FAFSA Transfer Question: List future colleges now or wait until transfer time?
My daughter is definitely attending our local community college next fall, and we're nearly done with her FAFSA for 2025-2026. I'm confused about the college selection part - should we ONLY list the community college since that's where she'll start, or should we also add the 4-year universities she's planning to transfer to after getting her associate's degree? I'm not sure if adding those transfer schools now would help her get better aid packages when she transfers, or if we'd need to submit a completely new FAFSA when she transfers in 2 years anyway. Anyone know the right approach here?
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Connor Murphy
You should only list schools she's actually applying to right now. When she transfers in 2 years, you'll submit a new FAFSA for that academic year and list the transfer schools at that time. The aid packages are calculated year by year, so listing future schools now won't impact her aid when she transfers later.
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Zainab Ali
•Thank you! That makes sense. I was overthinking this and worried we'd miss out on something by not listing those future schools. Appreciate the clarification.
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Yara Nassar
we had to do a whole new fafsa when my son transfered from community college to state univ last year. dont bother listing the other schools til shes ready to apply there
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Zainab Ali
•Thanks for sharing your experience! Glad to hear from someone who's been through the transfer process already.
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StarGazer101
Omg I'm in the exact same boat with my son!!! I was stressing about this too because his counselor told him to list ALL potential schools but that seems weird since he's 100% going to community college first. The FAFSA already takes forever to fill out, why would I waste time adding schools he won't attend for years?? The whole system is SO confusing.
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Connor Murphy
•High school counselors sometimes give this advice because they want to keep options open for students, but for definite community college starters, it's unnecessary. You're right to focus just on the school he'll actually attend this coming year.
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Keisha Jackson
The official guidance from Federal Student Aid is to only list schools where your student is currently applying. You'll submit a new FAFSA when she's ready to transfer, and her community college financial aid office can help with that process when the time comes. I've worked with many transfer students and this is the standard approach.
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Paolo Romano
just wanted to add that community colleges usually have transfer counselors who help with all this stuff when it's time to transfer! they helped my daughter with both the transfer applications AND the new FAFSA for her university
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Zainab Ali
•That's good to know! I'll make sure she connects with the transfer services when the time comes.
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Amina Diop
I tried calling the Federal Student Aid helpline to ask this EXACT question last month and was on hold for over an hour before getting disconnected. So frustrating! I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an actual person at FSA. They have this service where they wait on hold for you and call when an agent is ready. There's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent confirmed you only list schools for the upcoming year and do a new FAFSA for transfer schools later. Saved me a ton of time and stress!
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StarGazer101
•OMG thank you for this tip!! I've been trying to call FSA for days about verification questions. Definitely checking this out.
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Oliver Schmidt
•I've used this service too - it's legit. Saved me from spending my entire lunch break on hold with FSA.
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Oliver Schmidt
One thing to keep in mind: if your daughter gets any merit scholarships or institutional aid at the community college, those won't transfer to the new school. When she transfers, she'll get a completely new financial aid package based on the FAFSA you submit for that academic year, along with whatever transfer scholarships the new school might offer. So you're basically starting fresh with financial aid when she transfers.
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Zainab Ali
•That's really helpful information. I'll make sure we research transfer scholarships at her target universities so we can plan ahead financially.
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StarGazer101
WAIT - what about state grants though?? My son has the state grant for community college. Will he lose that when he transfers or does it follow him to any in-state school?
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Keisha Jackson
•It depends on your specific state grant program. Some state grants can follow students between in-state institutions if they maintain eligibility requirements (like GPA minimums), while others are institution-specific. Your son should check with both his current financial aid office and the state grant program directly about transfer policies.
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Yara Nassar
my daughters friend listed like 15 schools on her fafsa and ended up super confused when she got all diffrent aid packages and then had to decide where to go based on cost. community college first is way smart, save $$$
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Connor Murphy
Just to summarize for anyone else with this question: 1. Only list schools on the FAFSA where your student is applying for the upcoming academic year 2. Complete a new FAFSA when your student is ready to transfer (for that future academic year) 3. Aid packages don't carry over between schools - each school creates its own package 4. The community college will likely have transfer counselors who can help with the process when the time comes
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Zainab Ali
•Thank you for this clear summary! This thread has been super helpful.
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Oliver Cheng
This is such a common question for community college families! I went through this exact same process with my daughter two years ago and made the mistake of listing her "dream schools" on the initial FAFSA even though she was definitely starting at community college. It just created confusion and we ended up getting financial aid award letters from schools she wasn't even attending. Save yourself the headache and just list the community college for now. When she's ready to transfer, you'll do a fresh FAFSA for that year and can focus on getting the best aid package from her actual transfer options at that time.
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Olivia Harris
•That's exactly what I was worried about - getting confusing award letters from schools we're not even considering yet! Thank you for sharing your experience. It's reassuring to hear from someone who's been through this process. I'll definitely stick to just listing the community college for now.
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Luca Bianchi
This is really helpful to see so many people confirming the same approach! I'm a first-time FAFSA filler and was definitely overthinking this. My son is also planning the community college to 4-year university route, and I kept second-guessing myself about whether we needed to list his potential transfer schools now. Reading everyone's experiences here has given me confidence to just focus on the community college for this year's FAFSA. Thanks for asking this question - it's clearly something a lot of us community college parents stress about!
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