Colleges May Penalize You Over Preference On Financial Aid

As you’re filling out your FAFSA, you’ll eventually come to the part where you have to list the colleges that you plan to attend to, or which ones you want to attend to. Little did you know that your listing is shared, meaning that colleges can see how you rank them among other colleges. So how does this affect you?

Colleges use these rankings to measure up their competition. Along with this, they can use this information to penalize you based on your preferences. What I mean by that is a college’s position on your FAFSA listing may determine how much said college may offer you in financial aid. By placing them to the top of your listing, colleges may choose to offer you lower financial aid packages or even withhold offers for a time since your interest in them is so apparent. While this may not be a widespread practice, it does happen.

So the solution? Take the college that you’ve been enrolled in at place them at the very bottom. Make them think you could have gone to any other college instead. They’d practically be bribing you…not really, but it will make a difference.