Ethan, congratulations on this amazing breakthrough! As someone new to this community, your story is both heartbreaking and inspiring - heartbreaking that you had to endure decades of watching your balance grow despite faithful payments, but inspiring that the system is finally working to correct these injustices. Your experience as an educator paying back $28k multiple times over while still owing nearly $300k really demonstrates why these recent policy changes were so crucial. It sounds like you likely benefited from the IDR Account Adjustment that others have mentioned - the Department of Education has been automatically reviewing long-term borrowers' accounts and giving credit for payments that should have counted toward forgiveness all along. At 67, after 30+ years of public service, you absolutely deserve this relief. I can't imagine the emotional weight that's been lifted from your shoulders. Your story gives so much hope to other educators and public servants in similar situations. I'd definitely echo what others have said about documenting everything thoroughly - screenshots, downloaded letters, call records. After decades of servicer transfers and record-keeping issues, having that paper trail will give you complete peace of mind. Thank you for sharing your experience with the community. Stories like yours help newcomers like me understand both how broken the old system was and how much better things are becoming for borrowers who've been fighting these battles for years. Enjoy your well-deserved freedom from this burden!

Ethan, this is absolutely incredible and such wonderful news! As someone new to this community, your story really highlights both the struggles of the old student loan system and the hope that recent policy changes are bringing to borrowers who've been trapped for decades. The fact that you faithfully made payments for over 25 years as an educator, paid back your original $28k multiple times over, and still owed nearly $300k shows just how broken the compound interest system was for long-term borrowers. What you experienced was unfortunately far too common for borrowers from that era. From what I'm learning in this community, it sounds like you likely benefited from the IDR Account Adjustment that's been automatically applied to eligible long-term borrowers. The Department of Education has been conducting massive reviews of payment histories and finally giving credit for all those years that should have counted toward forgiveness but didn't due to servicer errors and administrative issues. At 67, after three decades of public service as an educator, you absolutely deserve this relief. I can only imagine the incredible weight that's been lifted from your shoulders. Your story gives so much hope to other educators and public servants still fighting these battles. I'd definitely follow the advice others have shared about documenting everything thoroughly - take screenshots, download all official letters, and keep records of your calls with servicers. After dealing with multiple servicer transfers over the years, having that comprehensive paper trail will give you complete peace of mind. Thank you for sharing your experience with this community. Stories like yours help newcomers understand how much progress has been made in fixing this broken system. Enjoy your well-deserved freedom from this financial burden!

Hey Sebastian! I just went through something almost identical with my son. His SAI was 7240 and we initially didn't see any Pell Grant either, which had me panicking since we really needed that funding. After reading through all the great advice here, I called our school's financial aid office and it turned out there was a "conflicting information" flag on our FAFSA that was blocking the Pell award. The crazy thing is we never got any notification about it! Once they walked me through uploading some additional documentation to verify our family size and income, the Pell Grant showed up in his revised aid package within about 5 business days. With your SAI of 7261, you should definitely be getting something - probably around $1,000-1,300 based on what others have shared. The financial aid counselor I spoke with mentioned they've been seeing a lot of these "silent flags" with the new FAFSA system that prevent awards from processing even when families clearly qualify. I'd definitely call them Monday morning and specifically ask them to check for any verification flags or processing holds on your daughter's file. Don't just ask about the Pell eligibility - ask them to explain exactly what's preventing it from being awarded despite your qualifying SAI. Also, definitely mention the two kids in college situation when you call. Our school ended up offering some additional institutional grant money to help offset what we lost from the sibling benefit being eliminated. It wasn't as much as we would have gotten before, but it helped bridge the gap. Hope you get this sorted out quickly - keep us posted!

I'm new to this community but wanted to jump in because I'm dealing with a very similar situation! My daughter's SAI came back at 7198 and we're also not seeing any Pell Grant in her aid package, which is really stressing me out since we were counting on that funding. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been incredibly helpful - it sounds like there are a lot of processing issues and verification flags with the new FAFSA system that aren't being communicated clearly to families. The fact that so many people with SAIs in our range have been able to get their Pell Grants after resolving these behind-the-scenes issues gives me a lot of hope. I'm planning to call our financial aid office first thing Monday morning and specifically ask them to check for any verification flags or processing holds that might be preventing the award, even though we haven't been notified of any issues. The advice about asking them to explain exactly what's blocking the Pell despite having a qualifying SAI is really smart. Sebastian, I hope you get answers soon! It sounds like with your SAI of 7261 you should definitely qualify for at least some Pell funding. Please keep us updated on what you find out - I'm sure there are other families dealing with this same frustrating situation who would benefit from hearing how it gets resolved.

Hi! I'm new to this community and facing the exact same situation as you with my son who's applying for college this year. My ex-husband and I divorced 5 years ago, we have joint custody but my son lives with me about 65% of the time, and his dad makes roughly $25k more than I do annually. I was so confused when I got that contributor invitation email and honestly thought there might be some mistake since I'm not the higher earner! Reading through all these responses has been incredibly enlightening - I had no idea that FAFSA only considers the custodial parent's income regardless of who makes more money. It's actually reassuring to know that my lower income might work in my son's favor for financial aid eligibility. Thank you to everyone who explained the rules so clearly, especially about reporting child support as untaxed income - I definitely would have missed that detail. This community is such a valuable resource for navigating these complicated federal aid requirements!

Hi everyone! I'm brand new to this community and stumbled across this thread at exactly the right time. I'm going through the FAFSA process with my daughter who's heading to college this fall, and like so many others here, I'm a divorced parent completely confused about the contributor section! My ex-wife and I have been divorced for 4 years with shared custody, but our daughter stays with me about 70% of the time. My ex makes about $15k more than I do, so I was planning to have her handle the FAFSA thinking the higher income parent should do it. Reading through all these responses has been such an eye-opener - I had absolutely no idea that it's purely based on where the student lives more, not who earns more! It's actually kind of a relief knowing that my lower income could potentially help my daughter qualify for better aid. Thank you to everyone who took the time to explain these rules so clearly, especially the details about child support reporting and keeping documentation organized. This community is incredible for helping parents navigate what feels like an unnecessarily complicated system!

As someone who's been through multiple FAFSA cycles with changing child support situations, I can definitely confirm this is worth appealing! A few practical tips from my experience: 1. When you contact each school's financial aid office, ask specifically about their "professional judgment" or "special circumstances" process - different schools use different terminology 2. Create a simple timeline document showing when payments stopped with exact dates and amounts 3. Include a brief letter explaining how this impacts your current ability to contribute to college costs 4. Keep copies of everything you submit - you might need to reference it later The appeals are processed individually by each school, so don't get discouraged if responses vary. Some schools are more generous than others, but the loss of nearly $9K in annual income should definitely result in increased aid eligibility. Start with your daughter's top choice school first to get familiar with the process, then use that experience for the other applications. The sooner you start, the better!

I'm new to this community but going through a very similar situation right now! My son's child support from his dad ended in December when he turned 18, and I'm trying to figure out the FAFSA appeal process too. Reading through everyone's responses here has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea that child support had such a significant impact on the SAI calculation or that it's weighted differently than regular income. I'm definitely going to follow the advice about contacting each school's financial aid office separately and asking specifically about their "professional judgment" process. It's reassuring to hear from @Luis Johnson that the appeal was worth about $3,200 in additional aid - that would make such a difference for us. I'm also going to start gathering all my documentation now, including the court order showing when payments ended and bank statements. Has anyone had experience appealing at community colleges versus four-year universities? My son applied to both types of schools and I'm wondering if the process differs significantly between them.

I'm a current college student who went through this whole dependency override process last year, so I wanted to share some additional tips that might help your daughter. Even though I didn't qualify for independent status either, I learned a lot about the system that might be useful. First, when she meets with financial aid, she should ask about ALL types of aid available - not just federal grants. Many schools have institutional aid pools that use different criteria than FAFSA. Some schools also have "gap funding" specifically for students whose FAFSA doesn't reflect their actual situation. Second, if your family's financial situation has changed since you filed taxes (job loss, medical expenses, etc.), make sure to mention this during the professional judgment review. They can sometimes adjust your income figures based on current circumstances rather than just tax returns. Also, encourage her to apply for work-study if she hasn't already. Even if the pay isn't amazing, work-study jobs are designed around student schedules and the income doesn't count against her aid eligibility the same way regular employment does. One last thing - if her current school isn't helpful, she might want to reach out to other schools she's interested in transferring to. Some schools are just more generous with professional judgment reviews than others. It's worth shopping around if she's open to transferring. Best of luck with everything! The system is definitely frustrating but there are usually some options if you keep pushing.

Just wanted to add one more resource that might help - your daughter should also look into her state's financial aid programs. Many states have their own grant programs that use different criteria than federal aid, and some are more flexible about family income thresholds. For example, some state grants focus more on the student's individual circumstances rather than strictly following FAFSA dependency rules. Also, if she's working part-time now, she might want to see if her employer offers any tuition assistance programs. Even smaller companies sometimes have education benefits that aren't well-publicized. It's worth asking HR about any available programs. The community college route is another option to consider if money is really tight - she could potentially take some required courses there for much less cost and then transfer those credits back to her current school. Many students do this during summer sessions to save money while still making progress toward their degree. Keep advocating for her! The squeaky wheel really does get the grease when it comes to financial aid offices.