5 Things To Do After Filing Your FAFSA

Congratulations! You submitted your 2016–17 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®)! Wondering what happens next? Here are a few things to look out for:

1. Review Your Student Aid Report (SAR)

After you submit your FAFSA, you’ll get a Student Aid Report (SAR). Your SAR is a summary of the FAFSA data you submitted. Once you have submitted your FAFSA, you’ll get your SAR within three days (if you signed your FAFSA online) or three weeks (if you mailed a signature page.)

Any student with an FSA ID can view and print his or her SAR by logging in to fafsa.gov and clicking on the appropriate school year. This is also where you can check the status of your application if you have not received your SAR yet. Once you get your SAR, you should review it carefully to make sure it’s correct and complete.

2. Review Your EFC

When reviewing your SAR, look for the Expected Family Contribution (EFC)  number. Your EFC can be found in the box at the top of the first page of your SAR, under your Social Security number.

Your EFC is a measure of your family’s financial strength and is calculated according to a formula established by law. This formula considers the following about you (and your parents, if you’re dependent):

• Taxed and untaxed income
• Assets
• Benefits (such as unemployment or Social Security)
• Family size
• Number of family members who will attend college during the year

Schools use your EFC to determine your federal student aid eligibility and your financial aid award. However, it’s important to remember that your EFC is not the amount of money your family will have to pay for college nor is it the amount of federal student aid you will receive. It is a number used by your school to calculate how much financial aid you are eligible to receive. Contact your school’s financial aid office if you have any questions about how they calculate financial aid.

3. Make Corrections If You Need To

It’s important to make sure that everything on your FAFSA is correct and complete, as your school may ask you to verify some of the information. Most of the questions on the FAFSA want to know your situation as of the day you sign the FAFSA. However, there are some instances in which you’ll want to (or be required to) change the information you reported.

TIP: You must wait for your most recent FAFSA submission to process before you can update or make corrections to your FAFSA. That usually take about three days.

Do you need to update any information?

• Log in with your FSA ID.
• Click “Make FAFSA Corrections.”
• Corrections should be processed in 3–5 days and you should receive a revised SAR.
• After you click “SUBMIT” you cannot make another correction until your FAFSA has been processed successfully.

Did you submit your FAFSA using income and tax estimates?

• Log in with your FSA ID.
• Navigate to the “Financial Information” section.
• Indicate that you have “Already completed” your taxes.
• If you are eligible, you will have the option to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. If not, you may update your tax information manually.

Has your situation changed?

Most FAFSA information cannot be updated because it must be accurate as of the day you originally signed your FAFSA. However, there are certain items that you must update. If there will be a significant change in your or your parent’s income for the present year or if your family has other circumstances that cannot be reported on the FAFSA, you should speak to the financial aid office at the school you plan to attend.

4. Review Your Financial Aid History

The last page of your SAR includes information about your financial aid history, specifically the student loans you have taken out. It’s important to keep track of how much you’re borrowing and to understand the terms and conditions of the loan.

TIP: You can always access your financial aid history by logging into My Federal Student Aid. Make sure you have your FSA ID ready.

5. Double-Check With Your Schools

Lastly, make sure that you double-check with the financial aid offices at the schools you applied to. Sometimes schools need additional paperwork or have other deadlines. You never want to leave money on the table!

Here’s a video on what happens after the FAFSA. You can find more videos on our YouTube channel.

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Sandra Vuong is a Digital Engagement Strategist at Federal Student Aid.

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