School list on FAFSA

<p>I went to a financial aid workshop and the presentor mentioned that it was very important to list your colleges on the FAFSA in the order you will likely attend. Does anyone have any information about why this would be? Does the school you put on the top of your list affect how you will receive your financial aid?</p>

<p>I’ve never heard that before. I don’t think it matters what order you put them in. Did the presentor say why this was important? It doesn’t make much sense on the face of it since students don’t necessarily know where they’re likely to attend before they even have acceptances in hand.</p>

<p>I didn’t quite understand what he said, which is why I started this thread. He worked at a community college so I don’t know if that makes a difference, but I got the impression from him that it could change the amount of grants (PELL/CAL GRANT) you qualified for, depending on your first choice listed.</p>

<p>I have read here on CC that it only matters if your state requires you to list an instate school first in order to trigger eligibility for aid at the state level. For example we listed a SUNY school first and that school came up on the NY TAP registration form. This is because some states take information directly form the FAFSA. Look up the other posts here if you want to read more about this.</p>

<p>i have a different question. we can only add 10 schools to it, so what do we do if were applying to more than 10 schools?</p>

<p>Read the instructions: [FAFSA</a> - Free Application for Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/faq014.htm]FAFSA”>http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/faq014.htm)</p>

<p>missemily516, we are in California, and when we attended a “Cash for College” [California</a> Cash for College, Grants for College Students, Student Scholarships California: Calgrants](<a href=“http://www.calgrants.org/index.cfm?navId=16&]California”>http://www.calgrants.org/index.cfm?navId=16&) workshop, we were told that we had to list a California college/university in the first three selections on the FAFSA in order to trigger the California Student Aid Commission [California</a> Financial Aid, College Grant, Financial Aid Grants for College: Calgrants.org](<a href=“http://www.calgrants.org/]California”>http://www.calgrants.org/) to evaluate your application for Cal Grant. (The other requirement is that your GPA verification is submitted by March 2nd.)</p>

<p>I have found NO official source for this information, it seems to be something everyone has “heard,” so I don’t know if it is a requirement or not.</p>

<p>Alamemom - That was the type of workshop I went to (although it was advertised as the high schools’ financial aid night). Thank you for clarifying. All of my daughters colleges are in california, so I guess I don’t have to worry about it.</p>

<p>^ We had the exact same situation - all D’s colleges were in California anyway. Friends who had out of state colleges on their list decided to put a California college as number three just in case.</p>