This has been brought up numerous times.
First…the Ivies and many other colleges are need blind for admissions. The admissions department does not know what is on your FAFSA or Profile. The admissions folks know about your application.
The financial aid folks know about your FAFSA and Profile. But @kelsmom…what do you think financial aid officers have time to do? Look at the list of where else the student applies…OR craft a financial aid award based on the financial info given. I don’t want to put words in @kelsmom mouth…but she has said…she really didn’t have the time or inclination to look at the other schools listed. Her job was dealing with financial aid awards.
OR do you think admissions folks at the need blind colleges (most of them, by the way) go,down the hall,and ask the financial aid folks what is listed? Or do you think the financial aid folks go into admissions and tell what is on applications?
Even at need aware schools, I was told by an enrollment manager…the admissions office has the student financial need as computed by the school…not access to the financial aid application forms.
If you are really concerned…do what another poster here did…and feels was beneficial. Her kid applied to twenty or more colleges. She submitted the FAFSA form for each college…one at a time…waited for it to process…and repeated until all 20 or so we’re done. Since it can take 3 days or longer for the FAFSA to process, just make sure you allot enough time to get them all done before the deadlines to do so.