Hi,
I’ve completed the FAFSA form for one of my two children, and noticed that just 10 colleges could be listed. Our kids have not even applied to college yet, so I was just guessing at the time when asked to list colleges.
Given that the CommonApp allows for 20 applications, how does one reconcile a much-truncated FAFSA list with the longer CA list?
Can the FAFSA list be updated after submission? What I’d like to do is submit a revised version now, with the 10 schools we know the kids will be applying to, and then submit another revision, replacing those schools with 10 others, etc., until we’ve cycled through all the schools.
The CSS seems to charge $25 for the first school listed, plus $16 for every additional school. These charges really added up, so I’ve been waiting to finish the CSS until I am sure of the schools. They may not end up applying to all of them, and we don’t want to pay extra if we don’t have to. But I’m now finding out that many schools want the FAFSA and/or the CSS filed at around the same time as the CommonApp.
Do you think there’s some deadline leeway for submitting either FAFSA or CSS? What’s your experience been?
We are going all our for merit scholarships, and I believe colleges don’t want to give them if one is not needy, despite what their websites say, and that’s why they want the financial aid statements.
Check the college websites for deadlines and don’t miss those deadlines. They are there for a reason and most schools offer no leeway in terms of missing these deadlines.
For the FAFSA, once it has processed, your student can go in and amend the form. Delete the first ten colleges and add up to ten more if you want to. But wait wait until the form processes!!
Deadlines deadlines deadlines….don’t miss them! And check each college website. They vary from college to college.
I don’t understand this. Why would you pay $16 to send Profile to a school that your child doesn’t end up applying to? And you don’t modify Profile again and again (unless you keep making mistakes). Complete it once for all the schools being applied to that require it. As Thumper says, you can always go back into the system and have it sent to additional schools (for $16 each) if more applications are done.
Well, I’ve not completed the CSS yet - I stopped when I realized that we did not have a final list. But if, as Thumper says, I can fill it out for just the schools that are definite (and whose deadlines are fast approaching), that’s what I’ll do. I’ll amend it later (and pay) as new schools hove into view. I definitely don’t want to pay for schools my kids won’t be applying to!
Thank you, RichinPitt, that was exactly what I was looking for when I opened this thread. Thanks to Thumper, I ended up doing exactly what your website suggested (option 1). I see that, once processed, the FAFSA can be amended over and over, sending the info to any new schools we desire.
One thing I noticed, however, was that when I completed the form for my second child, he got a lot more aid than my first child did! Same income, same constraints, same schools, same everything. But a different estimated family contribution, and increased Pell grant and subsidized loans.
Are you saying the EFC per FAFSA was very different for two kids who will be in college at the same time? And different amounts for the Pell because of that? If so, you need to check your FAFSA entries very carefully. Make sure you indicated two in college on both forms, and that all the data is entered correctly. And if you did a tax deferred retirement rollover in 2020, make sure that was correctly noted on each form.
You can pay the $25 and complete Profile before any final decisions have been made on which schools the student will submit an application to. The completed Profile will just be sitting there waiting for you to log in to your College Board account and pay $16 to send it to each school that will receive an application and requires the form to be considered for need-based aid.
To be clear, you don’t amend the Profile - you simply instruct the College Scholarship Service to send it to certain schools, as required, when a decision has been made to apply and before each school’s deadline for submission. You can do this for as many schools as you want (or until you run out of money to pay $16 for each submission), but it will be basically the same Profile sent to each school.
No, you don’t amend FAFSA over and over (unless you keep making mistakes in entering information). What you can do, as previously explained, is modify the list of schools where FAFSA will be sent. The financial and personal information should not be changed, assuming everything was done correctly.
Hi BelknapPoint,
I am grateful for your information about both financial-aid systems. I am so glad you wrote. I am breathing a sigh of relief about CSS, and now know that the FAFSA can be amended for either financial info (if I made mistakes) or college lists (as they change). I’m worried I did make a mistake on FAFSA, because one child’s outcomes varied considerably from another’s, and all else was equal.
Best Regards,
Kelly
One thing that no one has pointed out yet but I think I remember from one of OPs previous threads is the family income is in the $80-90K range. The College Board recently made the CSS Profile free for families making under $100K.
Sort of on the same topic… if the parents are filling out the CSS profile- do we create our own login or do we ask our student for their login information and go from there?
For signing in to do the Profile: (the “you” refers to the student)
“Sign-in – If you created a College Board account for the SAT, PSAT or AP, use the same username and password to sign-in. “
And regarding the Profile and making changes…this must be new this year!
“Made a mistake? – If you made a mistake on your application or need to include additional information after you submitted, you can update your application once by clicking “Correct Your CSS Profile” on your Dashboard”
They should be very close unless one child has more assets or made more money than the sibling. My 2 kids’ EFC were off by a couple hundred $$ because one had more in savings.
