How to Get School Codes for Financial Aid Applications

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) allows you to include schools in the section that tells the government where you want to send your information. Unfortunately, the process doesn't make it easy on anyone when it requires the applicant to use a special school code for each school as opposed to school names. Fortunately, school codes are easy to find if you know where to look.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Ask your financial aid advisor for a listing of schools codes. All school financial aid departments will have quick and easy access to the list of federal school codes required by the FAFSA. This can be your high school advisor or the financial aid department at your future college or university.
2. Visit your local library to get a copy of the U.S. federal school code booklet. These booklets should be available at all public libraries, in their reference sections.
3. Get the federal school codes online. The FAFSA website has a convenient search feature to help you locate the right code for your chosen school (see Resources below). This may be the fastest and easiest way to locate the school codes, especially since you are probably filing out your FAFSA application online anyway.
4. Get school codes for up to six schools to which you want to submit applications. Though you may be tempted to provide the code for just your top choice, your situation and preferences could change. As such, it will save time and keep your options open if you submit codes for at least a few different schools.
5. Proofread every section of your FAFSA application to ensure that all the information has been entered correctly and that the school codes are accurate.

Tips & Warnings

• It isn't a requirement to include schools on your applications, so if you haven't decided which schools you would like to attend just yet, you can still apply for financial aid via the FAFSA form. However, keep in mind that if you do provide at least one school code on your application, that particular school will receive the ultimate results of your application much faster than if you left the space blank.
• Using the wrong code can not only send your applications to a school you never intended on attending, but it could also delay the arrival of the results at the school you do want to attend. In such a case, you will have to put in an additional request to have that school notified of your application.

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