I'm dealing with this exact same issue right now! My daughter's CSS Profile is due in two days and I've been stuck on this phone number screen for 20 minutes. After reading through all these comments, I'm going to try the +15551234567 format since that seems to work for most people. It's absolutely insane that College Board would change their system requirements without putting ANY indication on the actual form about what format they want. This is such basic UX design - just add an example or helper text! Thank you so much to everyone who shared their working solutions here. This thread is literally more helpful than College Board's entire help section. Fingers crossed the +1 format works for me too!

This is incredibly helpful! I'm a first-time parent going through the CSS Profile process and was completely panicking when I hit this phone number error. I tried every format I could think of for 45 minutes before finding this thread. The +15551234567 format worked perfectly! It's so frustrating that College Board doesn't provide any guidance on the form itself - how are families supposed to know they changed the requirements? Thank you all for sharing your solutions and saving me from what could have been hours more of frustration. This community is amazing!

Congratulations on getting through the process successfully! Just wanted to add one more tip for other parents reading this thread - save a PDF copy of your completed FAFSA once both sections are done and submitted. You can do this from either the parent or student login. Having that backup has been a lifesaver when schools ask for verification documents or if you need to reference information later. Also, bookmark your FSA ID accounts because you'll need them again next year for renewal! The whole process gets much easier the second time around.

Just wanted to share our recent experience since we went through this exact same situation two weeks ago! My daughter initially couldn't find my completed parent portion when she logged in with her new FSA ID. We discovered the issue was that I had accidentally entered her middle initial incorrectly in my section. Here's what worked for us: I logged back into my parent account and was able to edit her personal information to fix the middle initial. Within about 24 hours, she was able to see the application when she logged in. The key is making sure EVERY piece of personal information matches exactly - full legal name, SSN, and date of birth. Also, don't panic if it takes a day or two for the system to sync everything up. The FAFSA system seems to need some time to process changes. If you're still having trouble after 48 hours, that's when I'd recommend calling for help or using one of those callback services mentioned earlier to avoid the long hold times.

Thank you everyone for the helpful information! I understand now that I was misinterpreting how FAFSA works. The regular student loans go directly to my son regardless of me filling out the parent portion of the FAFSA. The Parent PLUS loans are completely separate and optional, so I can simply choose not to apply for those. I'll have my son reach out to his financial aid office to make sure we understand his complete aid package, and I'll be clear that we don't want Parent PLUS loans included. This is such a relief!

I went through this exact same confusion with my daughter two years ago! The FAFSA paperwork really does make it seem like you're taking on responsibility for everything, but as others have explained, you're just providing your financial info so they can calculate your son's aid eligibility. The key thing that helped me was understanding that there are basically two separate processes: 1) The FAFSA itself, which determines what aid your son qualifies for (grants, work-study, and those Direct Loans that go in HIS name), and 2) The optional Parent PLUS loan application that comes later if there's still a gap in funding. You can absolutely say no to the Parent PLUS loans! Your son will still get his regular financial aid package. It's great that you got your loans forgiven - don't let the schools pressure you into taking on new debt when your son can handle his own student loans.

I'm also dealing with this right now and this thread has been so helpful! Just wanted to add one more resource that might help - if you're military or have been in the past, many bases offer free tax preparation through their family support centers, and they're usually really good about handling rush situations. Also, if you have a simple tax situation (just W-2s and standard deduction), you can actually file directly through the IRS Free File program on their website, which is completely free and gets processed just as fast as the paid services. I know when you're panicking it feels like you need to pay for the premium services, but sometimes the free options work just as well. The most important thing is just getting those taxes filed TODAY and then getting that FAFSA submitted. You've got great advice here from people who've been through it - your son is going to be fine! The fact that you caught this now instead of after all the deadlines shows you're on top of things.

I'm new to this whole FAFSA process and reading through everyone's responses has been so reassuring! My daughter is also starting college next year and I had no idea that tax filing mistakes could impact financial aid like this. I've been putting off doing our taxes because they seemed complicated this year (we had some freelance income), but seeing how quickly this can become an urgent situation is definitely motivating me to get them done ASAP. Quick question for those who've been through this - is it better to use a professional tax preparer for the first time when you have mixed income sources, or are the online tools like TurboTax sophisticated enough to handle freelance work plus regular W-2s? I'm worried about making the same kind of mistake that started this whole thread, but I also don't want to spend a fortune if I don't need to. Thank you all for sharing your experiences - this community is incredibly helpful for those of us who are figuring this out for the first time!

dont forget this stuff can affect ur daughters SAI score on FAFSA 2! make sure whatever u report to IRS matches wut u put on FAFSA or they might flag u for verification which is a WHOLE other headache!!!

I went through this exact same situation last year! The most important thing is to act quickly. Here's what worked for me: First, check if your daughter's tax return shows she can be claimed as a dependent. If not, she needs to file Form 1040-X immediately. I made the mistake of waiting "to see what would happen" and it just made everything worse. Second, while you're waiting for the amended return to process, you CAN still e-file your taxes claiming her as a dependent - the IRS will just hold both returns for manual review, which takes longer but isn't the end of the world. The good news is this won't mess up her financial aid at all. The FAFSA and tax filing systems are completely separate, so as long as you reported everything correctly on the FAFSA itself, her aid package won't be affected. Pro tip: If you need to reach the IRS about this, call first thing Monday morning (like 7 AM) - that's when the wait times are shortest. Good luck!