Just completed my FAFSA last week and wanted to share what finally clicked for me! I was getting hung up on the same thing - worried about double reporting. What helped me understand it was realizing that the FAFSA treats married parents as one financial unit when they file jointly. So when the form asks for "parent income," it's really asking for your household's total income, which is exactly what's on line 11 of your parents' joint 1040. Both parents still need FSA IDs to digitally sign (think of it like both parents signing a paper form), but you're only reporting one set of financial numbers because there's only one tax return. The system is actually pretty smart about preventing double-counting once you understand this logic!

As someone who works in financial aid, I can definitely confirm what everyone has shared here! The confusion around joint tax filing is one of the most common questions we get. You're absolutely right to be concerned about double-counting - that would indeed mess up your SAI calculation. One additional tip that might help: when you're filling out the FAFSA and it asks for parent information, pay attention to the specific wording of each question. You'll notice it says things like "What was your parents' adjusted gross income?" (plural "parents'" but asking for ONE number) rather than asking for each parent's individual AGI. This linguistic clue helps reinforce that you're entering household totals, not individual amounts. Also, keep all your documentation handy even after submitting - if your FAFSA gets selected for verification (which happens to about 1 in 3 applications), you'll need to provide supporting documents that match exactly what you entered. Using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, as others mentioned, can really help with this!

I just want to thank everyone for the thoughtful responses. I had no idea about the SAI formula changes or that some school-specific scholarships require FAFSA regardless of need. I called my daughter's financial aid office this morning, and they mentioned TWO scholarship programs I hadn't heard of that require FAFSA completion but are designed for families in our income range. One is even specifically for students in her major! I'm going to complete the form this weekend and see what happens. Really appreciate all the advice - sometimes it's hard to keep pushing through bureaucracy when it feels pointless.

Just want to echo what others have said about contacting the financial aid office directly - that was a game changer for me too! I was in almost the exact same boat (household income around $95K) and had given up after three years of basically nothing. But when I called about my daughter's final year, they told me about an emergency fund for families affected by the pandemic that I never would have known about otherwise. Got $2,800 that literally saved us from taking out another loan. The new FAFSA really is easier too - I was shocked when I finished it in under 30 minutes this year compared to the multi-hour ordeal it used to be. And with those SAI changes everyone's mentioning, it seems like they're finally recognizing that middle-class families need help too. Definitely worth one more try, especially since you've already identified specific programs at your daughter's school!

This thread has been incredibly helpful - thank you everyone for sharing your experiences! I'm dealing with the same DRT issue for my daughter's FAFSA and was starting to panic thinking we'd done something wrong. Based on what I'm reading here, it sounds like the best approach is to bypass FSA entirely and go straight to the financial aid offices with documentation. I'm going to request our tax transcript from IRS.gov today and start calling her schools tomorrow. One question for those who've been through this - how long did it typically take from when you submitted the documentation to the schools until they updated your aid package? My daughter's deposit deadline is coming up and we're still waiting on final aid amounts from her top choice school.

This is such a relief to find this thread! I thought I was going crazy - I completed my daughter's FAFSA in late February and was so careful to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool because I didn't want to mess up any numbers. Just got a letter from her college saying the tax information appears to be "manually entered" and they need verification documents. Reading through everyone's experiences here, it sounds like this is definitely a system-wide issue and not something we did wrong. I'm going to skip trying to call FSA (sounds like a nightmare based on what everyone's saying) and go straight to contacting the financial aid office at her school. Has anyone had success getting this resolved for ED2 admissions? She was accepted Early Decision 2 and we need the aid package finalized soon to make sure we can afford the enrollment. Getting a bit stressed about the timing but this thread gives me hope that schools are being understanding about these technical issues. Going to request our tax transcript from IRS.gov right now and call the school first thing Monday morning. Thank you all for sharing your experiences - it's so helpful to know we're not alone in this!

As a parent with a junior who's been following this discussion closely, I wanted to add one more perspective that might be helpful for families like ours. I've been researching FAFSA preparation for months now, and this thread has confirmed so many things I've been reading about. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the importance of understanding how different types of assets are treated on the FAFSA. For example, retirement accounts (401k, IRA) aren't counted as assets, but regular savings and investment accounts are. This knowledge can help families make strategic financial decisions during the junior/senior year period if they're planning major purchases or financial moves. Also, I've learned that grandparent-owned 529 plans are treated differently than parent-owned ones on the FAFSA, which could be important for families with grandparents who want to help with college costs. The timing of when these distributions are made can affect future year aid eligibility. For families like mine who are trying to maximize aid eligibility while still being financially responsible, understanding these nuances has been crucial. I'd recommend consulting with both a tax professional and possibly a college financial planning specialist during junior year if your financial situation is complex. Thanks to everyone who's contributed to this amazing resource of a thread!

As a parent new to this community and process, I'm incredibly grateful for this comprehensive discussion! My daughter is also a junior, and I've been feeling overwhelmed about where to even begin with college planning and financial aid. Reading through everyone's experiences has transformed what felt like an impossible mountain to climb into manageable, actionable steps. The timeline breakdown has been especially helpful - I now understand that we'll essentially be juggling college applications and FAFSA submission simultaneously in fall 2025, rather than doing one before the other. The emphasis on submitting the FAFSA as early as possible after October 1st is a message I'm hearing loud and clear from multiple parents who've been through this! I'm planning to start organizing our financial documents this summer, create FSA IDs in September 2025, and definitely try that practice FAFSA account that was mentioned. The tip about building relationships with financial aid offices during senior year is something I never would have considered but makes perfect sense. One question I have: for families who might need to travel for college visits, is it better to do most of that during junior year/summer before senior year, or can it wait until after applications are submitted? I'm trying to balance the financial cost of travel with making informed college choices. Thank you all for creating such a supportive environment for first-time parents navigating this process!

One more important tip: double-check that your income numbers match your tax return exactly. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool is the best way to ensure accuracy. Even small discrepancies between what you manually enter and what the IRS has on file can trigger verification, which is a headache you don't want. If you're entering manually, have your actual tax returns in front of you, not just your W-2s.

As someone who just went through this process for the first time this year, I can confirm what others have said - the joint tax return section is definitely confusing! One thing that helped me was printing out the FAFSA worksheet beforehand and filling it out on paper first. That way I could double-check everything before entering it online. Also, make sure you have your Social Security cards handy for both parents - the system sometimes asks for those numbers during the parent section and it's frustrating to have to stop and hunt them down. Good luck with your son's application!