Correcting or Updating a FAFSA After You Submit It
By Muntasir • Published Sep 18, 2026 • Updated Sep 27, 2026 • US Financial Aid & Scholarships
Log in to your StudentAid.gov account and use the Make a Correction button on your FAFSA Submission Summary to fix errors, add a school, or update your information. Corrections take 3 to 5 business days to process.
📩 Find your submitted FAFSA under My Activity on your dashboard.
🏠 Add or remove schools, up to 20 total, after you submit.
⏱️ Processing typically takes 3 to 5 business days.
🎓 Contributors edit only their own sections. The student edits any section.
Where to start a correction
Log in to your StudentAid.gov account and open your Dashboard. Find your submitted FAFSA under My Activity, then open your FAFSA Submission Summary. Select the FAFSA Form Answers tab and click Make a Correction, according to Federal Student Aid .
Common reasons to make a correction
Fix a typo in a name, address, or Social Security number
Add or remove a college from your school list
Update household size or number in college after a change
Correct an income or asset figure entered before tax filing was complete
Report a change in dependency status, such as a change in legal guardianship
Steps to submit a correction
Log in to your StudentAid.gov account with your own FSA ID.
Open your FAFSA Submission Summary from the Dashboard.
Select the FAFSA Form Answers tab, then Make a Correction.
Update the section that needs a change and resubmit that section.
Have any contributor whose section changed sign in separately to confirm their part.
Who can correct what
The student begins and submits a correction for any section of the form. A contributor, such as a parent, stepparent, or spouse, submits corrections only for their own section. If a parent's income figure needs fixing, that parent logs in with their own account to approve the change, not the student.
Adding or removing schools
List up to 20 schools on your FAFSA. If you add a school after submission, that school receives your FAFSA information once the correction processes. Removing a school stops that school from receiving updates, though a school that already received your data before the removal keeps what it has, according to guidance on adding schools to the FAFSA .
If you're selected for verification
Some FAFSA forms get selected for verification, a review where your school checks your reported information against tax documents or other records. If verification turns up a difference, your school either submits the correction for you or asks you to submit it yourself, depending on the school's process.
How long it takes
Corrections typically take 3 to 5 business days to process. Your listed schools get notified automatically once the change goes through. Check your FAFSA Submission Summary again after that window to confirm your Student Aid Index updated correctly.
Correction deadlines
The federal deadline for FAFSA corrections and updates is September 11 following the award year the form covers, separate from and later than the June 30 initial-submission deadline. For the 2026-27 FAFSA, initial submission is due June 30, 2027, and corrections are due September 11, 2027. Schools and states often set earlier priority deadlines for their own aid programs, so check with your financial aid office well before the federal cutoff.
What you cannot fix with a correction
A correction updates information already on file. It does not switch you to a different aid year. If you need to apply for a different academic year, start a new FAFSA for that year instead of correcting the old one. Each school and state also sets its own deadline for accepting corrections, on top of the federal deadline for the aid year, so check with your school's financial aid office if you are close to a priority filing date.
Mistakes to avoid when correcting your FAFSA
Waiting until close to a school's priority deadline to fix an error, since processing takes several business days
Having the wrong person log in to fix a section, since a parent's data needs the parent's own account
Forgetting that a contributor must resubmit and sign their own section again after a correction, not just the student
Assuming a correction updates every school automatically, without checking your Submission Summary afterward
Common questions
Does a correction change my Student Aid Index?
It can, depending on what changed. An income or household size update recalculates your SAI, while a typo fix like a spelling correction usually does not.
What if I already received a financial aid offer before the correction?
Your school reviews the updated Submission Summary and adjusts your aid offer if the correction changes your SAI or eligibility. Contact your financial aid office directly if you do not see an updated offer within a couple of weeks.
Can I make more than one correction?
Yes. Submit as many corrections as you need across the aid year, as long as you stay ahead of the federal and school deadlines. Each correction goes through the same 3 to 5 business day review.
Bottom line
Use the Make a Correction button on your FAFSA Submission Summary any time your information changes or you spot an error. Submit corrections as soon as you notice an issue, since schools build financial aid offers around the numbers on file. Keep a screenshot or note of what you changed and when, so you have a record if a school asks about a difference between your original and updated FAFSA.