When you list a school on the FAFSA, your FAFSA information is sent to the school. In order to receive most types of aid at a school, you must have listed it on your FAFSA. The school will then send you an offer of financial aid, based on the financial information they received from your FAFSA, which may include scholarships, grants, work study and loans. Unless you have enough money saved up to pay for your tuition and living expenses while at school, this is one of the simplest ways to pay for your education.
If you list more than one school on your FAFSA, all the schools that you are accepted to will send you offers of financial aid. You can then compare these offers when making your decision. Even if you are almost certain that you only want to go to one particular school, it is a good idea to apply to multiple schools and to list them on your FAFSA. One school may offer you a significantly better financial aid package.
Sometimes, if you have received a better financial aid offer from one school, you can contact another school to ask if they might be able to improve their offer of financial aid. This is more common in graduate programs where students are often offered teaching assistantships. When attempting this, you must remember that the school is not obligated to improve your aid and be sure to be polite. The best time to do this is if the school you really want to attend has not offered you enough aid to go but another school has.
If you need to add a school to your FAFSA list after filing your FAFSA, you must file a correction. Though this is generally a simple process, it takes time for the correction to go through and for the information to arrive at the intended schools. Schools often need your information early in order to offer you the best financial aid package, so adding a school at the last minute may decrease your chances of receiving ideal aid. If you think you will be applying to a school, you should include it on your FAFSA.