Maya, I'm so glad you asked this question! As someone who just finished my sophomore year living off-campus with financial aid, I can definitely confirm that YES - you can absolutely use both FAFSA funds and Parent Plus loans for off-campus housing. This thread has covered all the major points perfectly, but I wanted to add one thing that really helped me: when you call your financial aid office (which you should definitely do first!), also ask them about their **refund timeline**. My school actually disburses refunds in two waves - one about a week before classes start, and another smaller one a few weeks into the semester. Knowing this helped me plan better for rent payments. Also, don't forget to update your address with the financial aid office once you sign your lease! They need your new address for sending any important documents or emergency communications. Your instinct to choose the cheaper off-campus option is spot-on. I'm saving about $400/month compared to what dorms + meal plan would have cost, and I actually eat better and have way more space. Your roommate is absolutely right, and honestly, using financial aid for housing is super common - probably half my friends do it! You're being incredibly smart by researching this thoroughly ahead of time. Most people figure it out as they go, but you're going to be so much less stressed because you planned ahead. Good luck with your apartment search! 🏡

Hey Maya! I'm jumping in a bit late to this conversation, but wanted to add my perspective as someone who's currently using financial aid for off-campus housing and it's working great! Everyone here has given you excellent advice, especially about calling your financial aid office first. One thing I'd add that helped me a lot: when you do call, ask them if they have any **preferred landlord lists** or **student-friendly rental resources**. My school maintains a list of landlords who are used to working with students and understand the financial aid disbursement timeline. Some of them are even willing to work with you on timing for the security deposit if you explain your situation. Also, since you mentioned your mom is concerned - maybe show her this thread! Sometimes parents worry because they don't understand how current financial aid works. My mom was the same way until I explained that housing costs are literally part of what financial aid is designed to cover. You're making such a smart decision by going off-campus. I'm in my second year doing this and I've saved thousands compared to dorms while having way more independence and better living conditions. The fact that you're researching everything ahead of time shows you're going to handle this perfectly! Don't let anyone make you feel bad for asking questions - you're being incredibly responsible and thoughtful about this major decision. Keep us updated on how your apartment search goes! 🏠

One thing I wish someone had told me earlier - make sure to check if your daughter qualifies for any state-specific financial aid programs that might reduce your PLUS loan needs. After we had already planned out our borrowing strategy, we discovered our state had a need-based grant program with a late deadline that we almost missed. It ended up covering $2,800 of our gap, which meant we could borrow less on the PLUS loan. Each state is different, but it's worth doing a quick search for "[your state] college financial aid programs" before finalizing your loan amounts. Some of these programs have deadlines as late as July or August, so there might still be opportunities to reduce what you need to borrow!

Also wanted to mention something about the credit check for Parent PLUS loans - if you have any credit issues you're working on (like paying down cards or disputing items), try to handle those before applying. The credit check isn't as strict as a mortgage, but they do look for major delinquencies, defaults, or recent bankruptcies. If you're borderline, even small improvements to your credit profile could make the difference between approval and denial. And if you do get denied initially, you can appeal or reapply after addressing whatever flagged in their system. Just don't want anyone to be caught off guard by the credit requirements since it's not something people always think about when planning college financing!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm so grateful to have found this thread! I'm currently dealing with the exact same situation - trying to help my cousin with her FAFSA while her parents are living in Brazil. The international address rejection has been driving us both crazy for the past two weeks. Reading through all the solutions and experiences shared here has been incredibly enlightening. I had no idea about the FSA ID creation process needing to be done separately first, or the "00000" zip code workaround. The step-by-step guidance from everyone who's successfully navigated this process is exactly what we needed. What really strikes me is how this seems to be such a widespread issue, yet there's virtually no official guidance from Federal Student Aid on how to handle international parent addresses. It's frustrating that families have to rely on community knowledge and trial-and-error to figure out workarounds for what should be a standard part of the system. I'm planning to follow the advice about having her parents create their FSA IDs first thing tomorrow morning using the "Foreign Country" option, and I'll make sure to avoid any special characters in their Brazilian address. The tip about calling during off-peak hours is also something I'll definitely try if we need to speak with someone at Federal Student Aid. Thank you all for sharing your hard-won knowledge and creating such a supportive resource for families struggling with these FAFSA complications. I'll be sure to update this thread with our experience in case it helps other families dealing with similar international address issues!

As a newcomer to this community, I want to thank everyone for sharing such detailed solutions to the FAFSA international address problem! I'm currently helping my sister navigate this exact issue with our parents who moved to the Philippines last year for work. Reading through this thread has been incredibly valuable - I had no idea about the FSA ID creation needing to be done first with the "Foreign Country" option, or that using "00000" as the zip code was an accepted workaround. It's honestly shocking that such a common situation for military families, retirees, and international workers has no clear official guidance from Federal Student Aid. I'm planning to have our parents create their FSA IDs tomorrow morning using all the tips shared here: selecting the foreign country first, using standard English characters only (no special symbols), and doing it during off-peak hours. The advice about having all financial documents converted to USD beforehand is also really helpful - our parents still maintain accounts in both countries. One question for those who've been through this: did anyone have issues with the income reporting section when parents are earning foreign income? I'm wondering if there are additional considerations for tax document formatting when parents are filing US taxes but living abroad. This community has been such a lifeline for understanding these bureaucratic hurdles. I'll definitely share our experience once we get through the process to help other families facing the same challenges!

I'm going through something very similar right now and all these responses have been incredibly helpful! I made the same mistake with my dad's 403(b) account and it's showing about $50,000 more in assets than we actually have. One additional tip I wanted to share - when I called the first school today, the financial aid officer suggested I also double-check any other retirement-related questions on the CSS Profile to make sure I didn't make similar mistakes elsewhere. Turns out I had also incorrectly included some of the retirement account balance in another section, so I'm having to correct multiple questions. It's definitely worth going back through your entire CSS Profile with fresh eyes to catch any other potential errors while you're already in correction mode. The last thing you want is to go through this whole process and then discover another mistake later! Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - it's made this stressful situation feel much more manageable knowing so many others have successfully navigated the same issue.

As someone who works in college admissions consulting, I see this exact mistake at least once a week during CSS Profile season! You're absolutely doing the right thing by addressing it immediately - that $43,000 asset difference could be the difference between getting substantial institutional aid or not. A few additional tips from what I've observed helping families through this: 1. When you call schools, mention upfront that this is a "retirement account misclassification" - most financial aid officers immediately know what you're talking about since it's so common. 2. Consider sending your correction documentation to schools via their secure student portals rather than regular email, especially if the documents contain account numbers. Many schools prefer this for privacy reasons. 3. If you applied to any schools that use institutional methodology calculations differently (like some CSS schools that cap home equity), this correction might have an even bigger impact at those schools. The good news is that schools WANT to give their aid to students who truly qualify for it, so they're motivated to process legitimate corrections quickly. I've rarely seen schools give families a hard time about this particular mistake since the CSS Profile retirement vs. investment distinction is genuinely confusing. You've got great advice from everyone here - stay organized, be persistent, and don't panic. This will get resolved!

As a newcomer to this community, I just want to say how incredibly helpful this entire thread has been! I'm in a very similar situation with my own daughter who's applying to grad school, and I was completely overwhelmed by the FAFSA process until reading all these detailed responses. The step-by-step guidance about 2023 being the base year, the verification process for non-filers, and especially the reminders about early December filing and checking individual school requirements beyond just FAFSA - this is exactly the kind of practical advice you can't easily find elsewhere. I'm definitely going to bookmark this thread and follow the spreadsheet suggestion for organizing income documentation. Thank you all for creating such a supportive and informative discussion!

Welcome to everyone who's new to this discussion! As someone who's been helping families navigate FAFSA for years, I wanted to add a few practical tips that might be useful. First, make sure your daughter creates her FSA ID using her own email address (not a family shared one) since she'll need independent access for grad school. Second, if she had any work-study positions during undergrad, those earnings should be reported as regular income on her graduate FAFSA - work-study isn't treated differently for grad students like it is for undergrads. Finally, consider having her reach out to the financial aid offices at her target grad schools in January after submitting her FAFSA - they can often provide school-specific guidance about their aid timelines and any additional forms needed. The graduate school financial aid landscape is quite different from undergrad, but with proper preparation it's definitely manageable!