My first choice of college i put on fafsa rejected me , i had no choice but to attend to another college, but does the rejection affect my financial aid in any ways ?
The other schools listed on your FAFSA will not know that you got rejected from college #1. So no, aid at another school will not be affected.
The schools may know which other schools you are applying from the FAFSA information, but they would not know the admission outcome.
Really? Gosh, I don’t much like that … Who, and how, sees that info? Eg is it only the folks in Financial Aid or is it also Admissions? I know that must vary by college, but what’s the case as a general rule? What other parts of the application file might let them know your other choices?
I’m new to this game, and if all schools you’re applying to have to be on the FAFSA, I guess that shows we haven’t gotten to the point of filling it out yet 
… but I did assume that would be something that could be kept private. Any way to keep it private?
No way to keep it private (unless you want to have the FAFSA processed for each individual school – and you don’t). This is why it’s generally recommended to list your schools in alphabetical order (with some exceptions – state schools at the top sometimes to cash in on state grants, etc); though it’s not something to be super paranoid about, there are some articles out there about financial aid offices offering less aid to students depending on what other schools are on the list/where their school is listed.
It’s a crazy world.
Also, if you need financial aid (and you have a high school senior going to college this fall), fill out the FAFSA asap. It’s first-come-first-serve at many schools, and March is quite late at those schools.
@CourtneyThurston, you seem to be well informed … Personally we’re planning for next year (for college in Fall 2016), but that’s good info. I assumed the FAFSA would be done with the apps, but hadn’t looked into it yet. Is there any difference strategically in when it’s done, other than not as late as March LOL? Also, for real, “state schools at the top to cash in on state grants?” Because they wouldn’t read down to the “U” section if it’s alphabetized? (Yikes!) Also, what’s the reason why we wouldn’t want it processed individually for each school? (Might be a dumb question if there’s a charge, but just curious.)
@MomOnALaptop I’m not super well-informed as to how the state grant programs work, but my understanding is that some require you to list an in-state college first to be considered. It varies by state.
In my opinion, the best time to get the FAFSA done is as early as possible in January (I skipped New Year’s celebrations to fill out mine… no kidding). You can always go in later and update it with the previous year’s tax information once you file later. The advantage to filing the FAFSA earlier is getting in line first for institutional aid (policies vary by school).
There’s no charge for processing the FAFSA each time for each new school, but it takes around two days at a minimum – I have friends for whom it took a week or longer. If you’re applying to multiple schools, that’ll get old really quickly (and could cause you to miss deadlines/lose potential aid).
You can list up to 10 schools on the FAFSA (process those, then go back in and update with the rest of the schools if you’re applying to more, process again, etc). Hence wanting to think about alphabetizing/ordering with care.
The best time to fill out the FAFSA is when your bank accounts (and investments, if you have any) are at their lowest ($0), and sometime in January.
What about applying for TAP ? If the college i filled in on TAP rejected me or I decided to attend another college.
What is your question?
You can only choose 1 college when filling out the TAP application right? So my queation is , if the college i chose rejected me and i have to attend another college, do i still get the TAP grant? ( FAFSA Completed)
I’m also mom to a fall '16 applicant. If you fill out FAFSA in January, what do you put for income? Do I guestimate and later put the proper amounts for '15 after taxes are done or would I use '14 income?
Of course you should use the latest one , but in some cases, such as tax is not filed in or back yet and your current income is similar to last year’s income, then you can use the old income amount.