Can FAFSA be changed to 'opt out' after submission for international college?

omg my son went thru this exact same thing last year!! he decided on a school in london after submitting fafsa. we just called the school's financial aid office and they said dont worry about it, just let the fafsa sit there. its not like theyre going to force u to take the money lol. but there was no way to undo it once submitted from what we found out

You're correct that federal financial aid (grants, direct loans, work-study) cannot be used at foreign institutions unless they participate in the Federal Student Aid program. Very few foreign universities do. Regarding your question about modifying the FAFSA after submission: 1. You don't need to formally "opt out" - simply not using the aid effectively accomplishes the same thing 2. You can make corrections to the FAFSA now (don't need to wait until March) by logging into studentaid.gov and selecting "Make FAFSA Corrections" 3. There are potential benefits to keeping a completed FAFSA: - Some private scholarships require FAFSA completion regardless of where you attend - If your daughter changes her mind and decides to attend a US institution, you're already set - Your state may have financial aid programs for students studying abroad I suggest contacting both the Scottish university's financial aid office and your state's higher education agency to ask about potential funding options that might use FAFSA data.

Congrats to your daughter! My son went to university in Ireland and we learned that while fed aid won't work, some schools have their own scholarships for international students that sometimes ask for FAFSA info to evaluate need. So it might not be totally useless. Also we found some study abroad scholarships from US orgs that required FAFSA. But yeah most of the regular FAFSA stuff won't apply for foreign schools.

I work in financial aid, and I can tell you there's no rush to change anything. The FAFSA itself doesn't commit your daughter to anything - it's just an application. Federal aid won't be disbursed unless your daughter actively accepts it at a participating US institution. That said, there are a few legitimate reasons to keep the FAFSA active: 1. Some US-based private scholarships do require FAFSA completion 2. If she changes her mind about Scotland (happens more often than you'd think!) 3. Some study abroad programs through US universities can use federal aid If you're absolutely certain she's attending the Scottish university and won't be applying for any US scholarships that require FAFSA data, then you can just ignore it. No need to formally opt out.

Just wanted to throw out there that if ur still trying to reach someone at Federal Student Aid to ask this directly (which isn't a bad idea), I had ZERO luck getting through on my own. Kept getting disconnected after waiting for like an hour. I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) and they got me connected to a real person in about 15 minutes. They have this system that holds ur place in line and calls u when an agent is ready. Saved me hours of frustration. They have a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ

NOBODY TOLD ME federal aid doesn't work overseas!! my daughter is also going to school in England next year and we already did all the FAFSA stuff and she got offered a pell grant. are you saying she can't use that money??? this is so frustrating why doesn't the FAFSA site make this clear?!?!

I'm so stressed about this exact situation! My twins are both applying to colleges in the US and Canada, and I have no idea how to handle the FAFSA. Do I need to submit separate applications? Does Canada even use FAFSA? What happens if one goes to the US and one goes to Canada? Will it mess up their financial aid if I included both countries' schools? The FAFSA website is so confusing about international stuff!