One more important thing to know - if your daughter has changed majors or programs since starting college, double-check that she's still meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements for financial aid. Each institution has slightly different SAP policies, but generally students need to maintain a minimum GPA (often 2.0) and complete a certain percentage of attempted credits (usually 67-70%). Failing to meet SAP can make a student ineligible for aid even if their FAFSA is approved. This catches many families by surprise during the renewal process. If your daughter had any struggles during her first year that affected her academic progress, you may need to file a SAP appeal separately from your FAFSA renewal.

Just wanted to add one more tip that helped us tremendously - create a FAFSA renewal checklist and start gathering documents in November. We learned the hard way that banks sometimes change their statement formats or online portals between years, so what worked for retrieving account information last year might not work this year. Also, if you had any major life changes during 2023 (job loss, divorce, medical expenses, etc.) that aren't fully reflected in your tax return, start documenting those now. You'll want to be ready to submit a Professional Judgment appeal right after you receive your initial aid offer rather than waiting months like we did. One last thing - screenshot or save copies of every page when you submit your renewal FAFSA. The system still has occasional glitches where submitted information gets lost, and having your own records makes resolving issues much faster. Good luck!

As someone who works in higher education enrollment, I can add that this type of issue is unfortunately becoming more common with the new FAFSA system this year. There have been numerous processing glitches that affect different types of aid differently. The good news is that once these issues are identified, they're usually resolved pretty quickly by the financial aid office. One thing I'd recommend - when you call, ask them to email you a summary of what was discussed and any next steps. This creates a paper trail and ensures everyone is on the same page about what needs to be corrected. Also, if you don't get a satisfactory resolution from the first person you speak with, don't hesitate to ask to speak with a supervisor. With an SAI of 7100, you're absolutely entitled to that Pell Grant, and they need to make it right. The silver lining is that since this appears to be a processing error rather than an eligibility issue, the fix should be straightforward once they identify what went wrong in their system.

As a newcomer to this community, I'm finding this discussion incredibly valuable! My family is just beginning the college financial aid process, and I had no idea that these kinds of processing errors could happen. Reading through everyone's experiences has really opened my eyes to how important it is to carefully review aid packages and not just assume everything is correct. The advice from the financial aid professionals here about verification holds and partial FAFSA processing is especially enlightening. I'm definitely going to bookmark this thread as a reference when we start receiving aid offers. It's reassuring to know there are knowledgeable people in this community who are willing to share their expertise and help families navigate these complex situations. Thank you to the original poster for asking this question - it's helping so many of us learn what to watch out for!

Something I wish I'd known earlier: create a spreadsheet NOW to track all of this. Include columns for: - Each school name - Date FAFSA data received (call/email to confirm) - Aid package received date - Total aid offered - Grants/scholarships (free money!) - Work study amount - Federal loans offered - Out-of-pocket cost Trust me, when those offers start coming in, they all look different and use different terminology. Having a standardized way to compare them will save you HOURS of confusion and stress later. And don't ignore the financial aid deadlines for accepting offers - some schools have surprisingly early deadlines!

One more thing to keep in mind - don't panic if you don't hear anything for several weeks! I made the mistake of constantly refreshing my student portal and calling schools too early last year. What really helped me was setting up a simple calendar reminder for 3 weeks from when I got my SAI, then another one for 6 weeks out. That way I wasn't obsessively checking every day but still had a plan for when to follow up. Also, if your daughter applied to any state schools, they sometimes have different timelines than private colleges. State schools in our experience were faster with aid packages but had less flexibility for appeals or negotiations. Just something to keep in mind as you're waiting! The whole process is definitely stressful for first-time parents, but you're asking all the right questions. Hang in there!

As someone who just went through this exact situation with my son last year, I can confirm that getting everything in writing is absolutely crucial! We had a similar accelerated program scenario, and even though the financial aid office verbally confirmed his aid would continue, we ended up having issues when his FAFSA renewed because different staff members interpreted the policy differently. A few additional tips based on our experience: 1) Ask for a written policy statement about how your specific program handles financial aid transitions, 2) Make sure your daughter's academic advisor and financial aid office are communicating about her degree completion timeline, and 3) Consider setting calendar reminders to check her aid status every semester before classes start, not just when FAFSA renewal time comes around. The good news is that once we got everything properly documented, the rest of his program went smoothly! These accelerated programs can be such a great opportunity when the financial aid piece is handled correctly.

This is such an informative thread! I'm dealing with a similar situation but from a slightly different angle - my daughter is considering an accelerated program but hasn't committed yet. Reading everyone's experiences here is making me realize we need to ask way more detailed questions upfront before she enrolls. One thing I'm curious about - for those of you who went through this, did the accelerated program end up being worth the potential financial aid complications? I mean, obviously getting a master's degree faster is appealing, but I'm wondering if the stress of navigating all these aid issues outweighs the benefits of finishing sooner. Also, has anyone had experience with how this affects things like work-study eligibility or other campus-based aid programs? I know Pell Grants and loans are the big concerns, but I'm wondering if there are other aid programs that might be impacted by mixed enrollment status that we should be thinking about.

I'm a new member here and this thread has been incredibly eye-opening! I'm in almost the exact same situation - my daughter commuted her freshman year and is planning to move into the dorms for sophomore year. I had no idea that the FAFSA doesn't ask about housing status and that this could affect her aid package so significantly. Reading everyone's experiences has made me realize I need to be much more proactive about this. I'm going to follow the advice here and contact both the housing office and financial aid office to make sure they have her correct status on file and that her Cost of Attendance gets updated properly. It's scary to think that without this conversation, we might have ended up with an incorrect aid package! Thank you all for sharing your experiences and tips.

I'm also a newcomer dealing with this exact situation! My son commuted freshman year but wants to live on campus for sophomore year. Reading through all these responses has been so enlightening - I had no idea the FAFSA doesn't handle housing information and that it could make such a big difference in aid (sounds like $3,000-5,000+ based on everyone's experiences). I'm taking notes on all the advice here, especially using the phrase "Cost of Attendance adjustment for housing status change" when I call financial aid, and making sure to get everything in writing. It's both reassuring and concerning to see how common this confusion is - clearly the schools need to do a better job communicating how housing changes affect financial aid! Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and creating such a helpful resource thread.