After receiving your completed application, the Department's processor will analyze your FAFSA information and, using a formula established into law by Congress, calculate an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) for you. The results of your application, the Student Aid Report, (which will include the EFC) will be sent to the schools you list on your application. If you have a valid e-mail address on file, you will receive an e-mail that provides you with a link to a web site that will allow you to check and print your SAR data online. We will send this e-mail if your name, date of birth, and Social Security number match Social Security Administration records; you and your parents have signed the application or SAR; and your application record did not result from a subsequent application.

If you do not meet all of these above requirements, you will receive your application results in the mail: A Student Aid Report (SAR) if you apply using a paper FAFSA, or a SAR Acknowledgement if you use FAFSA on the Web.

If you need to make changes to your application information, you can make them electronically through Corrections on the Web using your PIN, or return the corrected and signed paper SAR for reprocessing.

You can always check the status of your application by calling 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243) or by accessing www.fafsa.ed.gov and clicking on "Check status of a submitted FAFSA." Please wait at least 24 hours after you submit your FAFSA before checking its status electronically. If you applied electronically, you will receive your SAR Acknowledgement within two weeks of processing. If you applied on paper, you will receive a SAR within four weeks of processing.