Can you still apply for college loans if you don't know what college your are going to yet?

Yes. Just add all the schools I think up to 8 into the section.

No that is not how it works You do not apply for student loans separate from the FAFSA. You do the FAFSA and the colleges offer you the student loans. You can list 10 colleges you may be interested in on FAFSA. Do FAFSA online its faster. In applying for the FAFSA you are applying for grants, student loans (staffords, Perkins, direc,t parent), federal works study and any aid the college itself offers or your state offers Then it takes up to 2 weeks to process which means they are just intaking the information. Then in up to 2 weeks your SAR report will be ready. You will get an email saying its ready and a link to see and print it. The SAR contains your EFC and that is the result of your FAFSA, a measurement of your financial strength and the number the colleges use in order to know what financial aid to offer you. So that SAR report will be sent automatically to all of the colleges you listed on the FAFSA and those to which you decided to apply to and those to which want to accept you will then offer you a financial aid award based on your EFC. Here is a sample award: http://www.triptocollege.org/paying_colleges/figure_out/sample_letters.cfm So you see on there the stafford loans offered etc. Those are college loans so if you want to accept them you would not check it, some award syou just check accept or deny. In any case if you were accept any federal loans you would then be directed to do entrance counseling and MPN which anyone who accepts federal loans has to do which is 45 minutes of online reading so you know about the loan process and the MPN you just sign up for once and you use that all the years you are in college which everytime you accept a federal loan you use your MPN to agree to the loan contracts. If you were to be offered a parent loan, now that is not guaranteed because that type of loan is an offer and if you say accept then the parent has to do an additional application because that type goes by their credit (student loans do not). If you are not offered enough in federal loans then you would need to get a private student loan from a lender but federal loans are better. Here are very helpful sites to help you understand: http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/timeline.jsp?tab=applying http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/Funding_Education_Beyond_HS_2011-12.pdf http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/funding.jsp Super important to maximize your award: http://bellarminearc.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/file-your-fafsa-early-this-year-and-heres-why/ Oh and all the awards from the colleges will be different because their total costs to attend will be different, also it depends on when you file (early for more aid) and what you qualify for. So in summary do your FAFSA jan 1 to maximize your award as an estimate using the previous years taxes then whe you do your taxes log back onto fafsa and put in the correct taxe info and resubit. Really makes a difference in how much you get. Make sure to put many colleges on the FAFSA you may want to attend. Awards for fall usually go out early mid april. If you need a private loan because you did not get enough federal loans: http://student-loans-review.toptenreviews.com/