FAFSA Follow-Up Overview

You have successfully submitted your FAFSA electronically. Now the Department of Education will process your application and send you a Student Aid Report (SAR). An electronic copy of your SAR is also made available to the schools you've listed on your FAFSA.

Your estimated Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is a preliminary estimate based on the information you provided on this application. It is subject to change based upon your school's verification of information you provided. The EFC is used to determine your eligibility for federal student aid. Note that many schools have their own methodology to determine your family contribution and financial need. You will receive an official EFC on your Student Aid Report (SAR) based on the processing results of your FAFSA. For more information about the EFC see the Student Guide site at studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/student_guide/index.html.

What happens now?

FAFSA Follow-Up allows you to do the following:

1. Check the status of your submitted FAFSA by selecting Check Status of a Submitted FAFSA, or by returning to the FAFSA on the Web home page at www.fafsa.ed.gov and selecting Check my Submitted FAFSA.

   You can use the application status check to check the status of your FAFSA or correction at any point during the processing period.

   Checking the status of your application at any time during the processing period is beneficial, but we recommend you at least check the status at the following times:

   • 1 week after submission - if you used a PIN to sign your application
   • 2-3 weeks after submission - if you printed, signed and mailed a signature page.
   
   
   

2. Once we have received all required signatures and processed your application or correction form, you can access your processed application data by selecting Student Access from the left navigation bar.

   If we have a current e-mail on file for you, and your application was processed successfully, we will send you an e-mail notification with instructions on how to access your electronic SAR (Student Aid Report). You will also have the option to print a copy. If we do not have an e-mail for you, or you submitted a paper application, you will receive a paper copy of your SAR.

   If you would like to print a copy of your SAR, you can request one by selecting Print SAR from the left navigation bar. Please note: you will need your PIN to access this request form.

3. If you find you've made a mistake after submitting your application, you will have to wait until after your application has been processed to make corrections. Corrections can be made through Corrections on the Web at www.fafsa.ed.gov. You must have a PIN to access your Corrections on the Web data.

   We value your input regarding your experience with this Web site. If you would like to provide us with feedback on your experience using FAFSA on the Web, or would like to report a potential software error, we would like to hear from you.

   Unfortunately, we cannot respond to these e-mails, but we appreciate any suggestions you have for improving this site.

   For added security, we recommend that you exit your browser completely when you are finished using the PIN site. Select this link for further detail. You may also want to consider clearing your browser's cache and deleting any temporary files.