What Is a Federal School Code? FAFSA Guide (2026)

Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is an application that is to be filled by the current and prospective college students, of the United States. The applications to this Aid are sorted out to find out the students who are most eligible for financial aid.

The FAFSA includes grants, Federal Work-Study Program, Federal Student Loans, State and School Financial Aids. FAFSA can be applied at the official website. 

FAFSA uses information such as federal government, selected college, and the state of the selected college to regulate the financial aid for the student.

FAFSA is administered by the U.S. Department of education, providing around $150 billion student aid per year.

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What is federal school code?

• Federal code is a six-character alphanumeric code that identifies colleges and universities uniquely.

What is the meaning of School Code?

• Schools use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that is nationally recognized in order to construct financial aid choices of their own, a copy of FAFSA must go to the student schools as well as the federal government.

• Federal school code is always a six-character that begins with 0, G B or E and ends with a five-digit number. For example: “001052 is the federal school code for University of Alabama

• The Federal School Code List comprises the unique codes allotted by the Department of Education for schools engaging in the Title IV federal student aid programs.

• Students need to enter federal school code on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to designate the schools they choose to obtain their financial claim

• Selection of the year for which students would essentially obtain the aid, need not necessarily be the present school year. For example, if a student applying for FAFSA in January 2018 for the next school year, then one must select 2018-2019. 

How do I obtain a federal school code?

• Universities provide their federal school codes in the financial aid section on their official website

• Federal school code search tool is provided by U.S Department of education on its website

• Students can call up the Federal student aid information center at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243) for any queries related to federal school code

• Students can also download Federal School Code List which includes more than 7000 college and universities

Do I have to send the FAFSA to each school?

To be eligible for federal student funding, students must fill FAFSA and send it to the appropriate schools by making use of the college school codes

To avoid students from filling and submitting a new form for every institution, the Department of Education will mechanically submit a replica to maximum ten schools, and thus a need for college school codes come in.

Conclusion

FAFSA or Federal school code is a list that contains unique codes assigned by the department of education for the schools that provide student aid. The students need to enter these codes on their Free application for federal student aid.