Should I complete FAFSA before college acceptance letters arrive? (Early Action timing)

Absolutely fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible! You should never wait for acceptances. The FAFSA becomes available October 1 each year, and many schools have priority deadlines for financial aid consideration. Some financial aid is first-come, first-served, particularly at the state level. You can list up to 10 schools on your FAFSA that will receive your information, and you can always add more schools later through your studentaid.gov account. Early submission is especially important for Early Action since those financial aid packages will be calculated soon after acceptance. If you wait until acceptances arrive, you might miss priority deadlines and reduce your aid opportunities.

did mine before i even apply 2 colleges. my counselor said do it RIGHT AWAY when it opens!!! they take it at ALL schools so just send it everywhere ur kid might go

Wait a sec - while it's true you should complete FAFSA early, you need to understand how the SAI (Student Aid Index) works. Your SAI is the same regardless of WHICH school your student attends - it's based on your family's financial information. What changes is what each individual school does with that SAI number and how generous their institutional aid is. But I still recommend filing ASAP because: 1. State grants often have early deadlines 2. Some schools have separate priority financial aid deadlines 3. If there are any issues/errors in your application, you'll have time to fix them Just list all schools your daughter applied to. You can always add more schools later through your studentaid.gov account.

When I tried completing my son's FAFSA early last year, we ended up having to call the Federal Student Aid hotline 4 TIMES because of technical issues with the parent section. Took forever to get through, was disconnected twice, and wasted hours. Finally I tried using Claimyr (claimyr.com) after someone recommended it - they got me through to an actual FSA agent in under 15 minutes who fixed our account. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ But yes, absolutely file early! We learned the hard way that waiting can cost you money.

IT'S RIDICULOUS THEY MAKE US FILL OUT FAFSA BEFORE WE EVEN KNOW WHERE OUR KIDS ARE GOING!!!! The whole system is designed to be confusing and frustrating. And then they expect us to pay $80K a year after making us jump through 500 hoops to MAYBE get a tiny scholarship. The American higher education system is BROKEN.

One more thing to consider: if your daughter is applying Early Action rather than Early Decision, she's not committed to attend if accepted. This means you'll likely be comparing financial aid packages from multiple schools. The earlier you submit FAFSA, the earlier all those schools can prepare their offers, giving you more time to compare and potentially negotiate better packages before the May 1 deposit deadline.

Just to share our experience - we filed FAFSA in October for my son's applications. He applied to 8 schools (3 early action). When acceptances came in January/February, all the financial aid packages were ready within days of the acceptance letters. One school even included the aid offer IN the acceptance packet! Made our decision process so much smoother having all the financial information ready at once.

my brother did early action too and my parents waited til he got accepted to do fafsa and it was a HUGE mistake!!! the school said they missed priority deadline so he got waaaaay less money than he could have. don't wait!!!

As someone who works in college financial aid, I can confirm everything others have said about filing early. Here's what many families don't realize: some states like California and Illinois have grant programs that literally run out of money during the year. If you file late, the money might be gone even if you qualify! Also, don't stress too much about the process itself. The new FAFSA is actually much shorter than previous years - most families can complete it in 30-45 minutes if they have their tax information ready. Just make sure you and your daughter both create FSA IDs beforehand at studentaid.gov, and have your 2023 tax return handy. You've got this!

I'm in the same boat with my son's Early Action applications! Reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful. I had been going back and forth on whether to wait, but it sounds like the consensus is crystal clear - file FAFSA ASAP. The point about state grants running out of funding is particularly eye-opening. I had no idea that could happen! Quick question for those who've been through this - when you list the schools on the FAFSA, do you need to know the specific campus codes, or can you search by school name? My son applied to a few state schools with multiple campuses and I want to make sure I'm sending it to the right places. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences - this thread has saved us from potentially making a costly timing mistake!

As a parent who just went through this process last year, I can't stress enough how important it is to file FAFSA early! We made the mistake of waiting until February thinking we needed to see acceptances first, and it cost us. My daughter missed out on several state grants that had already been distributed to earlier applicants, even though she was academically qualified. What really surprised me was learning that each school has their own priority deadline for financial aid - some as early as January 1st! The FAFSA opens October 1st for a reason. Also, don't worry about not knowing which school she'll attend yet - you can list all 6 schools she applied to, and the financial aid offices will prepare packages for all of them. This actually works in your favor because you'll be able to compare aid offers side by side when making your final decision. One practical tip: gather all your tax documents and create your FSA IDs now before you start the application. Having everything ready makes the process much smoother. Good luck!

Just wanted to add my perspective as someone who works at a college admissions office - we actually encourage families to submit FAFSA even BEFORE applications are complete! The reason is that financial aid processing takes time on our end too. When we receive Early Action applications in November, we're simultaneously pulling FAFSA data to begin preliminary aid calculations. The families who submit FAFSA in October often receive their financial aid award letters within 24-48 hours of their acceptance letters. Those who wait until after acceptances can experience delays of 2-4 weeks for aid processing, which creates unnecessary stress during the decision-making period. Also, don't forget about CSS Profile if any of her schools require it - that's a separate form from FAFSA but equally important for institutional aid at many private colleges. Check each school's financial aid website to see what forms they require and their specific deadlines. Some schools have different deadlines for Early Action vs Regular Decision applicants. The bottom line: there's literally no downside to filing early, but significant potential downsides to filing late. Get those forms in as soon as possible!

As a financial aid counselor, I want to emphasize something that hasn't been mentioned yet - the verification process! About 30% of FAFSA applications get selected for verification, which means you'll need to submit additional tax documents and forms to confirm your information. This process can take 2-4 weeks, so filing early gives you a crucial buffer. If you wait until after acceptances arrive and then get selected for verification, you could be looking at aid packages arriving in late March or April - cutting it very close to enrollment deposit deadlines. I've seen families lose out on thousands in aid simply because verification delays pushed them past school-specific deadlines. Also, a quick tip: make sure your daughter's name on the FAFSA matches EXACTLY what's on her Social Security card. Even small discrepancies (like using a nickname instead of full legal name) can trigger delays in processing. This is one of the most common issues we see that could easily be avoided. File early, double-check all names and SSNs, and you'll be in great shape!