As someone who went through this exact scenario during the 2018-2019 shutdown, I want to reassure you that while it's stressful, there are definitely ways to navigate this! Here's what worked for me: I immediately contacted my school's emergency aid office (separate from regular financial aid) and they had a specific "government shutdown protocol" that included temporary tuition deferrals and interest-free bridge loans. The key is acting fast - don't wait to see if a shutdown actually happens. Also, document EVERYTHING - screenshots of your FAFSA submission, emails with your school, phone call logs with FSA. I kept a folder with all of this and it made the process much smoother when my aid finally came through. Your first-gen status might actually work in your favor here - many schools have additional emergency resources specifically for first-generation students facing financial emergencies. Hang in there! 💪

I just went through something similar last year when there were delays (not shutdown related, but same stress!). Here's what I wish I'd known earlier: call your school's main financial aid number and ask to speak with someone about "emergency situations" or "extenuating circumstances" - they often have different staff who handle these cases vs regular processing. Also, if you're living on campus, contact housing separately from financial aid. They usually have their own policies for students waiting on delayed federal aid and can put temporary holds on your account. The worst part is the waiting and not knowing, but most schools have been through this enough times that they have systems in place. Document your FAFSA submission date and any communication attempts with federal aid - this shows you did everything right on your end. You've got this! The fact that you're being proactive now puts you ahead of many students who wait until the last minute.

Glad you got it sorted out! This thread is going to be so helpful for other parents dealing with the same confusion. The new FAFSA system really needs clearer communication about when both parents need accounts versus when one is sufficient. Your experience shows that creating the second account and going through the verification process is usually pretty quick once you have the contributor invitation. Thanks for sharing the update - it gives the rest of us confidence that even when the system seems broken, there's usually a straightforward solution!

As someone who just went through this exact same nightmare last month, I can confirm what others have said - you'll likely need both accounts even though it seems redundant! The key thing that helped me was realizing that the student needs to send separate contributor invitations to each parent. Once I got my invitation and created my FSA ID, the process was actually pretty smooth. The system recognized our joint tax filing and I just had to verify my identity and electronically sign. The whole thing took maybe 15 minutes once I had the proper invitation. Don't stress too much - it sounds way more complicated than it actually is once you get started!

I'm a newcomer here but dealing with this exact same situation! Submitted my FAFSA on January 2nd and it's been stuck "in review" for 8+ weeks now. This thread has been incredibly eye-opening - I had no idea about the Data Field Flags or that the notification system was basically broken this year. I've been checking my account religiously expecting some kind of update, but there's absolutely nothing there indicating any problems. Reading everyone's experiences here has made me realize I need to stop waiting passively and actually call FSA. The early morning Tuesday strategy sounds promising - I'm definitely going to try that this week. It's honestly ridiculous that we have to play detective with our own applications just to find out if there's a simple data entry error holding everything up. Thank you all for sharing your stories and tips - this community has provided more useful information than any official FSA communication I've received (which is basically zero). Fingers crossed I can finally get some answers about what's been delaying my application!

I'm a newcomer to this community and dealing with the exact same nightmare! I submitted my FAFSA on January 8th and it's been stuck "in review" for almost 8 weeks now with absolutely zero communication from FSA. Reading through all of your experiences has been both helpful and infuriating - helpful because I now know I'm not alone and there are actual steps I can take, but infuriating because I had no idea the notification system was this broken. I've been passively waiting this whole time thinking the delays were normal, checking my studentaid.gov account daily and seeing nothing. After reading about everyone's hidden flags and data errors that were never communicated, I'm kicking myself for not being more proactive sooner. I'm definitely going to try that early morning Tuesday call strategy - thank you all for sharing those specific timing tips! It's absolutely ridiculous that a community forum is providing better guidance than the actual federal student aid system. I'll report back after I try calling to let others know how it goes. Fingers crossed I can finally get some answers about what's been holding up my application all this time!

The order doesn't matter for the SAI calculation itself - the system will recognize all three students once all applications are completed. However, I generally recommend completing applications in order of priority deadlines. If your children are applying to schools with different priority deadlines, start with whoever needs it submitted first. Otherwise, the order won't impact how their multiple-in-college status is processed by the federal system.

As someone who just went through this exact scenario with twins last year, I feel your pain! The removal of the transfer feature was such a huge step backwards. One thing that really helped me was creating a simple document with all the key numbers (AGI, assets, etc.) from the first application so I could copy/paste instead of having to look everything up again. Also, if you're using tax information that was imported via the IRS Data Retrieval Tool on the first application, you'll need to use the same method for consistency across all three - don't mix imported data with manually entered data or you might trigger verification issues. The good news is that once all three are submitted, the multiple-in-college benefit should kick in automatically and significantly reduce your family contribution. Hang in there!

One important thing to know: even with the simplified FAFSA, your school might still ask for additional financial information through the CSS Profile or their own institutional forms. That's completely separate from FAFSA and is used by many private colleges to determine their own aid. So if you're applying to private schools, you might still need to answer those detailed asset questions elsewhere.

You definitely did it right! I had the same experience - finished my FAFSA super quickly this year compared to what my friends went through in previous years. The new simplified version is such a game changer for students with straightforward financial situations. I was panicking too thinking I must have skipped something important, but my financial aid office confirmed everything looked complete when I called them. It's honestly refreshing that they finally made the process less painful for most students!