Missing high school in FAFSA dropdown - can't continue application!

same thing happened with my sons school last year!! its so frustrating they dont update their lists. call the fafsa number but prepare to wait like 3 hrs lol

This is actually a common issue with newer or smaller schools. I work in college admissions and see this frequently. You have two options: 1. You can select the closest public high school in your district as a temporary placeholder to continue the application. This won't affect her SAI calculation or aid eligibility. After submitting, call FSA to update the record with the correct school. 2. Contact your school's counseling office and ask for their Federal School Code (if they have one). Sometimes schools exist in the system but under different naming conventions than you'd expect. If they don't have a code, go with option 1. Don't worry - your daughter won't lose eligibility because of this technical issue!

Ugh this system is so broken!!! This happens EVERY YEAR with smaller schools and they STILL haven't fixed it! My daughter couldn't find her performing arts magnet school last year and we ended up having to list some random school then spent 2 MONTHS trying to get it corrected after submission. The whole thing is ridiculous - they should just have a manual entry option but NOOOOO that would be too LOGICAL for the government!!! 🤬

I've helped dozens of families with this exact issue. The suggestion to use a placeholder school will work, but you should know that calling FSA to fix it afterward can be extremely difficult due to high call volumes (3+ hour waits are common). If you want to avoid the long wait, I recommend using Claimyr (claimyr.com). It's a service that navigates the phone system for you and calls you back when an agent is ready. Saved me hours when helping students with FAFSA issues last cycle. They have a video demo you can check out: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ Alternatively, you can visit your local college's financial aid office - they often have direct lines to FSA and can help facilitate corrections.

my cousin works at fafsa call center says they get this question all day everyday lol just put any school nearby and fix it later its not a big deal

I just went through this last week! Our solution was to contact the high school administration directly. They told us they'd recently changed their official name with the Department of Education but it hadn't updated in all systems yet. The counselor gave us the exact name to search for (which was different than what we were trying) and we found it! Ask your daughter's school if they might be listed under a different name variation - worth checking before going through all the hassle of corrections later.

Am I the only one who thinks its weird that they need high school info anyway??? Like what does that have to do with college financial aid?? My community college didnt even care what high school I went to when I applied there so why does fafsa need to know? Just another way they make this process complicated for no reason imo

wait but what about the Federal School Code thing the other person mentioned? does ur charter school actually have one of those? might be worth checking the school's website too sometimes they have fafsa info on there

This is yet ANOTHER example of how the FAFSA "simplification" is actually making things MORE complicated! My daughter couldn't find her high school either, so we just picked a random one from the list. Then we got selected for verification, and I'm convinced it was because of the high school mismatch. The whole system is designed to make us fail.

Quick update - I talked to my daughter's financial aid office today about a different issue and mentioned this thread. They said charter schools sometimes have to register separately with FSA to be included in the high school dropdown. If the school is newer than 2-3 years, they might not be in the system yet. They said using a nearby public school as a placeholder is totally fine and won't affect aid amounts AT ALL.

I'm a high school counselor and see this issue constantly with newer charter schools and alternative programs. Here's what I tell families: First, try searching for your school using just the city name or district - sometimes schools are listed under umbrella organizations. Second, if you absolutely can't find it, go ahead and select any high school in your area as a placeholder. The key thing is to DOCUMENT what you did - take a screenshot of the dropdown showing your school isn't there, and write down exactly which placeholder school you selected. This will make it much easier when you call FSA later to correct it. Also, contact your school's main office and ask them to reach out to FSA directly to get added to the database - this helps future students avoid the same problem!

This is such a frustrating but common issue! I went through the exact same thing with my son's application last year. His small private school wasn't in the dropdown either. We ended up doing exactly what others have suggested - used our local public high school as a placeholder and called FSA afterward to correct it. The whole process took about 2 weeks to get fully resolved, but it didn't delay his aid at all. One tip: when you do call FSA, have your daughter's FSA ID, Social Security number, and the correct school information ready. Also ask them to add a note to her file explaining the correction so if any questions come up later during verification, there's already documentation. Don't stress too much - this won't hurt her aid eligibility at all!

I just dealt with this exact same issue a few months ago! My daughter's school (a STEM magnet program) wasn't showing up either. What worked for us was calling the school's registrar office directly - they actually had dealt with this before and gave us the exact search terms to use. Turns out their official federal name was slightly different than what everyone calls the school. They were listed as "River Valley Academy Charter School" instead of just "River Valley Academy" or something like that. Also try searching by the school's NCES ID if you can find it on their website. If all else fails, the placeholder method really does work - just make sure to write down exactly what you did so you can explain it later. Don't panic, this won't mess up her aid!

Hey! I just went through this exact same nightmare with my nephew's FAFSA application last month. His small religious academy wasn't showing up either. Here's what finally worked for us after trying everything else: we contacted the school's main office and asked them for their "IPEDS Unit ID" number - this is different from the Federal School Code. Once we had that number, we were able to search for it directly in the FAFSA system and found the school listed under a completely different variation of the name. It's worth asking your daughter's school office if they have this information before going the placeholder route. The whole process was so stressful but we got it sorted out without having to make any corrections later. Good luck - you've got this!

I'm a parent who went through this exact same issue two years ago with my son's application! His small charter school wasn't in the dropdown either, and I was absolutely panicking about missing deadlines. Here's what I learned: Don't waste time trying to search every possible variation - it's incredibly frustrating and time-consuming. Just pick the closest public high school in your district as a placeholder and move forward with the application. The most important thing is getting it submitted before deadlines! Once you submit, you can call FSA to correct the school information, but honestly, unless your state has specific aid tied to which high school you attended, it doesn't really matter for federal aid calculations. My son got all his aid processed normally and we never even bothered to correct the high school info. The colleges he applied to had his actual transcript showing his real school anyway. Don't let this technical glitch derail your whole application - just work around it and keep moving forward!

As someone who just went through the FAFSA process with my daughter last year, I completely understand your frustration! We had a similar issue with her small arts magnet school not appearing in the dropdown. Here's what I wish I had known from the start: Don't spend too much time searching every variation - it's incredibly time-consuming and stressful when you have deadlines looming. What ended up working for us was calling the school's guidance counselor first thing in the morning and asking for three pieces of information: 1) Their Federal School Code, 2) Their IPEDS Unit ID, and 3) The exact name they're registered under with the Department of Education. Armed with this info, we were able to find the school in the system - it was listed under a completely different name format than we expected. If that doesn't work within a day or two, absolutely go with the placeholder method that others have suggested. I know several families who did this and had zero issues with their aid processing. The key is not to let this technical problem delay your submission - meeting deadlines is more important than having the perfect school listed. Your daughter's transcripts will show her actual school anyway when she applies to colleges. You've got this - don't let the system's quirks stress you out too much!

I just went through this exact same situation with my daughter's FAFSA application! Her small performing arts charter school wasn't showing up in the dropdown either, and I was getting so stressed about missing deadlines. Here's what ultimately worked for us after trying everything: First, I called the school's main office (not just the counselor) and asked specifically for their "official Department of Education registration name" - turns out they were listed as "River Valley Academy of [City Name]" instead of just "River Valley Academy." Schools sometimes register with slightly different names than what they're commonly called. If that doesn't work, I'd honestly recommend just using a nearby public school as a placeholder and submitting the application. I know it feels wrong, but multiple families in our area did this last year with zero issues - their aid processed normally and the colleges had the correct transcripts anyway. The most important thing is getting that FAFSA submitted before your scholarship deadlines! This technical glitch shouldn't derail your daughter's entire financial aid process. You're doing great helping her through this - don't let the system's quirks discourage you!