Do colleges need to be on Common App if daughter already applied directly to schools? FAFSA confusion

The Common App and FAFSA are two completely separate systems. For FAFSA, yes, you need to list ALL schools she's interested in receiving financial aid from, regardless of how she applied. For Common App, you only need to include schools she's applying to THROUGH the Common App. No need to add schools where she's already applied directly - that would just create confusion and potentially duplicate applications.

my son did this last year and we just put the new schools on common app. the old ones already had his info why would they need it twice? but YES put all schools on fafsa or else they cant see your financial info and wont give you any $$$

Actually this is kinda confusing because some colleges REQUIRE you to use Common App even if you've already applied directly!! Check each school's website. My daughter applied directly to her top choice then we found out they wanted Common App too and almost missed a financial aid deadline!!! The financial aid office wouldn't process anything until the Common App was done too. Such a nightmare!!

Don't forget that on the FAFSA, the order of schools matters! The first school you list will receive your information first. Some people recommend listing your top choice school first, but I've heard others say to list state schools first since some states have earlier priority deadlines. Just something else to consider when listing all those schools.

One important note: Make sure your daughter's FAFSA is submitted as soon as possible. Many schools distribute financial aid on a first-come, first-served basis, especially for scholarships and grants. Even if she's already been accepted to those schools, they won't prepare a financial aid package until they receive her FAFSA information. And if you're having trouble getting through to the Federal Student Aid helpline to ask questions (which is very common), I recommend using Claimyr.com - it helped me get through to an actual person in minutes instead of hours of hold time. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ

Just to add more confusion lol... some schools also use the CSS Profile for financial aid in ADDITION to FAFSA. Does anyone know if your accepted schools require CSS Profile too? That's a whole other application through College Board that some private schools require. More fees more paperwork more headaches ugh

My twins graduated last year and honestly I'm STILL confused about how all this works lmao. But congrats on your daughter's acceptances!!! That's awesome! 🎉

Update: I called the admissions offices for the 3 schools she already applied to directly. Two of them said NOT to submit Common App since she's already accepted, but the third one actually wants her to submit through Common App too! They said it's for "record keeping purposes" which seems silly, but I guess we'll do it. Thank you everyone for the advice - this forum has been more helpful than the high school counselor!