Ethan, congratulations on this amazing breakthrough! As someone new to this community, your story is both heartbreaking and inspiring - heartbreaking that you had to endure decades of watching your balance grow despite faithful payments, but inspiring that the system is finally working to correct these injustices. Your experience as an educator paying back $28k multiple times over while still owing nearly $300k really demonstrates why these recent policy changes were so crucial. It sounds like you likely benefited from the IDR Account Adjustment that others have mentioned - the Department of Education has been automatically reviewing long-term borrowers' accounts and giving credit for payments that should have counted toward forgiveness all along. At 67, after 30+ years of public service, you absolutely deserve this relief. I can't imagine the emotional weight that's been lifted from your shoulders. Your story gives so much hope to other educators and public servants in similar situations. I'd definitely echo what others have said about documenting everything thoroughly - screenshots, downloaded letters, call records. After decades of servicer transfers and record-keeping issues, having that paper trail will give you complete peace of mind. Thank you for sharing your experience with the community. Stories like yours help newcomers like me understand both how broken the old system was and how much better things are becoming for borrowers who've been fighting these battles for years. Enjoy your well-deserved freedom from this burden!

Ethan, this is absolutely incredible and such wonderful news! As someone new to this community, your story really highlights both the struggles of the old student loan system and the hope that recent policy changes are bringing to borrowers who've been trapped for decades. The fact that you faithfully made payments for over 25 years as an educator, paid back your original $28k multiple times over, and still owed nearly $300k shows just how broken the compound interest system was for long-term borrowers. What you experienced was unfortunately far too common for borrowers from that era. From what I'm learning in this community, it sounds like you likely benefited from the IDR Account Adjustment that's been automatically applied to eligible long-term borrowers. The Department of Education has been conducting massive reviews of payment histories and finally giving credit for all those years that should have counted toward forgiveness but didn't due to servicer errors and administrative issues. At 67, after three decades of public service as an educator, you absolutely deserve this relief. I can only imagine the incredible weight that's been lifted from your shoulders. Your story gives so much hope to other educators and public servants still fighting these battles. I'd definitely follow the advice others have shared about documenting everything thoroughly - take screenshots, download all official letters, and keep records of your calls with servicers. After dealing with multiple servicer transfers over the years, having that comprehensive paper trail will give you complete peace of mind. Thank you for sharing your experience with this community. Stories like yours help newcomers understand how much progress has been made in fixing this broken system. Enjoy your well-deserved freedom from this financial burden!

I'm new to this whole process and reading through everyone's experiences is both helpful and nerve-wracking! I just submitted my FAFSA last week and I'm already anxious about what comes next. It sounds like even after getting the SAI, there's still so much waiting involved. For those who have been through this before, is there anything you wish you had done differently during the waiting period? Also, should I be doing anything proactive right now while my FAFSA is still processing, or is it really just a waiting game at this point?

One thing that really helped me when I was in your exact situation was to reach out to the financial aid office via their online chat feature if they have one - many schools have added these during busy seasons and the wait times are usually much shorter than phone calls. Also, don't stress too much about the "processed" status vs actual awards - I remember panicking about the same thing, but schools often batch process award letters, so yours might all come through around the same time in the next couple weeks. In the meantime, if you're really worried about the tuition deadline, most schools have an option to request a payment plan or temporary deferral while financial aid is pending - definitely worth asking about! The whole system is overwhelming but you're doing everything right by staying on top of it.

Wow, this thread is so helpful! I'm dealing with a similar issue right now where my FAFSA isn't showing up for my dad to sign, but my sister's went through fine. Based on all the suggestions here, I'm going to have him check for multiple FSA IDs first since that seems to be the most common cause. It's crazy how many technical issues the new FAFSA system has - you'd think something this important would be more thoroughly tested before rollout. Thanks for sharing your solution @Luca Russo, and congrats on getting it resolved! Definitely bookmarking this thread in case we need to call FSA with that bug number.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm currently going through the exact same issue with my twin brother - his FAFSA shows up for our mom to sign but mine doesn't. After reading all these responses, I'm now wondering if we might have the multiple FSA ID problem too. Our mom did change her email address a few months ago, so she might have inadvertently created a second account. I'm going to have her check tonight before we try calling FSA. It's really reassuring to know this is a known bug (#2024-113) and not just us doing something wrong. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it's amazing how this community helps each other navigate these frustrating technical issues!

This is such a comprehensive thread - thank you all for sharing your experiences! As another parent who went through this recently, I want to add one more timing tip that saved us: contact the apartment complex in January/February (for fall move-in) to ask about their financial aid accommodation policies. Many student-focused complexes have specific procedures for working with families who need to coordinate move-in timing with financial aid disbursement. Some will accept a copy of the aid award letter as "proof of funds" and allow you to delay the security deposit until closer to move-in, or they'll let you put down a smaller holding deposit ($200-300) instead of the full security deposit upfront. We found this out by accident when calling around, but it turned out to be a game-changer for our cash flow. Not all places offer this flexibility, but enough do that it's worth asking specifically about their "financial aid student" policies when you're apartment hunting. Also, start the apartment search early! The best places that are both affordable AND flexible about financial aid timing get snapped up by February/March for fall semester.

As a newcomer to this discussion, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone for sharing such detailed, practical advice! I'm in a very similar situation with my daughter and was feeling completely overwhelmed trying to navigate the FAFSA + Bright Futures + off-campus housing combination. Reading through all these real experiences has been incredibly helpful - especially learning about things like the verification process, early disbursement options, apartment complexes that work with financial aid students, and all the timing/cash flow challenges that aren't obvious from the official financial aid materials. I'm definitely going to start early with apartment hunting and ask specifically about "financial aid student" policies. The tip about setting up a separate checking account for aid refunds and automatically transferring rent money immediately is brilliant too. One quick question - for those of you who've been through this, do you have any recommendations for the best time to submit the FAFSA to maximize the chances of getting grants vs. just loans? I know it's "first come, first served" for some types of aid, but I'm not sure how early is early enough to make a real difference. Thanks again for creating such a valuable resource thread for parents trying to figure all this out!

Just joined this community after finding this incredible thread while searching for FAFSA solutions! My son has been dealing with the exact same "unknown error" since March, and I've been feeling so frustrated and alone in this battle. Reading through all these experiences has been both validating (we're definitely not the only ones!) and incredibly helpful. The E-43 error code and manual override information that Diego shared is exactly what I needed - I had no idea there were specific backend codes or that manual overrides were even possible! We're going to try the proven combination: using Claimyr to actually reach an agent, then requesting the "manual application override due to technical error code E-43." It's honestly shocking that this community has provided more concrete, actionable solutions than months of official FSA support. The fact that Omar finally succeeded after four months using these exact strategies gives me real hope that we can solve this nightmare too. Thank you to everyone who took the time to document what actually worked - you're literally helping families save their children's educational opportunities when the official system has completely failed us. This is what real community support looks like! I'll definitely come back to update on our progress.

Just created my account after discovering this incredibly helpful thread! My daughter has been stuck with this exact "unknown error" since early February, and we've been going through the same frustrating cycle of endless FSA phone calls and unhelpful "try again later" responses. This community thread is absolutely amazing - I've learned more practical, actionable solutions here in 20 minutes than in two months of official support interactions! The E-43 error code information that Diego shared is a total game-changer. I had no idea there were specific backend error codes or that manual overrides were even possible. We're definitely going to try the proven approach that worked for Omar: using the Claimyr service to actually get through to an FSA agent efficiently, then requesting the "manual application override due to technical error code E-43." If that doesn't work, we have great backup options with the VPN approach from Luca and the alternative address strategy from Anastasia. It's both incredible and deeply frustrating that this community has developed more effective solutions than the official FSA support system. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share what actually worked - you're literally helping families secure their children's educational futures when the system has completely failed us. The mutual support here gives me real hope that we can all get through this nightmare together. I'll definitely update with our results!