<p>How important is the order of schools you list on the FAFSA. Do we really need to put in state schools first? My son would be extremely happy at any of his top 6 choices. However financial aid at instate private is very generous, and instate public might end up his best option financially. We don't want a school to be less generous because they are listed further down the list. I did a search and the advice seem conflicting. Updated information would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>Does not matter really…my guess is that FA offices don’t have time to worry about what other school codes are listed on the FAFSA’s they download, much less in what order they were entered!</p>
<p>In general I would think it would not matter. But there was a poster a couple of years back (this question comes up every year) that said for their state it actually did make a difference for some state grant whether you listed the State U first or not. Seems odd to me, but I vaguely remember being quite surprised when she posted a link showing the info. Can’t remember the state. So check with your state and see if it says anything along those lines.</p>
<p>That is odd! I know it’s not NY…they don’t care as long as you have at least one NY school code on the list (but NY requires a separate app after FAFSA is filed anyway)…I think CA does too, which appears to be the OP’s state. Anyone familiar with CA’s regs on this?</p>
<p>I have no idea about this but it seems like a dumb idea. I have heard of many people just doing alphabetical order. </p>
<p>Personally, I did it by 1st choice to safety.</p>
<p>At the Fin Aid seminar I attended back when Happykid was in HS, the head of the Fin Aid office of the local community college told us that in order to qualify for Maryland State merit-based aid, students needed to list a private or public Maryland institution on the original FAFSA. The state system didn’t pick up FAFSA information in revised filings. We were specifically advised to list the Johns Hopkins U because it is the most expensive institution in Maryland on the grounds that money was offered on a first-come-first served basis, and that it was easier to drop from a JHU need level to a CC need lavel, than to get to a CC need level from nothing late in the game.</p>
<p>At one time that was true in Micigan also… that the state unis needed to be listed first I do not have information on the current status of that as I do not have one applying this year. If you are applying to a state public, please check if it needs to be the top school on your FAFSA.</p>
<p>sk8rmom: is the other NY form on the SUNY college website? My daughter has applied to Binghamton and this is news to me. Thanks for any info.</p>
<p>I called FAFSA. They said it makes absolutely no difference what order of schools. I could not get through to the CalGrant office and they haven’t yet responded to my email. We are going to submit the schools in alphabetical order. This will put a public CA school 2nd.</p>
<p>This came up on a different thread. For CalGrant applicants, it’s recommended that the first school listed on FAFSA be a California public:</p>
<ul>
<li>FAFSA on the Web allows the student to list up to 10 colleges/universities that will receive his/her student and parent information</li>
<li>The student should list first the California school he/she is most likely to attend</li>
<li>Then list other schools to which the student is applying for admission </li>
</ul>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/908472-fafsa-order-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/908472-fafsa-order-schools.html</a></p>
<p>I talked directly to the CalGrant office. It does not matter at all the order of schools listed.
Having to put a state school first really didn’t make much sense to me.</p>