Thank you all for the helpful advice! I just told my daughter about the special circumstances appeal option and she feels much better knowing there's a potential way to address this situation. I've also passed along the information to my ex-husband so he can properly complete the FAFSA when it opens. I'll definitely be checking each school's financial aid website for their specific appeal forms once we get the initial aid packages.

I went through this exact situation with my stepdaughter last year! Yes, unfortunately you do need to include the new wife's 2023 tax information even though they weren't married then. The key thing to remember is that FAFSA looks at who's in the household NOW when filing, not during the tax year. Here's what helped us: First, we completed the FAFSA with both incomes as required. Then, immediately after receiving the initial aid offers, we contacted each school's financial aid office to explain the timing of the marriage. Most schools were actually pretty understanding once we provided documentation (marriage certificate showing the February 2024 date). Two schools ended up adjusting her aid package through the professional judgment process, which made a real difference. Make sure to emphasize that the stepparent's income wasn't available to support educational expenses during 2023 since they weren't even family yet. Keep all your documentation organized - marriage certificate, previous aid awards if your daughter received aid before, and a clear timeline of events. The system definitely isn't perfect, but don't give up hope! The appeals process exists for exactly these kinds of situations.

Thank you everyone for the helpful responses! I'm much clearer now on how this works. We'll both create separate FSA IDs (with different emails), have her start the application and list all her schools, then I'll complete my section with our 2023 tax info. Really appreciate the warnings about potential technical issues too - I'll definitely save that Claimyr link in case we run into problems. Wish us luck with this financial aid journey!

Welcome to the FAFSA journey! As someone who just went through this process with my son, I can confirm everything others have said is correct. One thing I'd add is to make sure you both write down your FSA ID usernames and passwords somewhere safe - my son forgot his halfway through and we had to go through the whole password reset process which delayed our submission by a week! Also, don't panic if the application times out while you're working on it - you can save and come back later. The system saves your progress automatically every few minutes. You've got this! The process seems overwhelming at first but once you get started it's pretty straightforward.

Just wanted to chime in as someone who went through this exact situation two years ago! The advice from A Man D Mortal is spot on - I did exactly what they recommended (married on student section, mom selected separated on parent section since I lived with her) and had zero issues. One thing I'd add is to make sure you have documentation ready showing your living situation - utility bills, lease agreements, etc. I wasn't selected for verification, but my friend was and having those documents made the process smooth. Also, don't stress too much about the "inconsistency" between sections - the FAFSA system knows about this quirk and it's totally normal. Good luck with your application! You're asking all the right questions and getting great advice here.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! As someone currently dealing with this exact situation, I want to thank everyone for sharing their experiences and advice. The distinction between what to put on the student vs parent sections was really confusing me too. Just to summarize what I'm understanding: put "married" on the student section (since that's their legal status), have the custodial parent put "separated" on their section, only include the custodial parent's financial info, and keep documentation ready in case of verification. One quick follow-up question - for those who've been through this, did your financial aid packages end up being processed on the normal timeline, or did the separated parent situation cause any delays even without verification? I'm trying to plan ahead for potential timing issues.

This is exactly what I needed to see! I'm a single mom with a daughter starting at Drexel this fall, and I've been so confused about all these different financial aid steps. Her FAFSA was processed March 18th, so hopefully we'll get the PHEAA email soon. One thing I'm worried about - I work two jobs and sometimes don't check my personal email for a couple days. Is there any way to have the PHEAA emails forwarded to my work email too, or would that mess up the application process? I really can't afford to miss that 24-hour window, especially after reading about people having to wait hours on hold to get new links. Also, for anyone who's completed the application for first-year students - roughly how long does it take to fill out all the additional information they're asking for? I want to make sure I can set aside enough time to do it properly when the email comes.

Just wanted to share a quick tip for anyone still waiting for their PHEAA emails - check if your email provider has a "promotions" or "updates" folder (like Gmail does). My daughter's PHEAA email actually went there instead of her main inbox, even though we had set up filters. Also, for parents juggling work schedules, you might want to temporarily turn on email notifications for ALL emails during this waiting period. I know it's annoying to get constant pings, but missing that 24-hour window is way more stressful than dealing with extra notifications for a few weeks. One more thing - if you're helping multiple kids with this process like I am, create a simple spreadsheet with each kid's FAFSA processing date and expected email timeframe. It's helped me stay organized and know which emails to expect when. Good luck everyone!

this whole college application process is such a scam. they make everything confusing on purpose so u mess up and have to pay more fees to fix it

For anyone else dealing with this confusion - I went through the same panic last year! The CSS Profile data sharing acknowledgment is ONLY about financial information, not test scores. Your Score Choice settings remain completely separate and unaffected. One tip: if you're still worried, you can always log into your College Board account after submitting the CSS Profile to double-check that your Score Choice preferences are still set the way you want them. They'll show exactly which scores have been sent to which schools. This gave me peace of mind when I was applying! Also remember that even if a college has a policy requiring all scores, the CSS Profile acknowledgment doesn't automatically enforce that - it's still up to you to send them through the proper channels.