For the 2009/10 academic year, the FAFSA allows for the selection of ten schools (it used to be only six). If, for example, you apply to 15 colleges, and you request financial aid at each of those schools, you need to delete five of the first ten before you’re able to add the next five.

BUT, don't delete a college from the FAFSA until you're sure that school received your FAFSA information. How will you know? Call or e-mail the school to find out.

A word of advice:

For a school you're not able to include on the FAFSA until one of the first ten schools is deleted, there's no need to be overly specific with your #11 choice.

It's like telling your backup prom-date that you can't confirm until you hear from your number-1 choice. When a school finds out why they've not received your FAFSA data, and they'll only know if you tell them (by the way, it’s their business to be familiar with the FAFSA, including the ten-school limit), you might hurt their feelings.

Not a great way to start things out, especially if that's the school you end up attending. It may seem an obvious rule of Politeness 101, but having worked on the other side of the financial-aid table, you’d be surprised how many times we heard it.

What's more, the FAFSA can be filed as early as January 1, which should be plenty of time to add and remove schools in order for your FAFSA data to be spread far and wide.