Hi everyone! I'm new to this community and just wanted to add my experience as someone who went through Cal Grant A delays last year with my daughter at UC Santa Barbara. A few things that really helped us that I haven't seen mentioned yet: 1. Contact your student's college advisor early - not just financial aid, but their assigned academic advisor. They often have insider knowledge about typical aid processing timelines and can sometimes expedite things if there are issues. 2. Join your school's parent Facebook groups if they exist - other parents often share real-time updates about when aid actually hits student accounts, which can be more accurate than official timelines. 3. If you do end up paying upfront, make sure to ask about refund processing times. When our daughter's Cal Grant finally arrived, it took another 2 weeks to get our refund check, which we weren't expecting. 4. Keep your FAFSA login info handy - sometimes schools need you to make minor corrections or updates that can hold up all aid processing, including Cal Grant. The stress is so real, but it does work out! By October everything was settled and we barely thought about it anymore. Hang in there!

Hi everyone! I'm new to this community and just found this incredibly helpful thread. My daughter will be starting at UC Riverside in the fall and we also received Cal Grant A notification, so I've been reading through everyone's experiences with great interest. I wanted to ask - has anyone dealt with Cal Grant A at UC Riverside specifically? I'm wondering if their financial aid office is as responsive as some of the other UCs mentioned here, or if I should prepare for the same long wait times that others have experienced. Also, I noticed several people mentioned that Cal Grant A only covers tuition and fees, not room and board. For those whose kids are living on campus, what percentage of your total college costs did the Cal Grant end up covering? I'm trying to get a realistic picture of what we'll still need to budget for beyond the grant. Thank you all for sharing your experiences - this thread has already answered so many questions I didn't even know I should be asking! It's such a relief to find a community of people going through the same process.

Glad to hear you got it resolved! For anyone else dealing with similar FAFSA correction glitches, here's what I learned from my experience last year: The system seems to have "peak error times" - usually weekends and evenings when traffic is highest. I had better luck making corrections during weekday mornings (9-11 AM EST). Also, if you're getting the "cannot process your correction" error, try logging out completely, clearing your browser cache, and waiting at least 30 minutes before trying again. Sometimes the system needs time to "forget" your previous failed attempts. The FSA agents are definitely your best bet for technical issues that won't resolve on their own.

I'm dealing with a similar FAFSA correction nightmare right now! My situation is slightly different - I need to correct my parent contribution information after realizing I miscalculated some retirement account distributions. Like you, the correction system keeps giving me error messages and timing out. Reading through all these responses is so helpful. I'm definitely going to try the weekday morning approach that Ella mentioned, and if that doesn't work, I'll contact our school's financial aid office directly. It's reassuring to know that these technical glitches are fairly common and that there are actual solutions. Thanks for posting about this - sometimes it helps just knowing you're not the only one fighting with the system!

the whole college process is SO STRESSFUL!!! our fafsa got flagged for verification last year and we nearly lost our deposit window too. glad they gave u an extension!

That's fantastic news about getting the extension! You made absolutely the right call waiting for the complete financial aid package. With your SAI of 432, there's a real possibility of significant additional aid that could save you thousands over four years. Your son might be anxious now, but he'll thank you later when he graduates debt-free or with minimal loans. The 10-day extension should give you plenty of time to make an informed decision with all the financial information in hand.

Welcome to the community @Diego Fernández! Your situation sounds incredibly frustrating but you're definitely not alone. I went through something similar last year with my twin daughters and it took about 2 weeks total to fully resolve, but most of that was waiting to get through to FSA in the first place. A few things that helped me: 1. When you submit those corrections that @Samuel Robinson outlined, make sure to note in the "Additional Information" section that you have multiple students from the same household with conflicting SAI calculations 2. Screenshot everything - the original SAI screens, your correction submissions, confirmation numbers, etc. Having a complete paper trail made a huge difference when I finally got an agent on the phone 3. Don't wait for the corrections to process before contacting your schools' financial aid offices. Send them an email NOW explaining the situation and that you're working with FSA to resolve it. Most schools are understanding about these system glitches The 3-5 business day timeframe is hit or miss from what I've seen. Mine took about 6 business days, but having the case number definitely helped when I had to follow up. The good news is that once FSA acknowledges it's their system error (which sounds like what happened with Gabriel), they're usually pretty good about actually fixing it. Hang in there - this is fixable even though it's incredibly stressful!

I'm so glad I found this thread! I'm dealing with a very similar situation with my twin sons who are both college-bound this fall. Their SAI calculations came back with about a $3,200 difference despite having identical financial information from our household. I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what went wrong. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been incredibly reassuring - I had no idea this was a known system glitch with the new FAFSA. @Gabriel Freeman, thank you for sharing your resolution and the update about finally getting through to FSA! @Samuel Robinson, your step-by-step correction process is exactly what I needed, and I'm definitely going to use that specific "Duplicate Household SAI Review" terminology when I call. I'm going to try the Claimyr service tomorrow since I've also been completely unable to get through to FSA after countless attempts. It's such a relief to know that other families have successfully resolved these discrepancies and that it's a documented system error rather than something I did wrong on the applications. Has anyone had experience with how long it typically takes for the corrected SAI to show up on the college financial aid portals after FSA processes the fix? My sons have already received preliminary aid packages from several schools based on the incorrect calculations, and I'm wondering how quickly those will get updated once this is resolved.

As someone who works in financial aid at a community college, I can confirm what others have said - you absolutely do not need to file FAFSA during your daughter's senior year if she's taking a gap year. We see this situation frequently, and students who file "just in case" often end up confused when their aid doesn't carry over. One thing I'd add is that community colleges typically have very generous filing deadlines compared to 4-year schools, so even if she decides in summer 2026 that she wants to start that fall, you'll likely still have time to complete the FAFSA and receive aid. Most of our students qualify for significant Pell Grant funding, and community college tuition is low enough that aid often covers most or all costs. The FSA ID suggestion is spot-on though - definitely get those set up now while you're thinking about it!

As a parent who just went through this exact situation last year, I can confirm that waiting to file the FAFSA was absolutely the right choice for us. My son took a gap year and we were pressured by his high school to file "just to be safe," but we decided against it after doing our own research. When he enrolled in community college this past fall, we filed the FAFSA in January and he received full Pell Grant coverage plus additional state aid. The process was much smoother because we had all our current financial information rather than trying to estimate or update old data. One tip I'd add - during her gap year, encourage your daughter to keep any earnings from part-time work in a parent account rather than her own savings account, since student assets are assessed at a much higher rate (20%) than parent assets (5.64%) in the aid formula. This small detail can make a meaningful difference in her aid eligibility.