Hi there.
I know this is odd, but here’s my situation. I only recently obtained a copy of my social security card and birth certificate after losing my ID. It turns out, my last name is hyphenated, something I NEVER knew, even my parents never used it on my high school records etc. (they never married and apparently chose this option). Therefore, I just had my university record fixed to add he hyphen. Now, I am worried about my FAFSA. I called them to explain and they said that if my application was never rejected, it’s not an issue. Just change it on my next renewal. I’m graduating this December, and plan to do grad school. I just don’t want any horrible issues to arise as I really had no clue about this error. Any ID etc. I ever received, they even put it in incorrectly! Please help!!!
Please help with what?
What would anyone recommend? Should I change my FAFSA or not as they even said it matches despite the error. I don’t know what to do. I’m done receiving anymore undergraduate aid, it takes out this term.
Just leave it alone for now. If someone wants it changed, they’ll let you know. Sometimes leaving things alone causes less trouble.
That’s pretty much what FAFSA said. I fixed everything at my school and on my records. But with a hyphen, I’d think my last name is now what it was on the FAFSA. My guess is they simply match it with the SS#, but I don’t want problems at my grad school when I apply for those loans.
I want to also know would it be like a name change? I just don’t want to be in trouble as I really did not know that was my absolute legal name. I never used a hyphen, not even my parents! And they did it.
You won’t be in trouble. Calm down. people get in trouble for fraud…not piddly stuff like this that is not fraud related in any way.
Thanks. I just hate that I’ve had the wrong name on my FAFSA now for almost my entire school year, but if it goes mostly by social, then that makes sense.
I guess I’ll leave it be and renew as normal?
Yes.
All your documents should be the same. What is on your birth certificate? Passport? What do you want it to be? It is easier to change your SS registration than to change your legal name (birth certificate), driver’s license, records.
What’s important is to be consistent.
Is the wrong name the one you lived with your whole life, or the one on the piece of paper you just found out about?
Relax, and don’t fix something that ain’t broke. You have more than enough time to put in your newly-found hyphen for future purposes.
Anything that is a renewal you should not bother to change. On some forms, you can’t even put a hyphen.
It’s hyphenated on my social and birth certificate. It wasn’t on my DL, even though initially I had to use them to get it, but now it’s fixed. Literally all my documents but FAFSA.
But now what was written as my middle name is now the beginning of my last name, and what was my last name is the second part of my hyphenated last name. I was hoping someone might have had to change their name on their FAFSA and is it a big deal?
Interesting - so do you have no middle name on the birth certificate and SS card? (Just out of curiosity).
On birth certificate yes, on social no. I always went by my first last name as my middle and second last name as my last name, no hyphen. I knew of my first middle name, but never had it on documents, nor did my first passport have it and my parents filled that out. I thought it was just a family name as my mother is European.
Why I want to know if fixing the last name issue is needed on my next FAFSA? They gave me a vague response.
With the new FSA ID, if it clears SSA, you’ll be fine. If it doesn’t clear, change it on FAFSA to what is on the SS card.
What is a little different about the FSA ID is that they don’t use the whole name but the middle initial. If your name is Mary Jones Smith-Brown, and you always used Mary S. Brown, it may kick back now. If you use Mary J. SmithBrown, you’ll probably be fine.
I used to work in a court and did name changes. People who had spelled their name Jenifer for years would come in to get an official name change from Jennifer because that was the name on the birth certificate but she’d always used Jenifer, or John not Jon. Usually it was when they went to get a passport that someone had finally called them on it and refused to issue the passport. Legally changing the name was an easier road than changing the DL, SS card, any legal permits like nursing license, library cards, bank accounts.
Thank you for the info. Yes, I always went by the first last name as my middle, which most institutions, and when I first had help doing my first FAFSA in 2011 did. It has never been rejected. I only changed my records at school last week because I finally noticed on my transcripts while applying to grad school that they had it wrong. So, my 2015-2016 FAFSA was accepted with the new FSA ID with my first name, first last name as middle, and second last name as the last name. So basically is its accepted and marched through the database, that’s that. Obviously it’s me and I am going to have more loans in the future. So you think I should just leave it? What about my exit counseling coming up?