What Happens After You Submit Your Financial Aid Application

By Author: Elizabeth Reed
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Now that you have submitted the FAFSA, you are obviously eager to know the status of your financial aid application. In order to understand when and how you can check your status, you need to understand the process that is followed. This article describes the process followed once FAFSA is submitted.

Federal Need Formula

FAFSA submissions go to a large processing center. This center handles all the forms that are submitted which are close to nine million. In this center, the financial information provided by you in the form regarding yourself and your family is used as inputs for the federal need formula that calculates your financial aid.

Student Aid Report (SAR)

The Department of Education's Central Process System will send you a form on your email address or postal address depending on whether you submitted an email address at the time of submitting your FAFSA. If you submitted an email address, it should reach you within days; the paper form could take up to four weeks after submitting FAFSA. This form that you will receive is known as the Student Aid Report, or SAR. A SAR form basically consists ...
... of the same information that you provided on the FAFSA. You need to review SAR very carefully to confirm that you have provided the correct information as well as to ensure that there has been no mistake on their side during data entry. The SAR would also consist of highlighted items that you would specifically need to review. Follow the directions on how to make changes and submit the corrections. Ensure that you submit the corrections promptly - this would ensure that there is no unnecessary delay in processing your application. An important thing to remember is to maint
ain a copy of the SAR with you.

Expected Family Contribution (EFC)

The SAR will also consist of a figure known as Expected Family Contribution or EFC. This is an estimated amount of what your family can contribute for your college education. The state scholarship agency receives this information electronically along with the colleges that you have listed on the FAFSA, who will in turn use the EFC for the determination of your financial aid package.

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