As someone new to navigating FAFSA, I'm finding this thread incredibly informative! The distinction between legal custody and guardianship is something I never would have known to look out for. It sounds like you've gotten some really solid advice here about filling out the FAFSA with your information first, then pursuing dependency overrides with individual schools. The documentation checklist that Maxwell provided seems especially valuable. I hope the process goes smoothly for your granddaughter - it's clear she's been fortunate to have such a dedicated advocate in you throughout her life. Best of luck with everything!

wow, blown away by all the poor advice being given here. “The grandparent has to fill out the FAFSA.” That is typically INCORRECT. For FAFSA purposes, grandparents are generally NOT contributors unless: • they legally adopted the student, OR • the student was in a legal guardianship as defined by FAFSA rules. Simple custody does not automatically make the grandparent the FAFSA parent or contributor. In many of these situations, the student may still technically be considered dependent under federal rules, but the biological/adoptive parents’ information would normally be required — even when that makes little practical sense. If parent information truly cannot be obtained due to abandonment, death, estrangement, etc., the student may need to pursue a dependency override or unusual circumstances review directly through the financial aid office. This is exactly why families get overwhelmed: “Custody,” “guardianship,” “adoption,” and “dependency” are NOT interchangeable terms in financial aid. One wrong assumption can completely change how a FAFSA is filed.

Glad you got it resolved! The new FAFSA is definitely causing confusion for many families. For anyone else who's still stuck, remember you can always submit the form as-is to meet deadlines, then go back and make corrections within the correction window after submission.

As someone who just went through this process with my daughter's FAFSA, I want to add that if you're still having trouble finding where to enter child support after changing your answer to "Yes" for receiving untaxed income, make sure you're looking for the section that asks about "Money received or paid on your behalf." Child support falls under this category now, not in a separate child support field like the old FAFSA had. Also, keep good records of the amounts you enter - some schools are asking for documentation during verification since the reporting method changed this year.

UPDATE: I want to thank everyone for the helpful suggestions! I spoke with the financial aid office again and specifically asked about the Extended Eligibility provision that @financialaidpro mentioned. Turns out my son does qualify since this is his 9th semester! We're getting an additional $4,000 in unsubsidized loans, and the school is providing a $3,000 emergency completion grant. We'll cover the remaining $2,300 through a payment plan. Specifically asking about senior status and extended eligibility was the key - they hadn't checked for this initially. For anyone in a similar situation, make sure to ask specifically about these provisions!

This is such a great outcome and really helpful for others who might face this same situation! Your experience shows how important it is to be persistent and ask specific questions about different loan provisions. The Extended Eligibility option seems to be something that financial aid offices don't always check automatically, but can make a huge difference for students in their final semesters. Thanks for taking the time to update us with the resolution - it's going to help so many other families who find this thread when dealing with similar FAFSA confusion. Congratulations to your son on almost making it to graduation! 🎓

I've been through the FAFSA correction process and here's what worked for me: after submitting the correction online, I printed a copy of the updated SAI calculation and took it to my school's financial aid office in person. The face-to-face meeting made a huge difference - the counselor immediately started working on adjusting my aid package. Sometimes these things are handled better in person than through emails or phone calls.

I'm new to this process but dealing with something similar - my family's income changed significantly due to medical expenses this year. From reading through all these responses, it sounds like the key steps are: 1) Fix any actual errors in your 2023 tax info through the FAFSA correction tool, 2) Contact each school's financial aid office about a Professional Judgment review for your job loss, and 3) Be prepared with tons of documentation. The advice about meeting in person really resonates with me too. Has anyone had experience with how long the Professional Judgment process typically takes? I'm worried about missing deadlines for aid disbursement.