Can I add W&M to my FAFSA after already submitting to other schools?
OMG we just got the BEST surprise! My daughter just got accepted to William & Mary, which we honestly thought was a reach school for her! But now I'm stressing because we actually removed W&M from her FAFSA weeks ago (thinking she wouldn't get in). Now that she's been accepted, we need to add it back so they get her FAFSA info. My big worry: if she logs in and adds W&M now, will it mess up the FAFSA forms that were already sent to the other 6 schools on her list? Will those schools still get her info or will everything get delayed? Time is running out for financial aid decisions and I'm panicking a little!
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NeonNova
Congrats on William & Mary! That's awesome! nope it wont mess anything up, i added 2 schools after getting surprise acceptances last month. the other schools still got my info fine
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Ethan Wilson
•Oh thank goodness! Did you have to do anything special when you added the schools later? Or just add them like normal?
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Yuki Tanaka
Adding a school to your daughter's FAFSA after submission won't affect the other schools at all. The FAFSA information that was already sent to the original 6 schools remains intact. When you add William & Mary, your daughter's FAFSA data will simply be sent to them as well. Here's what to do: 1. Log into studentaid.gov with her FSA ID 2. Go to the FAFSA form section 3. Click "Manage My FAFSA" and select the current application 4. Choose "Add or Delete a School" 5. Enter William & Mary's school code (003705) 6. Submit the change The system will process this within 3-5 business days and send the information to W&M. No need to worry about the other schools - they already have her information in their systems.
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Ethan Wilson
•Thank you SO much for the detailed steps! That school code is super helpful. We'll do this tonight. Really appreciate the reassurance that it won't affect her other schools!
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Carmen Diaz
First off, congratulations on William & Mary! That's a fantastic accomplishment. I used to work in a financial aid office, and I can assure you that adding schools after initial submission is very common. The current FAFSA allows you to list up to 10 schools total, so if you've only listed 6 so far, you're fine to add more. One thing to know: William & Mary will be able to see all the other schools on her FAFSA. Some selective schools do consider this in their financial aid packaging (it's called "position bias"), so if W&M is her top choice, you might want to remove a couple of the other schools when you add them - but only if you're certain she won't attend those others.
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Ethan Wilson
•Wait, schools can see the OTHER schools we listed?! I had no idea! W&M is definitely her top choice now, so that's really good to know. I might remove a couple of her safety schools to show W&M is a priority. Thank you for that insider tip!
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Andre Laurent
•Just to clarify what @practical_advisor said - yes, schools can see other schools, but this mainly impacts how some private schools might award institutional aid (their own scholarships/grants), not your federal aid eligibility. Federal aid like Pell Grant and Direct Loans will be the same regardless of what schools are listed. W&M might give better merit/institutional aid if they see they're competing with similar-caliber schools.
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Emily Jackson
my son got into W&M last year and we had to add them after submitting FAFSA too lol. we actually had trouble getting through to financial aid for weeks because their office was swamped during decision time. ended up having to call FSA directly multiple times to make sure everything went through correctly. the wait times were INSANE like 2+ hours each time i called ugh
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Ethan Wilson
•Ugh, that's exactly what I'm worried about too. Their financial aid office must be so busy right now with all the acceptance letters going out. Did you eventually get it sorted out?
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Emily Jackson
•yeah it got sorted eventually but it was so stressful. my son nearly missed a scholarship deadline because we couldn't confirm they had his FAFSA info. we literally called FSA every day for a week.
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Liam Mendez
•I had the same problem trying to reach FSA last month when I needed to correct my FAFSA. After wasting hours on hold, I used Claimyr.com and got through to an agent in minutes. They have this service where they wait on hold for you then call you when an agent is ready. Saved me from losing my mind! There's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. It was so much better than waiting on hold for hours.
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Sophia Nguyen
I JUST WENT THRU THIS EXACT THING!!!! Congrats on W&M!!! My son got into his dream school last minute (Duke) and we had to add it. It literally took 5 minutes to add the school and NOTHING happened to the other schools' info. But make sure you do it ASAP because W&M probably has priority deadlines for fin aid!!
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Ethan Wilson
•Thank you!!! And congrats on Duke - that's amazing! I'm going to add W&M tonight. You're right about the priority deadlines - I need to check those ASAP. Did Duke's financial aid office contact your son quickly after adding them?
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Sophia Nguyen
•thx! duke actually emailed him 3 days after we added them to his fafsa. they were super on top of it. but i know every school is different with their timelines. good luck!!!
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Jacob Smithson
I'm confused about how everyone's submitting FAFSA so early. Aren't we supposed to wait until we have our taxes done for the year? I'm still waiting to file mine. Am I behind the curve here?
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Yuki Tanaka
•For the 2024-2025 academic year, FAFSA is using tax information from 2022 (the "prior-prior year"), not 2023 taxes. This change was made a few years ago to make it easier for families to complete the FAFSA earlier. For the 2025-2026 academic year, you'll use 2023 tax information. So you're not behind for next year's FAFSA, but if you're trying to get aid for this coming fall, you should submit ASAP as many schools have priority deadlines in February/March.
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Jacob Smithson
•Ohhh that makes so much more sense! Thank you for clearing that up. I was totally confused and thought I was way behind.
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Andre Laurent
Adding to the helpful advice here - while adding W&M won't impact your daughter's existing FAFSA submissions, it's worth noting that W&M calculates their Student Aid Index (SAI, formerly EFC) using both the FAFSA and the CSS Profile. If you haven't submitted the CSS Profile to W&M yet, you should do that immediately, as their institutional aid calculations rely heavily on it. Also, after adding W&M to the FAFSA, I'd recommend emailing their financial aid office directly to confirm they received her information. Include her full name and student ID in the email. This creates a paper trail and helps ensure nothing falls through the cracks during their busy season.
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Ethan Wilson
•Oh shoot - I completely forgot about the CSS Profile! Thanks for the reminder. We'll need to submit that right away too. And great tip about emailing the financial aid office directly - I wouldn't have thought to do that.
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Andre Laurent
•Happy to help! And one last tip: W&M sometimes has supplemental financial aid forms on their own portal that aren't part of FAFSA or CSS Profile. Once you've submitted both, check her applicant portal for any additional requirements.
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