Hi everyone! I'm brand new to this community and just submitted my FAFSA yesterday. This entire thread has been such a lifesaver - I was completely unaware that communications only go to the student email! I literally thought my parents would be getting all the updates since they're the ones with the financial information. Already forwarded my email to my mom after reading all your advice. It's both reassuring and anxiety-inducing to see processing times ranging from 4 days to 5+ weeks, but at least now I know what's normal. I'm already bookmarking studentaid.gov to check daily instead of just waiting around. Thanks for being such a welcoming and informative community - as a first-generation college student, navigating all this feels overwhelming but you've all made it so much clearer!

Hi everyone! I'm completely new to this community and the FAFSA process. I just submitted my application two days ago and stumbled across this thread while searching for information about processing times. This has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea that only students receive email notifications! I was expecting my parents to get updates since they provided all the tax information. I'm definitely going to set up email forwarding to my mom's account right away based on everyone's advice here. It's both reassuring and nerve-wracking to see such a wide range of processing times, but knowing what to expect really helps manage the anxiety. I've already started checking studentaid.gov daily instead of just waiting for emails. Thanks for creating such a supportive space - as someone navigating this for the first time, having access to real experiences and practical tips makes this whole process feel much less intimidating!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm a parent going through the exact same situation with my daughter's financial aid for her sophomore year. We've been waiting over 6 weeks since her SAI was calculated and I was starting to panic that something was wrong. Reading about everyone's experiences - especially the transcript matching issues and the importance of asking specific questions - has given me a clear action plan. I'm having my daughter call tomorrow morning with that list of questions from @Isaac Wright, particularly about whether documents have been "received AND processed" since that seems to be where a lot of delays happen. It's both frustrating and reassuring to see how common these delays are this year. The FAFSA changes really seem to have created a lot of bottlenecks in the system. But knowing that persistence and the right questions can help move things along gives me hope we can get this resolved soon. Thanks to everyone for sharing your strategies and experiences. This community support makes such a difference when you're feeling lost in the financial aid maze!

I just wanted to add my perspective as someone who went through this exact same situation last year with my twin daughters. The waiting period between getting your SAI and receiving final aid packages is absolutely nerve-wracking, especially when you're trying to make major financial decisions for the family. What I learned from our experience is that schools often batch process applications, and they don't always communicate their internal timelines well to families. One of my daughters got her package 3 weeks before her twin sister, even though they had identical applications and attended the same school! Turns out the second daughter's file had been flagged for a routine income verification that took an extra few weeks to clear. The key thing that helped us was being proactive about communication. Instead of waiting for updates, we called every few days with specific questions about what was needed and what the next steps were. The squeaky wheel really does get the grease in these situations. For anyone still waiting, don't lose hope - most schools do prioritize getting packages finalized before tuition deadlines, even if it feels like they're cutting it close. But definitely don't wait passively. Keep calling, keep asking specific questions, and don't accept vague "still processing" responses without pushing for more details about what specifically is causing the delay.

This is such valuable information for anyone navigating the FAFSA process! I'm a newcomer here and this thread really highlights how important it is to double-check all the personal information before submitting. It's reassuring to see that FSA can actually fix these issues relatively quickly once you get through to them. @StarSeeker, thanks for sharing your successful resolution - it gives me hope that these bureaucratic hurdles are manageable with persistence. For other newcomers like me, it seems like the main lesson is: if something looks wrong, don't assume the system knows best just because it accepted the information. Trust your instincts and get it corrected early!

This whole thread has been such an education for me as someone just starting the FAFSA journey! I had no clue that date of birth discrepancies could cause such headaches down the line. @StarSeeker, I'm so glad you got this resolved quickly - your experience really shows the importance of being proactive rather than hoping problems will just go away. The fact that the system initially accepted the incorrect DOB but could still cause issues during verification is exactly the kind of gotcha that newcomers like me would never think to watch out for. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences here - this is the kind of real-world advice that's so much more valuable than the generic help articles on the official sites!

New to this community and what a lifesaver this thread is! My daughter submitted her FAFSA in early December and we've been anxiously waiting for financial aid packages from her 4 accepted schools. I was convinced we'd made some mistake when March rolled around with no award letters. Reading everyone's experiences here - especially the insight about FAFSA implementation delays causing 2-3 week setbacks - has been incredibly reassuring. I had no clue about checking separate financial aid portals vs admissions portals, so I'm heading to do that right now! It's nerve-wracking with the May 1st deadline approaching, but knowing this timing is completely normal makes me feel so much better. Thank you Sofia for asking this question and thanks to everyone sharing their knowledge. This community is exactly what stressed parents like us need!

Hi everyone! I'm completely new to this community but stumbled upon this thread and it's like finding an oasis in the desert of college financial aid stress! My son submitted his FAFSA in late December and we've been refreshing our email constantly since February waiting for award letters from his 6 accepted schools. I was honestly starting to panic that we'd somehow messed up the process. Reading all these responses has been incredibly reassuring - especially learning about the FAFSA implementation issues causing delays this year and the fact that March-April timing is actually normal. I had absolutely no idea about checking separate financial aid portals either - that's such a game-changing tip that I'm going to act on immediately! The professional insight from Jace about the 2-3 week delays has been particularly helpful. It's terrifying how quickly May 1st is approaching when we have no clue what's financially feasible, but knowing we're part of a much larger group experiencing the same delays makes this so much more bearable. Thank you Sofia for asking the exact question that's been keeping me up at night, and thanks to this amazing community for all the wisdom and support!

I've been experiencing this exact same issue! Started about 10 days ago for me. Every single login triggers that "FSA ID changed" email even though I haven't modified anything. At first I thought maybe someone was trying to access my account, so I changed my password three times and even checked all my login activity. But the emails kept coming! It's been really stressful because I'm in the middle of reviewing my financial aid offers and need to access my account frequently. Thanks for posting about this - it's such a relief to see I'm not alone and that it's just a technical glitch. Hopefully they fix it soon because those emails give me a mini heart attack every time!

I just wanted to jump in and say thank you to everyone who shared their experiences with this issue! I'm a newcomer to this community and stumbled across this thread while frantically googling "FSA ID changed email every login" at 2am last night. I've been getting these emails for about 5 days now and was absolutely convinced my account had been hacked. I was planning to drive to my school's financial aid office first thing Monday morning in full panic mode! Reading through all these responses has been such a huge relief - especially hearing from @Oliver Zimmermann who works in financial aid and confirmed it's a known system bug. This community seems like such a supportive place for navigating all the FAFSA chaos this year. Looking forward to participating more and hopefully helping others who might be dealing with similar issues!