Long story, but my last name legally is like this: XXXXXX-XXXX. However, my FAFSA throughout my undergraduate was entered with only the second part of my last name, and was verified and accepted. upon first applying, I was told my name wouldn’t be accepted and to enter it how I did. My records were fixed as well with the hyphenated last name the semester before I graduated. Now, I’m going to apply for graduate loans. The NSLDS has my hyphenated last name, but FAFSA does not, still. Do I just apply for my loans with the XXXX last name as I always have and was accepted and verified through FAFSA, or should I change it? I’m so confused and loathe my parents for cruising me with this problem.
Call FAFSA! Why would you prefer a bunch of posters guessing over the actual rules provided by FAFSA?
Because some are financial aid workers who know. FAFSA was beyond lackadaisical. One answer was of it was verified, leave it alone, another was just change the last name to hyphenated on your next application. Any financial aid officers who know what I really should do, please respond.
post under the financial aid thread – real live financial aid folks spend most of their time there
Moved to Financial Aid & Scholarships, but FWIW I don’t think it matters. Some last names are common enough that your records are probably matched up via Social Security number rather than name.
The FAFSA name is matched to the name associated with the Social Security number. If your info was accepted in the past, and if nothing has changed, just use what was used in the past. If you filed a FAFSA in the past, you should be able to do a renewal - the basic info will already be pre-populated, and you can just add the income/asset/household info and update things like address, if needed.
Your loans are tied to your SSN, not your name, so you can continue to use the name you have been using for that.
Thank you Kelsmom. I filed last year, but exhausted my funding, so I was awarded nothing in 2015-2016. Do I still do a renew?
@kelsmom sorry to bother you again. I’m ready to fill out my FAFSA this week. Will it create a problem for my school matching my award aid package to me if my last name is different on my FAFSA application than my student record? Or will they just match it to my SS number?
They will match your SSN. There are lots and lots and lots of reasons why one’s name might not necessarily match so they match by SSN.
Thank you. I just don’t want any issues between them and my school in dispersing my aid.