As a newcomer to this community, I want to express my gratitude for this incredibly thorough and helpful discussion! I'm currently navigating my first FAFSA experience with my daughter for 2025-2026, and we have a very similar situation with her great-aunt's 529 plan. We used about $7,200 from the account last year for her tuition, and I was completely lost about how to handle this on the FAFSA. After reading through everyone's experiences and explanations, I now understand that since my daughter's great-aunt owns the 529 plan (not us), we don't need to report these distributions anywhere on the FAFSA under the simplified rules. What really helps is seeing so many different family situations - grandparents, great-grandparents, and now great-aunts - all being treated the same way under these new rules. The key insight that it's about account ownership rather than family relationship or who benefits makes so much sense. I'm also really appreciating the practical advice shared here about keeping good records for tax purposes and understanding the difference between FAFSA reporting and tax reporting. This community has made what felt like an overwhelming process so much more manageable. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experiences - it's making a real difference for families like mine who are new to this process!

As a newcomer to this community, I wanted to add my voice to thank everyone for this incredibly comprehensive discussion! I'm currently working on my son's 2025-2026 FAFSA and was completely overwhelmed by the 529 plan reporting requirements until I found this thread. We have a situation where my mother-in-law owns a 529 plan for my son, and we withdrew $10,500 last semester to cover his expenses. I was initially terrified that this would dramatically impact his financial aid eligibility based on old information I had read online about 529 distributions counting as student income. Reading through everyone's detailed explanations and real-world experiences has been such a relief! The fact that the FAFSA Simplification Act removed the requirement to report grandparent-owned 529 distributions as student income is genuinely life-changing for our family's financial planning. What I find most valuable about this discussion is how many different perspectives and situations have been covered - from basic grandparent ownership to great-grandparents and great-aunts, from direct school payments to tax documentation concerns. The practical tips about keeping records and understanding the difference between tax and FAFSA reporting have been particularly helpful. This policy change really seems like a win for encouraging family involvement in education funding without creating bureaucratic penalties. Thank you all for creating such a supportive and informative community for families navigating these complex financial aid questions!

Just wanted to chime in as another parent who went through this exact same panic! My daughter's SAI was $11,500 last year and I spent hours on Reddit and College Confidential trying to figure out what it meant for our bank account. The confusion is totally understandable because the terminology changed recently - it used to be called EFC (Expected Family Contribution) which honestly was even MORE misleading because people thought that's literally what they'd pay. What I wish someone had told me from the start: the SAI is just a number that unlocks different types of aid at different schools. It's not a bill, it's not a guarantee, it's just part of a formula. Some schools will gap you (not meet your full calculated need), others will be super generous with grants. We ended up with aid packages ranging from $8K to $22K out of pocket at different schools - same family, same FAFSA, same SAI. The cheapest option was actually a private liberal arts college that met 100% of demonstrated need with grants, not loans. My takeaway: apply broadly, don't get hung up on the sticker price of schools, and definitely don't let the SAI number stress you out. You'll have real data to work with once those financial aid letters arrive!

I'm so glad I found this thread! I'm a new member here and just got my son's FAFSA results with an SAI of $8,200 and was having the exact same confusion and panic. Reading through everyone's experiences has been incredibly helpful - especially hearing that the actual out-of-pocket costs can vary so much between schools even with the same SAI. It sounds like the key takeaway is that SAI is just a starting number for calculations, not what we'll actually pay, and that we really won't know our real costs until the financial aid award letters come in from each school. I'm definitely going to take the advice about applying to a mix of public and private schools and not getting too hung up on sticker prices. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and making this process feel a little less overwhelming for those of us just starting out!

I went through this exact same situation last year and it was absolutely nerve-wracking! The identity verification after parent info changes is unfortunately becoming the norm with the new FAFSA system. Based on what I'm seeing in your thread, it sounds like you're actually making good progress - the fact that your status shows "Review Complete - Pending Processing" means you're almost done! A few things that helped me get through this: 1. Screenshot EVERYTHING - your verification status, submission confirmations, etc. Schools really appreciate having documentation when you request deadline extensions 2. Don't just email your schools - call them too. I found that talking to someone directly got me faster responses about deadline flexibility 3. Keep checking that verification status section daily (not the processing status) - once it moves to "Complete" your SAI should update within 2-3 business days You're so close to the finish line! Most schools have been really accommodating this year because they know the FAFSA delays aren't the students' fault. Hang in there!

I'm dealing with a similar verification situation right now and this thread has been incredibly helpful! I've been stuck in identity verification for about 10 days after updating my dad's tax information. Reading through everyone's experiences, I'm realizing I need to check that separate "verification status" section that Oliver mentioned - I've probably been looking at the wrong status this whole time! For anyone else going through this, I just want to add that my school's financial aid counselor told me they're seeing verification delays across the board this year, not just for students who made changes. She said they've already extended their priority deadline once and are prepared to do it again if needed. So definitely reach out to your schools ASAP - they're much more understanding about these delays than you might expect. The stress is real though! Scholarship deadlines are terrifying when you're stuck in verification limbo. Thanks to everyone who shared their timelines and tips - it really helps to know we're not alone in this process.

As a newcomer to this community, I'm finding this thread incredibly valuable! I haven't submitted my son's FAFSA yet (we're still gathering documents), but reading about these SAI changes from just adding college codes is really concerning. It seems like such a basic function shouldn't trigger verification flags or calculation changes. I'm definitely going to follow the advice here about taking screenshots before making any modifications. @Chloe Robinson thank you for sharing your resolution - it's reassuring to know that college financial aid offices can help override these system glitches. This community is already proving to be such a great resource for navigating these confusing FAFSA issues!

New to this community and this thread is exactly what I needed to see! I'm currently helping my daughter with her FAFSA and we were just about to add a few more college codes after she heard back from some schools. Reading about these SAI changes from simply adding colleges is honestly terrifying - it makes no sense that the system would recalculate anything when you're just expanding the list of where to send the same information. The screenshots idea is genius and I'm definitely doing that before we make any changes. @Chloe Robinson thanks for sharing your experience and the resolution path through the college financial aid office - that gives me a concrete plan if we run into the same issue. It's frustrating that families have to deal with these technical glitches during an already stressful process, but at least this community is here to help navigate it!

I've been following this thread and wanted to share something that might help with your sister's reluctance. When I was working with families on FAFSA issues, I found that many parents worry about privacy and what happens to their tax information once it's submitted. You might want to let her know that the IRS Data Retrieval Tool actually imports her tax info directly from the IRS into the FAFSA, so she doesn't have to manually enter sensitive details, and the information is only used for federal aid calculations - it's not shared with colleges for any other purpose. Also, consider showing her the actual financial impact with real numbers. If your nephew potentially qualifies for a Pell Grant (which could be up to $7,395 for 2025-26), plus state grants, that's real money that could reduce his loan burden significantly. Sometimes parents don't realize they're essentially costing their child thousands of dollars by withholding tax information that doesn't commit them to paying anything. If she's still resistant, document her specific reasons in writing. That documentation could actually be helpful for the dependency override process, especially if you can show that her refusal is causing genuine financial hardship for your nephew's education.

I'm new to this community but wanted to share something that might help since I just went through a very similar situation with my own child last year. One approach that finally worked with our reluctant parent was having them speak directly with a financial aid officer at one of the colleges. Many schools will do brief phone consultations to explain the process to hesitant parents, and sometimes hearing it from an official college representative carries more weight than family explanations. The financial aid officer was able to clearly explain that providing FAFSA information creates zero financial obligation and that parents can still choose not to contribute even after the aid calculations are complete. They also explained how much potential aid was at stake, which really drove home the impact of refusing to participate. If the guidance counselor meeting doesn't work out, you might ask one of your nephew's target schools if they'd be willing to have a brief conversation with your sister. Many are happy to do this because they want to help students access all available aid. It's worth a shot before going through the complex dependency override process!