After reviewing the information you've shared, I believe your SAI calculation is likely correct based on the formula, but that doesn't mean you're out of options: 1. Definitely pursue the Professional Judgment appeal based on medical expenses 2. Check if your daughter qualifies for any state grants that use different formulas 3. Look into private scholarships that aren't based on the FAFSA 4. Consider whether your husband might take on additional education loans in his name if needed The good news is that with an SAI of 23783, your daughter should still qualify for subsidized loans and potentially a reduced Pell Grant depending on the cost of attendance.

I'm going through something similar right now! My mom remarried last year and even though my stepdad makes less than my mom, our SAI still went up significantly. What I learned from our financial aid counselor is that the new formula looks at your "available income" differently when there are two adults in the household - they assume you have more disposable income because you're sharing living expenses. One thing that might help is to make sure you reported your household size correctly. If your husband supports any other dependents (even if they don't live with you), that should be included. Also, retirement contributions and certain taxes can reduce your available income in the calculation. Don't give up on the appeal process! Our school was actually pretty understanding when we explained our situation. Good luck!

btw make sure u check ur daughters SAI score on the fafsa portal b4 taking out too much in PLUS loans... sometimes kids qualify for more grants than the school tells u about and u dont need as big of a PLUS loan

Just wanted to chime in as someone who went through this exact same confusion last year! You absolutely did the right thing. I remember calling the financial aid office at my son's school in a panic because I thought we had filled out the Parent PLUS application incorrectly by only including my husband's information. The financial aid counselor explained that unlike the FAFSA (which looks at both parents' income to determine need), the Parent PLUS loan is an individual loan product. Only one parent can be the borrower, and that parent is solely responsible for the debt. It's actually pretty common for families to choose the parent with better credit or higher income to be the borrower. Don't stress about it - you're all set!

Update: I finally got through to the financial aid office! They said the appeal is still under review but should be completed by next Wednesday. They also confirmed that signing the MPN doesn't commit us to anything, and we can still request an extension on the deposit deadline if needed. Thanks everyone for your help and advice!

That's such a relief that you got through to them! The waiting game is so stressful when you're trying to make such an important decision. I hope the appeal comes back with good news on Wednesday. It sounds like you handled this perfectly by getting clarification on the MPN and keeping your options open with the deposit. Best of luck to your son - getting into his top choice school is already such an amazing accomplishment!

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!

I'm going through this exact same situation right now! My daughter's FAFSA shows "manually entered" even though I definitely used the DRT back in January. I was so careful about clicking the right buttons because I've heard horror stories about manual entry errors. This thread has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea this was such a widespread issue. I've been beating myself up thinking I somehow messed up the process, but it's clearly a system problem on their end. Based on everyone's advice here, I'm going to skip trying to reach FSA and go straight to my daughter's financial aid office tomorrow. Already requested our tax transcript from IRS.gov and have our W-2s ready to send over. It's such a relief to know that schools are understanding about this and have procedures in place. The timing stress is real though - we need that aid package to make our final decision! Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and solutions.

btw one more thing - make sure u keep track of all ur idoc submission confirmations! my sons documents got "lost" in the system twice and we had to resubmit. take screenshots of everything!

As someone who works in financial aid at a private college, I wanted to add that the timing confusion you're experiencing is unfortunately very common this year. The December 1st FAFSA launch has created a disconnect between CSS Profile deadlines (which haven't changed) and FAFSA availability. For QuestBridge finalists applying ED, here's what typically happens: colleges will make their initial financial aid offers based solely on your CSS Profile and tax documents submitted through IDOC. These offers are usually very close to what your final package will be, since the CSS Profile captures much more detailed financial information than the FAFSA anyway. The key is to be thorough and accurate with your CSS Profile - don't leave any fields blank, and if something doesn't apply to your situation, enter "0" rather than skipping it. This helps ensure the most accurate preliminary aid calculation possible. Best of luck to your daughter with her applications!