Adding colleges to FAFSA after submission - is it possible?

You absolutely can add more schools later! When you submit your FAFSA, you can list up to 10 schools initially, but you don't need to have applied to all of them yet. After submission, you can log back in anytime and add/remove schools. This won't affect your SAI calculation at all. Just make sure you meet the earliest priority deadline for any school your daughter is seriously considering, even if she hasn't officially applied yet.

we did this last yr. submitted w/ only 5 schools then my son decided to apply to 3 more later. just logged back in and added them. super easy took like 5 min

To add a bit more detail: The FAFSA allows you to list up to 10 schools at once. If your daughter needs to add more than 10 total, you'll have to remove some schools first before adding new ones. Just be aware that schools can only see your FAFSA information when they're on your list - so if you remove a school and they haven't already downloaded your information, they won't have access to it until you add them back. Also, the order you list schools doesn't matter for federal aid purposes, but some states do use the order for state aid decisions (with in-state public schools getting priority if listed first). Check your state's rules about this if you're concerned about state grants.

I had a NIGHTMARE trying to add schools last month. The studentaid.gov site kept crashing when I tried to log in. Took me FOUR DAYS of trying to finally get in to add two more schools for my son. The schools' financial aid deadline was approaching and I was freaking out. FINALLY found out about Claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual FSA agent in about 4 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. She was able to add the schools from her end while I was on the phone. Saved me so much stress! They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ

The college selection part of FAFSA is seriously one of the WORST designed features!! You know what's ridiculous?? Some states actually DO care about the order but the FAFSA doesn't TELL YOU THAT anywhere obvious on the form! My daughter lost out on a state grant because we put her safety school first and her preferred state school second. No one warned us this mattered! The whole system is designed to trip you up!!

do u know if theres a way to see which schools have already downloaded ur fafsa? my sons financial aid portal at one school says they never got it but im 100% sure we added them 3 weeks ago

Thanks everyone for the helpful information! I went ahead and submitted the FAFSA with her current 3 schools. Glad to know I can easily add the others later. One more question - after I add new schools later, is there anything special I need to do to notify those schools that the FAFSA was updated with their info? Or do they automatically get notified?

Just wondering...has anyone had issues with the new FAFSA sending schools the wrong SAI? My daughter's friend had her info sent to 6 schools and 2 of them somehow got different SAI numbers than the others. Trying to figure out if this is a common glitch I should watch out for.

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who went through this exact situation last year! I submitted our FAFSA in December with only 4 schools listed, then my daughter decided to apply to 3 more schools in January and February. Adding them was super straightforward - just logged back into studentaid.gov, went to the school selection section, and added the new school codes. Each time I added a school, I got a confirmation email within a few hours. One tip: keep a spreadsheet of all the schools and their FAFSA deadlines. Even though you can add schools later, you still want to make sure you're meeting their priority deadlines. Some schools have earlier deadlines for maximum aid consideration. Also, double-check those school codes when you add them - I accidentally put in the wrong code for one school and didn't realize until they contacted us saying they never received our FAFSA!

As someone who's currently going through this process with my son, I can confirm that adding schools later is definitely possible and pretty straightforward! We submitted our FAFSA in early February with 5 schools, then added 2 more in March when he got some unexpected acceptances. The process took maybe 10 minutes total. One thing I'd add to the great advice already here - make sure you have your FSA ID login info saved somewhere secure. I panicked when I couldn't remember my password and had to go through the reset process, which delayed adding schools by a few days. Also, if you're dealing with any state-specific aid programs, definitely research whether school order matters in your state before you submit. Some states are pickier about this than others! The new FAFSA system has its quirks, but the ability to modify your school list after submission is actually one of the better features. Good luck with your daughter's applications!

Just want to echo what everyone's saying here - you can definitely add schools after submission! I'm going through this right now with my youngest. We submitted in January with her top 6 choices, then she got waitlisted at her dream school and decided to apply to 3 backup options. Adding them to the FAFSA was honestly the easiest part of the whole process. One thing I learned the hard way though - if you're applying for any merit-based aid or special programs at those later schools, make sure to check if they have earlier FAFSA deadlines than their regular financial aid deadlines. My daughter missed out on a competitive scholarship at one school because even though we met their general aid deadline, the scholarship had an earlier FAFSA requirement that we didn't know about. Always worth calling the financial aid office directly if you're unsure about timing!