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How to Add More Schools to the 2025-2026 FAFSA
By
Will Geiger
Will Geiger is the co-founder of Scholarships360 and has a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. He is a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Kenyon College where he personally reviewed 10,000 admissions applications and essays. Will also managed the Kenyon College merit scholarship program and served on the financial aid appeals committee. He has also worked as an Associate Director of College Counseling at a high school in New Haven, Connecticut. Will earned his master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania and received his undergraduate degree in history from Wake Forest University.
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Caitlyn Cole is a college access professional with a decade of experience in non-profit program and project management for college readiness and access organizations.
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Maria Geiger is Director of Scholarship Services at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Adding more than 20 schools to the FAFSA is easy (and necessary for many students). So, how do you add more schools to the FAFSA? If you are a student applying for financial aid to pay for college, you are probably familiar with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is the application that is required to receive aid from the United States government. This financial aid can include everything from need-based grants like the Pell Grant to federal student loans to work study.
There are 20 spots to list your colleges on the FAFSA. Does this mean that you can only apply for financial aid at 20 colleges?
Absolutely not! You can apply for financial aid at any number of colleges and universities once you receive your FAFSA submission summary and submit your FAFSA for your initial schools.
Also see: Scholarships360’s free scholarship search tool
Keep on reading to learn about how to add more schools to the FAFSA! If you have any specific questions about completing the FAFSA, you can check out our step-by-step FAFSA guide.
See also: Financial Aid Resource Hub
Make FAFSA Corrections
When you login to your Federal Student Aid page, you can click on ‘Make FAFSA Corrections.’ Once you do that, you can remove the current colleges listed, add additional schools, and then submit the “corrections!” We know it feels weird to remove the schools, but don’t worry–the colleges will still have the data you originally submitted!
Add schools over the phone
You can call the Federal Student Aid Information Center and add the schools over the phone. When you call, you will need the Data Release Number (DRN) from your Student Aid Report or FAFSA confirmation page.
Related: Can I make corrections to my FAFSA after submitting?
Add colleges with a paper FAFSA Submission Summary
Note that you can only change up to ten colleges with this option as opposed to 20 online.
Tips for adding additional colleges to the FAFSA
- Remember, you should list public in-state colleges first. Some states will award state grants to students who enroll at one of the state’s public colleges so you can miss out if you don’t do this.
- If you submit your FAFSA and then decide to apply to other colleges, you can complete the above steps to ensure that you are considered for financial aid.
- Some colleges also require other aid forms such as the CSS Profile, so you will want to make sure you know which forms are required, as well as the necessary deadlines.
Key Takeaways
Frequently asked questions about adding schools to your FAFSA
Will adding another school to my FAFSA affect how much aid I will receive?
Does it cost money to add more than 20 schools to my FAFSA?
Will colleges confirm when they have received my FAFSA results?