What steps AFTER FAFSA SAI processing to ensure funds go to the right college?

congrats on getting through the FAFSA! once the schools have your FAFSA info they'll put together aid packages for your son. you don't need to do anything else with FAFSA itself but make sure your son accepts the aid package from the school he chooses to attend. each school has different deadlines for accepting their offers so watch for those!

Thank you! So there's no place on the FAFSA website where we need to indicate his final school choice? It's just handled through the individual school's financial aid office? That's a relief.

Great question! After FAFSA processing and receiving the SAI, the next steps are actually handled between your son and his chosen university. Here's what typically happens:\n\n1. Each school listed on his FAFSA will receive his information and SAI score\n2. Each school will create a financial aid package based on his SAI and their available funding\n3. These offers will come directly from each school (usually through their student portal or via email)\n4. Once your son decides which school to attend, he accepts that school's financial aid package\n5. The school then handles requesting/processing the federal funds\n\nThere's no place on the FAFSA website where you indicate the \

This is so helpful, thank you for breaking it down step by step. It's reassuring to know we don't need to go back into the FAFSA portal for any \

When my daughter went through this last year I was FREAKING OUT about the same thing!! The whole system is so confusing. But basically after FAFSA the ball is in the schools' court. Each one will send different aid packages (some WAY better than others btw) and then she just had to accept the one from the school she picked. Watch your email like a hawk though because some schools buried important financial aid info in random emails that almost looked like spam!!! And each school has different deadlines to accept the aid.

Thanks for sharing your experience! That's good to know about watching emails carefully. Did your daughter have to do anything special with the other schools to formally decline their aid packages, or did she just not respond to them?

She just ignored the ones she wasn't going to take. I was worried about that too but apparently it's normal! If they don't hear back by their deadline they just give the money to someone else. The only thing she had to formally decline was a Parent Plus loan that we didn't want to take.

I had this same question when my son got his SAI! Don't worry about it too much, this is what happens next: the schools make you a financial aid offer, then you pick one school and accept THEIR offer. The money never actually goes to you directly, it goes to the school and they apply it to his account. At least that's how it worked for us last year.

Just to add some clarity, the process is designed so that each school you listed on the FAFSA will create their own unique financial aid package. This is why the system doesn't ask you to select a final school through FAFSA itself.\n\nHowever, there are a few important things to watch for:\n1. Some schools require additional forms beyond FAFSA (like the CSS Profile or institutional forms)\n2. Many schools have verification processes where they'll request additional documentation\n3. Your son needs to actively accept each component of aid through his chosen school's system\n\nIf your son gets selected for verification by any school, be prepared to submit additional documentation quickly. This is where many students face delays in receiving their aid packages. \n\nAlso, when he does decide on a school, it's a good practice (though not required) to withdraw applications from other schools so they can reallocate aid to other students.

Thank you for this detailed information! He hasn't been selected for verification yet, but I'll keep an eye out for that possibility. And I hadn't thought about withdrawing applications from other schools - that's a good point about letting them reallocate the aid.

Hey there! I work in college admissions and deal with this confusion ALL THE TIME. The others are correct - there's nothing more you need to do with the FAFSA itself. Each college will create a financial aid package based on the SAI score.\n\nWhat many parents don't realize is that the aid packages can vary DRAMATICALLY between schools. Two schools with the same tuition might offer totally different aid amounts based on their own funding formulas and available institutional aid.\n\nMake sure your son logs into each school's student portal regularly. This is usually where the financial aid offers will appear, often before any email notification is sent. Each school has its own timeline, but most try to get packages out by early April for fall enrollment.\n\nOne last tip: If one school offers a significantly better package than his preferred school, don't be afraid to contact the preferred school's financial aid office and politely ask if they can review their offer. Sometimes they can match or come closer to competing offers!

Thank you so much for this insider perspective! I'll definitely make sure he's checking each portal regularly. And that's a great tip about potentially negotiating with the financial aid office - I wouldn't have thought that was possible!

You're welcome! And yes, many families don't realize that aid packages can sometimes be negotiable. The key is to be polite and frame it as

The whole system is a MESS. When my daughter went through this, one school lost her FAFSA information completely and we had to call the Federal Student Aid office like 5 times to fix it. Each time we called we sat on hold for over 2 HOURS and then got disconnected! Finally we used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that held our place in line and called us back when an agent was available. Saved us so much time and frustration! They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ\n\nBut yeah, to answer your question - you don't need to do anything else with FAFSA directly. Just make sure each school has received the information (check their portals) and then wait for their individual aid offers.

Oh wow, that sounds incredibly frustrating! I'm going to bookmark that service just in case we run into similar issues. Thanks for sharing your experience and the tip!

guys i think yall are making this more complicated than it needs to be lol. i just went thru this last year and literally all that happens is: 1) fafsa gives u the SAI, 2) schools make u offers, 3) u pick a school and accept their offer. thats it. the money goes straight to the school, u never even see it

this is the simplest explanation and totally right! 👍

One thing I want to add that hasn't been mentioned yet - make sure your son completes entrance counseling and signs the Master Promissory Note (MPN) if he's accepting any federal student loans as part of his aid package. These are required steps that many first-time borrowers don't realize until the last minute.\n\nAlso, keep in mind that the first half of his federal aid will be applied to fall semester charges, and the second half to spring semester. Some schools require students to confirm their enrollment for spring semester before the second disbursement occurs.\n\nLastly, if he's receiving any scholarships from external organizations (not through the school or federal aid), he'll need to inform his college's financial aid office about these so they can be properly incorporated into his overall aid package.

Thank you! I didn't know about the entrance counseling and MPN requirements. Are those things he would do through his chosen school's portal, or through studentaid.gov?

Great question! Both the entrance counseling and the MPN are completed through studentaid.gov (using the same FSA ID he used for the FAFSA application). However, he shouldn't do them until he knows which loans he's accepting from which school. The school's award letter will provide instructions, but typically he'll need to complete these requirements after accepting his aid package but before the funds can disburse to his student account.

am i the only one who thinks it's ridiculous that we have to figure all this out on our own?? the whole system is so complicated and then they expect 17-18 year olds to understand it all?? my son had no clue what was happening and i barely understood it myself

PREACH!! 👏 I've gone through this with 2 kids now and still find the whole process confusing. Why can't they make a simple checklist that tells you exactly what to do next?? The schools all have different systems too which makes it even worse.