This thread has been incredibly helpful and validating - thank you to everyone sharing their experiences and strategies! As a current college sophomore dealing with this exact situation (parents make $82k but refuse to contribute while my SAI is $11,200), I wanted to add a few things that have helped me: 1. Look into becoming an RA (Resident Advisor) if your school offers it - many provide free room and board plus a small stipend, which can save $8-12k per year. 2. Check if your state has any "last dollar" scholarship programs - some states have created programs specifically to cover remaining costs after federal aid for students meeting certain criteria. 3. Don't overlook work-study positions in academic departments - they often pay better than dining hall jobs and look great on resumes. The most frustrating part is explaining to people why I have so much debt when my parents "make good money." The system literally assumes financial support that doesn't exist for thousands of us. I'm definitely interested in the advocacy efforts discussed here - we need to turn our shared frustration into organized action for policy reform. This broken system has gone unchanged for far too long while affecting so many students' futures.

This entire thread is absolutely infuriating and validating at the same time! I'm currently a freshman dealing with this exact nightmare - my parents make around $78k but told me "we're not a college fund, figure it out yourself" while still claiming me as a dependent. My SAI is over $10,000 which might as well be a million dollars since I get zero family support. What really gets me is that I've been essentially supporting myself since I turned 18 - paying my own car insurance, phone bill, groceries when I'm home, everything - but somehow I'm still considered financially dependent on people who actively refuse to help with education costs. Meanwhile I'm working 20+ hours a week just to cover basic expenses while watching classmates stress about their aid packages when their parents are still helping them. I've already started applying for every tiny local scholarship I can find (thanks for all the tips in this thread!) and I'm definitely going to try the professional judgment appeal route with documentation of my financial independence. It's just so maddening that we have to fight this hard against a system that makes completely false assumptions about family dynamics. The advocacy discussion here gives me hope though - if this many students are dealing with the same broken system, we should definitely be organizing to push for actual policy reform rather than just finding creative workarounds for fundamentally flawed dependency criteria.

This has been such an incredibly helpful thread! I'm a transfer student working on my FAFSA and had this exact same confusion about my mom's Associate's in Criminal Justice. I kept going back and forth between "completed college" and "did not complete college" because I wasn't sure if Associate degrees were considered "real" college completion. Reading through everyone's experiences and the professional advice from financial aid counselors has completely cleared this up for me. It's so reassuring to see that EVERY single person who's dealt with this question has confirmed that Associate degrees absolutely count as "completed college" - no matter the field of study or when it was earned. Thank you all for creating such a supportive space where students can get real answers to these confusing FAFSA questions. This community has saved me from hours of additional stress and second-guessing!

This thread has been absolutely invaluable! I'm a newcomer to this community and just started my FAFSA application yesterday. I was completely stumped on this parent education question - my mom has an Associate's in Physical Therapy Assistant and I had no idea if that qualified as "completed college." After reading through all these detailed responses from students, parents, and financial aid professionals, I now have complete confidence that her degree absolutely counts as "completed college." What really stands out to me is how consistent everyone's answer has been - every single person confirms that ANY Associate degree counts, regardless of the field or when it was earned. I love seeing how this community comes together to support each other through these stressful FAFSA questions. It's such a relief to find clear, definitive answers instead of more confusion. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and expertise - you've saved me from countless hours of worry and second-guessing!

Glad you got it sorted out! For anyone else dealing with this, another thing to check is if you accidentally marked yourself as having dependents when you don't (or vice versa). That question determines a lot of the workflow and can cause weird submission blocks. Also, if you're a transfer student, make sure you didn't accidentally list your old school in the school selection section - that tripped me up last year and kept my FAFSA in draft status for days. The new site really doesn't give clear error messages when something's wrong.

As someone who went through this nightmare last year, I feel your pain! One thing that helped me was clearing my browser cache completely before trying again. The FAFSA site seems to store corrupted session data sometimes. Also, if you're still having issues, try opening an incognito/private browser window and logging in fresh. Sometimes the site gets confused if you've been going back and forth between sections too many times. The whole system is honestly broken but these little tricks can sometimes unstick things. Hope you got it submitted in time!

New member here and just completed my daughter's FAFSA yesterday! I was experiencing the exact same confusion as everyone else - had all my bank statements ready and kept wondering if I'd somehow broken the application when it never asked about our $22k in savings. Reading through this entire thread has been incredibly helpful and reassuring! It's amazing to learn about the FAFSA Simplification Act changes and how they're finally focusing more on income rather than penalizing families for being financially responsible with emergency funds. Like many others have mentioned, I really wish there was better upfront communication about these major changes - maybe a simple FAQ or "What's New" section right when you start the application. It would save so many families from the stress and confusion we've all experienced. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences, especially the financial aid professionals who provided such clear explanations. This community has been a lifesaver for understanding that this is completely normal now!

I'm a newcomer to this community and just went through the exact same confusion with my daughter's 2025-26 FAFSA! I submitted it three days ago and had the same panic attack when it never asked about our checking and savings accounts. I had organized all my bank statements and even wrote down the exact balances, expecting the same tedious asset reporting process I remembered from helping my older brother years ago. Reading through all these responses has been such a relief - I had no idea about the FAFSA Simplification Act changes! It's actually really encouraging to learn that they've shifted away from penalizing families for having emergency savings. The old system never made sense to me - why discourage people from being financially responsible? My only frustration is that there's zero explanation about these changes when you start the application. Even a simple pop-up saying "New for 2024-25: We've simplified asset reporting" would have prevented so much anxiety for families like ours. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences here, especially the financial aid counselors who provided such clear explanations. This thread has been incredibly valuable for understanding that missing bank account questions is completely normal now!

I'm new to this community and just wanted to say how incredibly helpful this entire thread has been! I'm currently dealing with the exact same situation - my 2022 divorce settlement has unallocated support payments and I was completely lost when I got to the child support question on the FAFSA. Reading through everyone's real experiences, especially those who actually called FSA directly multiple times and got consistent guidance, has given me the confidence I needed to report $0. The tax preparer's professional insight about avoiding verification issues with estimates was particularly valuable. It's clear that this is becoming a common situation as more divorce attorneys structure settlements this way, and I'm so grateful that this community shares actual outcomes rather than just speculation. I'll be reporting $0 and keeping my divorce documentation organized, and I'm definitely going to reach out to my daughter's financial aid office for additional confirmation. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their experiences - this thread should be a required resource for anyone dealing with unallocated support on their FAFSA!

I'm new to this community and just went through this exact situation last month! My 2021 divorce also has unallocated support payments, and I was completely stressed about the FAFSA child support question. After reading through everyone's experiences here, I decided to call the Federal Student Aid Information Center myself to get direct confirmation. The representative told me exactly what everyone has been saying - when your divorce decree uses unallocated language without specifying a dollar amount for child support, you should report $0 on that FAFSA line. She explained that they can only count what's explicitly designated as "child support" in your legal documents, not what might be intended for the child. I submitted my FAFSA with $0 and it processed without any issues. I kept my divorce settlement ready just in case, but didn't need it. This thread has been invaluable - thank you to everyone who shared their real experiences rather than just guessing. It made all the difference in giving me confidence to handle this correctly!