School Changed FAFSA & Made it Incorrect

The school which accepted the student to start in Summer of 2020, made the following changes to the FAFSA about mid-February (see list below), for no apparent reason. About two months ago in mid-Dec. 2019, this school made a financial aid offer that had the cost of attendance showing the student as “living with parent” for the Summer of 2020. Three weeks prior to that financial aid offer, a FAFSA update that switched housing plans from “with parent” to “on-campus” was made on the student’s end - this was done in Nov 2019. The original option chosen on the FAFSA was “with parent” only b/c the student was originally planning to attend a campus of this school that is closer to where they live, but then found out that the closer campus only offers 2 years of the degree that they wish to pursue (as in a pre-major), which includes gen ed courses, a lot of which were already completed via credit by examination. Basically, the student did not desire to go to their local campus for a year or less and have challenges choosing classes that they actually needed b/c a lot of the gen ed classes were already covered - then, on top of that, have to submit paperwork again, to seek approval to transfer to the other campus within a year. By the way, the campus change requested had been submitted to the school at the end of Oct. 2019 and the school updated the change in campus in Dec 2019.

FAFSA changes made by school:

-switched student’s housing plans from “on-campus” to “with parent”, when it was clearly expressed to that school (about 60 miles away & at least an hour or longer drive from home) multiple times prior to the change, that on-campus was the desired housing plan

-switched number in household (who are not parents) attending school from 2 to 1, when student’s sibling will be starting college at the same time as also indicated on school’s parent and/or dependent verification forms, whichever had the question on it

-deleted 2 other schools that student had listed on their FAFSA

All of these changes were made by one school b/c there was only one FAFSA notification that a school “updated” it.

These changes that the school made were corrected on the student’s end, within just a few days of the FAFSA alert regarding an “update” by a school, but why would a school go to such lengths to do all of this w/ the FAFSA, rather than just updating the student’s cost of attendance to reflect the correct housing plans, as on-campus?

Call them and ask.

For summer, will the second student be attending college also?

I would definitely contact the school. Understand that this might not impact your need based aid one bit if the school doesn’t guarantee to meet full need. And even if they do…the summer term could have different rules.

The summer might be part of the 2019-20 FAFSA, and that might not include the second student. Some schools include the summer as part of the prior year, some include it in the next year.

Yes.

Yes, sorry, should have been more specific; this is all regarding the 2019-20 FAFSA. The school did not appear to have made a change to the 20-21 FAFSA.

I think usually the FAFSA aid year goes from July of one year to June of another.

So the questions about household size and students in college for the 2019/20 FAFSA ask about the time period between July of 2019 and June 2020.

If a student attends school in May/June 2020 then that might be still in the 2019/20 year.

So you have only one student in college in the 2019/20 year? And would your student live in campus housing for the summer?

Clarify with the school whether the student will commute or live on campus for the summer.

But it seems the school did the correction on the 2019/20 FAFSA regarding number of students in college correctly.

Then for 2020/21 FAFSA you would have two students in college.

@mommdc this varies by college. Some colleges will consider summer 2020 as part of the 2019-2020 academic year…and some will consider it part of the 2020-2021 academic year.

The OP needs to ask.

And again I ask…will the second college student be taking classes during the summer!?

Also, keep in mind that summer aid could very well be limited…it is at some colleges.

And again…this change in status might not net a dime more in need based aid.

This poster needs to contact the financial aid office at the school where the correction was made.

Yes, the 2nd student would be starting in the summer of 2020 as well.

Either way, both students completed the 19-20 and the 20-21 FAFSA and both are marked to include 2 in college during those time frames.

Housing plans on FAFSA is one thing, but does the student already have a housing agreement to live on campus in the summer?

If the school made a change and it is incorrect, call the school and explain - clearly- why it is incorrect. Are their 2 in school? Are they both living on campus?

Yes, the two of them would be starting school in the Summer of 2020 potentially and they would both be living on campus at potentially diff. schools, which both include summer 2020 in the 19-20 school yr. The more questionable issue is that they changed the on-campus designation to with parent and deleted 2 other schools from the FAFSA, whereas the two other schools were none of their business, as neither student enrolled at any of the schools yet.

Not sure what you mean by “the deleted two schools” from the FAFSA.

Was your FAFSA processed with these two schools previously? If so, i believe those schools have your FAFSA data.

@kelsmom?

Schools are not able to see or delete other schools. Sounds like this school made the changes in a way that only affected the FAFSA for their own school.

OP, no one other than the school’s financial aid office can tell you why the school made the change. Please contact them and ask. You’ll feel better after you do that.