As someone who went through this exact same situation with my son last year, I can't stress enough how important it is to cast a wide net! We listed 8 schools on his FAFSA - a mix of in-state public, out-of-state public, and private schools. What really surprised us was that one of the private schools actually ended up being CHEAPER than the out-of-state public option after their generous merit aid package. We almost didn't apply there because of the high sticker price, but their institutional aid made it very competitive. My advice: List every school she's seriously considering, submit early (some aid is first-come-first-served), and don't make any assumptions about cost until you see the actual aid packages. The FAFSA submission is free, so there's literally no downside to including more options. Good luck!

Definitely list both! I made this same decision with my daughter two years ago and I'm so glad we included multiple schools. The FAFSA lets you list up to 10 schools at no extra cost, and it won't hurt your aid eligibility at all. Here's what I learned: each school creates their own aid package independently using your FAFSA data, so more options = more opportunities to find the best deal. We were shocked when her "safety" in-state school offered significantly more merit aid than we expected, while her dream out-of-state school's package was disappointing. Also, don't forget that you can always remove schools from the list later if she decides not to apply somewhere, but adding them after submission takes extra steps. Better to include them all upfront! The key is to submit early since some state and institutional aid is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

I'm just starting to deal with this situation myself - my twins are high school seniors and we're looking at their financial aid offers now. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been both terrifying and incredibly helpful. Our SAI came back at $31,200 which would have been around $17,000 per child under the old system based on the calculation @StarStrider provided earlier. I wanted to share a few things I've learned from talking to admissions counselors during this process: 1. Some schools are proactively reaching out to families they identify as having multiple students - but don't wait for them to contact you 2. Private schools with larger endowments seem more willing to make adjustments than smaller regional publics 3. Merit aid at some schools is being increased to help offset this federal formula change For families still in the application process, I'd recommend specifically asking about sibling policies during school visits. Some admissions officers told us they're tracking which families might be affected so they can provide guidance early. This whole thread has given me so much hope that there are solutions out there - thank you all for sharing your knowledge and supporting each other through this mess. I'm bookmarking all these suggestions for when we start our appeals process!

This thread has been incredibly helpful - thank you all for sharing your experiences and solutions! As a newcomer to this community dealing with the same FAFSA nightmare, I wanted to add a few resources I've discovered that might help others: I found that the College Board has a "FAFSA Simplification Impact" webpage that explains the changes in detail, which has been useful when explaining the situation to financial aid offices. Also, some state higher education agencies are maintaining lists of schools that have implemented sibling adjustment policies - worth checking if your state has this resource. One thing I learned from calling around is to ask specifically if the school has a "multiple enrollment appeal form" or if they want you to submit a general professional judgment request. Some schools have streamlined processes specifically for this issue, while others want it handled through their standard appeals process. Also, for anyone still struggling to get through to FSA, I've had better luck using their online chat feature during off-peak hours (early morning or late evening). The wait times are still long but at least you're not stuck holding a phone. Has anyone had success with getting their state representatives involved? I'm wondering if there's momentum building for any kind of legislative fix to address this issue more systematically. Staying hopeful that we can all find solutions for our families! 💪

Just wanted to update everyone - I got it figured out! I followed the advice about adding both parents' AGIs and finding the business income section. I also called FSA using that Claimyr service someone mentioned and actually got through to a person who confirmed I was doing it right. My SAI score came out higher than I expected, but at least I know the information is correct. Thanks to everyone who helped!

Great to see you got it sorted out! For anyone else dealing with married-filing-separately situations, I'd also recommend keeping copies of both parents' tax returns handy when filling out the FAFSA. I made the mistake of only having one parent's return available and had to start over twice. Also, if your parents have any business partnerships or rental properties, those can get tricky too - the FAFSA treats different types of business income differently, so don't hesitate to use the help resources or call FSA if you're unsure. The verification process is much smoother when everything is accurate from the start!

One more thing to consider: Cal Grants require you to be a California resident not just when you apply, but continuously throughout your education. If your daughter establishes residency elsewhere for ANY reason, she could lose California state aid if she ever transfers back to a CA institution. Just something to keep in mind for future planning.

As someone who went through this exact situation a few years ago, I can tell you that Colorado will likely be much more expensive than your CA options. My son was accepted to CU Boulder and we're California residents too. Even with his decent Pell Grant, the final cost was about $35K more per year compared to our UC options because of the out-of-state tuition and lack of Colorado state grants. What really helped us make the decision was creating a spreadsheet comparing the total 4-year costs after all aid. Don't forget to factor in higher travel costs for visits home, storage over summers if she can't come back to CA, and potentially higher living costs in Boulder. That said, if your daughter is set on CU Boulder and it has a program that's significantly better than the CA schools, it might still be worth it - just go in with realistic expectations about the financial commitment!

One more tip - once you get your application back and fix the tax consent issue, make sure you check your SAI calculation carefully. My boyfriend had a similar issue and when they finally processed his application, they somehow didn't include his parents' tax info correctly even though the consent was fixed. This made his SAI way higher than it should have been. You'll want to compare the income figures on your SAI report against what you know was on your taxes.

I'm so glad to see this thread because I thought I was going crazy! This exact same thing happened to me last week. My application vanished after I got the tax consent notification, and like everyone else, the system insisted I already had one submitted but wouldn't show it anywhere. I ended up having to escalate through my school's financial aid office - they have a direct line to FSA for these kinds of technical issues. It took 3 business days but they were able to locate my application and get it restored to my dashboard. If you're still stuck after trying the other suggestions here, definitely reach out to your school's aid office. They deal with these FAFSA glitches all the time and have resources we don't have as individual students.