Just wanted to add my perspective as someone who went through this recently! I was in almost the exact same situation - remarried for 4 years but filed separately. I selected "No" for the joint tax return question and made sure to include both my income and my current spouse's income in all the parent sections. My daughter's FAFSA went through without any issues and we didn't get selected for verification. The key is being consistent - answer "No" to the joint filing question since that's literally what your tax status was, but then make absolutely sure you're reporting both household incomes accurately throughout the rest of the application. Don't overthink it - the question is asking about your actual tax filing status, not your marital status!

I just went through this same exact situation last month! You should definitely select "No" since you filed as married filing separately - the question is specifically about your tax filing status, not whether you're currently married. I was worried about verification too, but here's what helped me: I made sure to have all documentation ready (both W-2s, tax returns for both you and your spouse, bank statements) just in case. Even though you select "No" for that question, you'll still need to report both your income and your current spouse's income in the parent sections - that's required regardless of how you filed taxes. The FAFSA considers all household income for married parents. I'd also suggest double-checking all your entries before submitting and keeping copies of everything. Good luck with your daughter's application!

Thank you everyone for the helpful responses! I'll go ahead and enter the family size manually. Seems like I also need to pay attention to the "number in college" field too. Really appreciate all the information - definitely cleared up my confusion!

Just wanted to add that you should double-check your family size calculation before submitting! I made the mistake of only counting people living at home full-time and missed including my older brother who's in grad school but still gets support from my parents. Had to submit a correction later which delayed my aid processing. The FAFSA definition of "household size" is different from what most people think - it's really about financial support, not just physical residence. Take your time with this section!

This is really helpful information! I'm in a similar situation with my son starting his junior year. I had no idea about the June timeline for Parent PLUS applications - I was getting worried that I was missing something. The suggestion about getting a signed statement of intent is brilliant too. I'm definitely going to call his school's financial aid office tomorrow to see if they have similar policies. It's frustrating that the timing doesn't align better with when we need to make these financial commitments, but at least now I know what to expect. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!

As someone who went through this process last year, I can confirm that the June timeline for Parent PLUS applications is accurate. One thing I'd add is to make sure you have all your documents ready ahead of time - tax returns, bank statements, etc. When June rolls around, you'll want to submit that application as quickly as possible since processing can take several weeks. Also, if you're planning to borrow the maximum amount (cost of attendance minus other aid), double-check with the school's financial aid office about exactly how they calculate that figure. Some schools include things like transportation and personal expenses in their cost of attendance, which can affect your loan eligibility.

I'm dealing with this same exact issue right now! My son's FAFSA had our household size of 5 people, but after the IRS data retrieval it went completely blank. I've been trying to fix it for weeks and getting nowhere with customer service. Thank you everyone for the detailed instructions on where to find this hidden field. It's ridiculous that such a critical piece of information that affects thousands of dollars in aid eligibility is buried so deep in the application and keeps getting wiped out by their own system! I'm also really concerned about our timeline - we have college deadlines coming up fast and I'm worried this correction will delay everything. Has anyone had success contacting their school's financial aid office directly about this widespread glitch? I'm thinking of reaching out proactively to explain the situation before our corrected FAFSA gets processed. This whole "simplified" FAFSA rollout has been an absolute disaster. Between the late launch, constant crashes, and now data getting randomly deleted, I feel like we're all beta testing their broken system while our kids' financial aid hangs in the balance.

Ugh, this is happening to us too! Just discovered our household size went from 4 to blank after the IRS transfer. I'm a single mom with three kids and this could seriously affect how much aid my oldest gets for college. Thank you everyone for the detailed instructions - I'm going to try the Parent Information > Household Details > Family Members path that @Keisha Robinson mentioned. Really hoping I can get this fixed before it delays our financial aid package. It's so frustrating that a "simplified" form is causing so many headaches. Between work and managing everything else, the last thing I need is to spend hours hunting for a missing field that their own system deleted! Taking screenshots of everything once I fix it - definitely don't want to go through this nightmare twice.

This is such a stressful situation! I'm dealing with something similar - my FAFSA shows as processed but my school's financial aid office acts like it doesn't exist. The timing pressure with summer deadlines makes it even worse. From what I'm seeing in these responses, it sounds like going in person with your SAR printout is the most effective approach. The technical delays with the new FAFSA system seem to be affecting tons of students this year, so at least we know we're not alone in this mess. Have you tried checking if your school has any emergency aid or deadline extension policies for students affected by the FAFSA delays? Some schools are being more flexible this year given all the technical issues everyone's experiencing.

I'm in a similar boat and it's absolutely maddening! My FAFSA has been showing as processed for 2 weeks but when I called my school yesterday, they said they have no record of receiving it. What's really frustrating is that I can see my SAI on the federal site clear as day, but somehow that information isn't making it to my financial aid office. I've been reading through all these responses and it sounds like the in-person approach with printed SAR might be my best bet too. The technical issues with this new FAFSA system are clearly widespread - I've seen so many posts about this exact problem across different forums. It's reassuring to know it's not just me, but also terrifying that so many of us are dealing with summer deadline pressure while the system is basically broken. Has anyone had success getting their school to acknowledge the systemic issues and maybe extend internal deadlines? I'm wondering if financial aid offices are getting guidance from higher up about how to handle all these delays.