s rather unproductive, of course. But that doesn’t stop me from being annoyed that FAFSA is sharing this information and making this even a <em>possible</em> factor in a school’s admission and/or funding decisions.</p>
<p>There are two things going on here. One is that the order of the schools on the FAFSA has been shown to indicate school preference for a lot of kids. Given that some directions on filling out the FAFSA , not the official ones, tell kids to list the school in preference, that isn’t surprising. But a consulting firm has come out and said that they have seen the corelation and that they have been hired by colleges and have given them the info. How or if it is used by some schools for admissions is yet to be determined. Some schools that do share fin aid info with Admissions may well use this info. It also lets the colleges know tow what other schools you have applied. That has always been the case. But this issue has been addressed by books and articles by admission office workers who say that the info is just not something they can use because of the second, third, etc guessing that has to happen. It’s too distracting to the mission of a the Admissions dept and for most schools. you expect the kids are applying elsewhere.</p>
<p>The other issue that comes up is that FIn AId itself has access to the order, and when a kid who is admitted is showing that this is a first choice school, the award can be shaved down a bit because you know the kid is hot to trot as opposed to someone who has the school further down the list and may need a little more sugar to entice. </p>
<p>Are some schools using the info? Augustana College says it is. The consultants say other schools are. Maybe they are. But from what I hav seen in the Admissions and FIn Aid offices at crunch time, this sort of analysis really would take more time than taken per app. A lot of things are done by formula out of necessity. </p>
<p>As for FAFSA sharing the info, it’s always been the case, and I agree that they should not. The info should go to just one school. I wonder what other info sources like the test scores from CB and the ACTs, the common app and the PROFILE also show the other schools. </p>
<p>But, I can also say, I’m a bit hinky about these things and haven’t got any feeling that schools use this data on a wide scale basis. Augustana is a tiny school that isnt exactly hot on the lists and having to beat back the applicants. They have to really pick and choose to fill their classes as is the case with a lot of smaller private schools that are trying to justify their price tags these days, and are pracicing wide scale discounts. '</p>
<p>I do not mean to offend, but I just cannot understand why any parent would choose to worry about something that (1) may or may not exist, (2) if real, may either help, hurt or have no effect on the applicant, and (3) if real, will have an effect that could not possibly ever be known to, or quantified by, the student or the parent.</p>
<p>It’s a stressful process and when our kids are applying to selective schools and we are hoping for aid to make it work, we want every bit of info sent there to be to the kids’ advantage. It does make a parent feel bad when applying for aid could mean a disadvantage and the kid loves the school. That the order the schools are listed can make a difference, when there is a clear favorite in there and it’s stuck on the bottom can bug a person, yes. Because you want to do your best on this, and you missed something. You could have done each school, or certain schools separately. After all the trouble of doing all the apps, you miss this piece of info that could make a bit of a difference. So, yes, I can see where this irks and worries.</p>
<p>I really don’t see any harm in listing them in order of preference if that is where things are headed. Most kids could rank order colleges from most favorite to least favorite. But yes, I recall in 2006 that in Michigan you were told to list the Michigan public first (for aid at that time) but I don’t recall that information last year when 3 applied. I don’t’ see any harm in kids perhaps becoming more focused on fewer colleges both for the students and the colleges. Perhaps the days of buckshot application to a dozen colleges or more are waning.</p>
<p>There could be harm in listing by preference if it means less award and less preferred packaging. THat is the fear since that is what that consulting firm and the Augustana college rep is out and out saying. You want the school that much, the school will skimp a bit on your aid, knowing that you will likely take the gap. So if the tales are indeed true, then yes, there can be harm, if this is the way things are headed. So you go alphabetical or if you don’t want the schools to see your list, you file one by one.</p>
<p>Conversely if kids list them in order of preference then a college can also put together a decent package that the student and their family will take. It “forces” the colleges to take seriously a student’s first choice college if they want that student. More troubling would be to be a finaid officer to see a kid that has applied to more than 10 colleges in alpha order. How serious is any college going to take packaging a student that has applied to a dozen or so colleges especially at a college where finaid and admissions are separated? I don’t see giving a preferential order as harming especially for a student that has a well crafted, well thought out list of 5 or so colleges which is true for most college bound students. I think the same ‘fear’ that drives students and parents to have a long, long college application list is the same fear that drives those same people to not want to have a “preference.”</p>
<p>At this point i think next year I’ll file one by one…and if everyone does that, FAFSA slows down and maybe they make a change so that colleges can’t see where else you’ve applied for financial aid…</p>
<p>If you file one-by-one, a school might think you are applying only there, and it could have the same negative effect on your package as listing them first, or worse (has no other options, don’t need to woo with a large package).</p>
<p>OHmom. You will need to allow a sufficient amount of time to file one by one. When you file the first school, you will need to wait a couple of days for it to be processed before you can go and delete that school and add another to send. If your kid is applying to 10 schools, it could easily take you 20-30 days to do your initial submissions to 10 schools. </p>
<p>OH…and if you do this with estimates in January, you will have to repeat the WHOLE process when your taxes are completed. </p>
<p>I suggest you just NOT apply to Augustana College. It seems they were the source for this article.</p>
<p>Good points. Maybe group them strategically…a public with guaranteed merit with a selective private, one on the east coast with one on the west, two that compete for students at once and so on. Do one order then when confirming e-file, flip the order!</p>
<p>Maybe it’s early enough to start a “FAFSA school combo/ordering consultant” business :D</p>
<p>Seems like an awful lot of unnecessary strategizing…and work to try and “out-think” a process that may or may not have any impact.</p>
<p>That’s why parents could pay me to consult on the intricacies of the order ;)</p>
<p>Personally, I think way too much time is being spent thinking about this. The chances of a college (other than Augustana) caring are pretty slim. Seriously, most aid offices are way too busy to notice or care.</p>
<p>Call me not paranoid enough, but what possible difference does it make if anybody–other colleges, the neighbors, the guidance counselor–knows where a student applies for college? We blab about all sorts of things that should probably be kept private, but somehow draw the line at where a kid applies to college? </p>
<p>Give fin aid officers some credit. They already know the admits applied multiple places. What are they going to do? Look at the list and say, “offer bad aid to that high need kid because he applied to Yale.” The only school they know for sure the student is admitted to is their own. They have better things to do than second guess a student’s acceptances, let alone spend a great deal of time creating packages based on where their school falls in a list of 10, especially knowing full will there might be another FAFSA submission out there with even more schools on it.</p>