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Filing the FAFSA 38
Transferring to a Different College
Students who are transferring to a different college will need to add the new college to their FAFSA.
Financial aid does not transfer with the student directly. Each college calculates the student’s eligibility
for student financial aid according to its own “packaging philosophy.” Eligibility for federal aid may be
affected by the student’s degree level and enrollment status, as well as the amount of federal aid already
used at the previous college during the current award year. For example, any previous federal student loan
disbursements will be subtracted from the annual and cumulative loan limits. Note that some of the federal
student aid used at the previous college may have to be returned to the federal government, depending on
whether the student withdrew before reaching 60 percent of the way through the academic term. Since the
regulations for return of Title IV federal student aid have a preference for returning loans before grants, this
may affect the mix of loans and grants available to the student at the new college.
Does the Order in which Colleges are Listed Matter
Each college or university must receive the student’s information from the FAFSA before its financial
aid deadline. So, if the student is applying to more than ten colleges and universities, the student should
list the colleges and universities with the earliest financial aid deadlines in the first set of colleges and
universities.
The order in which the ten colleges are listed also matters. 11 Colleges can see the full list of colleges listed
on the FAFSA. Some colleges use this information as a form of competitive intelligence. Most students list
the colleges in preference order. Research has shown that students are less likely to enroll at a college that
appears further down the list. For example, while about half to two-thirds of students admitted by their
first-choice college will enroll, only about ten percent will enroll at their third-choice college.
Some colleges want to maximize their yield, the percentage of admitted students who actually enroll at
that school. Accordingly, some colleges are less likely to admit students who demonstrate less interest
in the college. This is an open secret, although the practices at specific colleges are unknown. However,
some private non-profit colleges may be more likely to use the student’s preference order to influence
college admissions decisions, since these colleges place more emphasis on improving their ranking in lists
of top colleges.
Colleges also use the student’s preference order to get more certainty about their incoming class. As more
students apply to more colleges, not only are the students worried about whether they will get in, but the
colleges also worry about whether the students will enroll.
The order in which colleges are listed on the FAFSA can also affect eligibility for financial aid. While the
order does not affect eligibility for federal student aid, it can affect state and institutional aid. For example,
the U.S. Department of Education mentions the potential impact on state aid in its Guide to Completing
the FAFSA: 12