Did you ever get this resolved? We're curious because we're about to add my wife as a contributor and want to avoid problems.

Oh my goodness, I'm so relieved to see this resolved! I'm actually in the exact same situation right now - my husband can't access the application after clicking the invitation link. After reading through all these responses, I'm going to have him check if he has multiple FSA IDs because that sounds like it could be our issue too. He's been so frustrated with the whole process. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it's so helpful to know we're not alone in dealing with these technical glitches!

Just to offer a different perspective - an SAI of 20,000 means the government formula determined your family can contribute $20,000 per year toward education costs. While that may not feel feasible with your family size, it's high enough that most federal grant programs won't apply. What many families in your situation do: 1. Use the $5,500 federal student loan (it has the best terms) 2. Pay what you can from savings/current income 3. Consider a less expensive school 4. Look at work-study programs 5. Only use Parent PLUS loans as a last resort for the gap Most importantly - this is just ONE school's offer. Different schools with the same FAFSA info might offer very different institutional aid packages.

I'm dealing with a similar situation with my son - SAI of 22,000 and basically got nothing but loans from his top choice school. What really helped us was doing a side-by-side comparison of ALL the schools he got into. We created a spreadsheet with total cost, aid offered, and net price for each option. One state school actually gave him a $8,000 merit scholarship we almost overlooked, which made it significantly more affordable than the "dream school" that offered nothing. Sometimes the school that seems like second choice financially ends up being the smart choice. Also, don't feel bad about having your daughter call the financial aid office directly - sometimes they respond better to the student than the parent. Good luck!

Thank you everyone for all the helpful advice! After reading everything, our plan is to: 1. Use our mom's 2023 tax information on the FAFSA (marking her as deceased) 2. Not include her in the household count 3. Have her death certificate and divorce papers ready for possible verification 4. Request a professional judgment review due to changed circumstances 5. Have our dad apply for Parent Plus loans if needed I was able to finally speak with someone at Federal Student Aid using that Claimyr service that was suggested, and they confirmed all of this information. They also said we should write a brief statement explaining the situation to include with my brother's FAFSA submission. This has been incredibly helpful - dealing with financial aid after losing a parent is so overwhelming.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Paige. It sounds like you've gotten excellent guidance from everyone here and have a comprehensive plan in place. Just wanted to add that when you mention writing a brief statement to include with the FAFSA, make sure to keep it concise but include key dates (when your mom passed away, that she was custodial parent during 2023 tax year, etc.). Also, since you mentioned your dad makes significantly more money, definitely prioritize that professional judgment review - schools can sometimes make adjustments that result in more favorable aid calculations when there's been a death in the family. Some schools are more generous with these reviews than others, so don't get discouraged if the first response isn't what you hoped for. You can always provide additional documentation or appeal if needed. Best of luck to you and your brother navigating this process during such a difficult time.

Update: My son finally got through to someone helpful at the financial aid office today! Turns out they were waiting on his high school to send final transcripts, even though they already had his preliminary ones. They never notified us about this! His portal just showed "processing" with no explanation. Once he explained that he's already submitted everything from his end, they checked and found the transcript had actually arrived last week but hadn't been matched to his file. They're expediting his package now and said we should see final numbers within 5-7 business days. So frustrating that this could have been resolved weeks ago!

That's such great news! I'm so glad you finally got to the bottom of it. Your experience is exactly why I always tell families to ask very specific questions like "What documents are you waiting for?" and "Have all my documents been properly matched to my file?" rather than just asking for a general status update. The fact that your son's transcript was sitting there for a week without being processed is unfortunately very common. Many schools have separate document intake systems that don't automatically sync with student files. For anyone else dealing with similar delays, it's worth asking the financial aid office to do a real-time check of what's actually in your file versus what they're waiting for. Sometimes the holdup is just a clerical step that can be resolved immediately once someone actually looks at the account. Hope you get those final numbers soon and can move forward with your planning!

Update: I finally got through to FSA after a 42-minute wait (not as bad as I expected!). The agent explained that the DOB field is locked because it's a primary identifier, but they were able to submit a change request on their end. They said it will take 3-5 business days to update in the system, and then I'll need to sign back into the account to re-sign the FAFSA with the corrected information. Thanks everyone for your help!

Glad to hear you got it resolved! This is such a common issue that I think FSA should make the correction process clearer on their website. For anyone else dealing with this, it's definitely worth calling sooner rather than later. I've seen too many students have their aid delayed because of these kinds of data mismatches during verification. The 3-5 business day turnaround sounds pretty reasonable too!