FAFSA Corrections for Federal Student Financial Aid

But some things cannot be updated. Your application is supposed to show your what your financial situation looked like on the day it was signed.

If things have changed since then, your EFC data elements can be adjusted (not corrected) but only by a financial aid administrator at your school, not by you.

If your National Smart Grant, your Academic Competitiveness Grant, or your Pell grant eligibility would change as a result of a correction, then the correction must be made.

If your eligibility for these grants would not change by making the correction, then you only need to make the change if it is flagged as not matching other data- like an incorrect Social Security number, or a wrong answer to a citizenship question.

There is one type of update (information that has changed since you filed your application) that always requires FAFSA corrections: a change in your dependency status, not caused by a change in your marital situation*.

FAFSA Corrections...FAFSA Website or Student Aid Report

If you originally filed on the web, but you want to send in a paper SAR, you can call 1-800-433-3243 and they will mail you one. (Name,SS number and date of birth, required.)

If you simply want to add schools or change your contact information, it can even be done over the phone... 1-800-4-FED-AID... as long as you know your Data Release Number (DRN). This is the 4-digit number (not your PIN) that was randomly assigned when you first applied (upper, right-hand corner).

The deadline for FAFSA corrections (for the 2012-2013 form) whether by paper SAR, FAFSA website or CPS Online (by a financial aid administrator) is September 17, 2013.

2012-2013 FAFSA Corrections Changes

1. If it has been determined that your form needs to be corrected, there will be a "Make FAFSA Corrections" button at the beginning of your FAFSA page.
2. If there were no flags, you will find the corrections link in the list, saying, "You can also..."
3. The FAFSA shows all steps, including questions that might not have been shown to you before (because of your answers to other questions). If you make corrections that require other responses, these will be enabled.
4. If you make corrections that changes your status to "dependent", you will need to answer a special circumstances question about providing parental information (No, submit without calculating an EFC; No, unsubsidized loan only; or "I will provide parental information.")
5. If your application shows a special circumstance like homelessness, you will need to confirm that in your correction.
6. You will have the option for IRS Data Retrieval when you make corrections this year. If you file your application using financial estimates (to make your state FAFSA deadline) you can import all the information later, after you do your taxes.

   This choice first became available in the summer of 2010 for the FAFSA online application. Now, students can use it earlier in the year.

7. In order to add or delete a FAFSA school code you will have to use "make corrections" instead of doing it from the homepage.
8. After you have made your changes, the screen will display a list of them, with the old answer, the new answer, the question number and label, and an edit button. If you click on the edit, help and hints will show up, along with the question.
9. If the form rejects or needs confirmation of an answer, an icon will appear to notify you. Also, when you renew your FAFSA, information from previous years is stored and those answers must not conflict with your corrections.

FAFSA: Deferred Compensation

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Consolidating student loans