my cousins friend said they just put down they had less money and got more aid lol

I'm dealing with this exact same situation and it's absolutely devastating for our family budget. We went from an EFC of around $3,200 with our first child to an SAI of $8,900 when our second started college this year. What's particularly frustrating is that nobody warned us about this change when we were doing college planning. We budgeted based on the assumption that having two kids in college would split our contribution, not nearly triple it per student. I've started reaching out to both schools' financial aid offices, and one admissions counselor mentioned they're seeing this issue with almost every multiple-student family this year. She said to specifically mention "FAFSA Simplification Act impact" in any appeals because they've been instructed to flag these cases. Has anyone had success with the appeals process yet? I'm wondering if it's worth hiring a financial aid consultant at this point because we're looking at potentially $40K+ more in costs than we planned for.

Btw make SURE u save all ur work and take screenshots of the correction confirmation. My daughters SAI (student aid index) went down by like 5000 points after i fixed our FAFSA but then they lost the correction somehow and i had no proof i submitted it. TOTAL DISASTER!!

I'm going through almost the exact same situation right now! My husband and I separated in January and I'm trying to figure out the FAFSA correction process for my son's 2025-2026 aid. Reading through all these responses is super helpful - it sounds like Head of Household is definitely the right choice if your daughter lives with you most of the time. I'm also going to try that Claimyr service someone mentioned because I've been trying to reach FSA for days with no luck. One thing I'm wondering - did anyone have issues with their ex-spouse needing to provide information for the correction? My ex is being really uncooperative about sharing his income details and I'm worried this is going to hold up the whole process.

As someone new to this process, this thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm in a similar situation with my son starting college this fall. One question I haven't seen addressed - if we take out a Parent PLUS loan this year, does that make it easier or harder to get approved for one next year? I'm wondering if there's any impact on future loan applications or if each year is evaluated independently. Also, for those who have been through this before, do you typically need to reapply each academic year or is there some kind of automatic renewal process?

As someone who just went through this exact situation last year, I want to echo what others have said about federal aid being protected - your daughter's Pell Grant is absolutely safe! The Parent PLUS loan won't touch that at all. For the institutional aid, I actually called five different schools when my son was applying, and four out of five confirmed their need-based grants wouldn't be affected by PLUS loans. The one school that was different had a policy of "re-evaluating all resources" but even they said it rarely resulted in aid reductions for PLUS loans since they're specifically designed to cover remaining costs. One tip I wish someone had shared with me - when you apply for the PLUS loan on studentaid.gov, there's a section where you can add notes about your specific situation. I wrote something like "requesting loan to cover exact remaining balance after all grants and scholarships" and I think it helped ensure there was no confusion about my intent. Also, definitely apply about 6-8 weeks before your payment deadline. I cut it close and was stressed about the processing time, even though it ended up being fine. The whole process was much smoother than I expected once I actually started it!

btw make sure u actually get confirmation that northeastern received the fafsa! my brother's school said they never got his even tho we added them and it said processing completed. had to call fsa and have them manually send it again

I went through this same situation last month when I had to add two schools after my initial FAFSA was processed. The good news is that it definitely processes faster the second time! Mine took about 5 days compared to the original 3+ weeks. The system just needs to authorize the new school to access your existing data rather than recalculating everything from scratch. One tip - keep checking both studentaid.gov AND your email because sometimes the email notification comes before the website updates. Also definitely call Northeastern's financial aid office like others suggested - most schools are being really understanding about FAFSA delays this year and may give you extra time if needed.

Thank you all for the information! We're definitely going to compare all the packages carefully now. It's nice to know the Pell Grant will stay the same regardless of which school she chooses. Makes the more affordable option even better since the total aid-to-cost ratio would be better.

That's exactly the right way to think about it! The more affordable school with the same Pell Grant amount means more of your costs are covered by free aid. You're essentially getting a better "aid package efficiency" - $7395 Pell + $5000 merit scholarship covers almost half of a $25K COA, versus the same $7395 covering less than 20% of a $40K+ COA at the private schools. Congratulations on having such a great affordable option for your daughter!