How does a college know to download a corrected FAFSA?

<p>Okay, probably a dumb question, but if you go in and correct your FAFSA, how does the college know to download it, after they have already downloaded the original one?</p>

<p>We have a school, where when I log into our financial aid page, it's showing they downloaded the FAFSA on January 10th, and then for Jan 11th, I have a message saying that either a parent didn't sign the FAFSA, or there is an issue with it and to log in to the FAFSA and correct. Well it was signed by the parent, myself, and I don't have any error messages or emails. I suspect that it's because when I first filed it, since my son is not 18 yet, I answered no to the "are you registered with the selective service" and no to the "register me question", because he isn't 18, I assumed we couldn't say yes to the "register me" prompt. </p>

<p>Then I found out, (on this very board, no less) that if you mark yes to the "register me" question, they just forwarded your name and then after you turned 18, they would send information about registering or register you then. I also read that this is a sticking point for FA offices, so it was better to got ahead and do the register me, or else it would hold up processing as the school has to verify that a male is registered. </p>

<p>So I went in and corrected the FAFSA, it went through, again no error messages, so I am thinking that the school downloaded the first one. BUT how do they know to download the corrected one? Do I contact all the schools we filed it with? Of course I'm trying to call, but lines are and have been busy, so no luck. </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>I have been wondering the same thing. Do colleges get a new report once you correct your FAFSA and change “will file taxes” to “have filed taxes” status? I hope so, because my corrected FAFSA EFC went down by $3K and want them to use that lower figure when calculating financial aid packages.</p>

<p>Computers are wonderful tools … schools are connected to the federal processor through computer systems. All updates are transmitted to the schools on that transaction.</p>