To answer your follow-up question - you report the CURRENT value of investments as of the date you're filling out the FAFSA, not their 2022 value. It's only the income information that comes from 2022. And to clarify about the SAI vs. EFC question someone asked - yes, the 2024-2025 FAFSA is using the new SAI calculation. This is a significant change that affects how financial need is determined. The formula gives more aid to some families (particularly those with multiple college students) but potentially less to others. One important note: You mentioned your mom's inherited investments. Make sure you're clear on whether those are in a retirement account (not reportable) or regular investment account (must be reported). If you're unsure, you should probably contact a financial aid advisor at one of your target schools for clarification before submitting.

I totally understand your stress - navigating FAFSA for the first time can be overwhelming! Just to add one more helpful tip that I wish someone had told me: when you're gathering the investment values, don't stress too much about getting the EXACT amount down to the penny. The FAFSA accepts reasonable estimates, and investment values fluctuate daily anyway. Also, make sure you have your Social Security card handy when you start - I got stuck halfway through because I couldn't remember if there was a dash in my SSN or not! And definitely save your work frequently since the system can time out. One last thing - after you submit, you'll get a Student Aid Report (SAR) that summarizes everything. Review it carefully because that's your last chance to catch any mistakes before it goes to your schools. You can make corrections if needed. You've got this! The fact that you're asking these questions shows you're being thorough, which is exactly what you need to do.

wait add the schools to the 2024-2025 FAFSA? isn't that for next year? shouldn't you be adding them to the 2023-2024 FAFSA if he's transferring in the middle of this school year?

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who works in a college financial aid office - we actually appreciate when families add schools early to their FAFSA, even if they're uncertain! It helps us plan our workload and ensures we can give proper attention to each student's file. For mid-year transfers specifically, we recommend reaching out to the financial aid office as soon as possible after adding the school to your FAFSA. Many schools have different deadlines and processes for spring transfers, and some institutional scholarships are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Also, don't forget to check if any of the potential schools participate in state grant programs that might have different deadlines than federal aid. Good luck with your son's decision - transferring can be stressful, but having financial aid packages ready will definitely help make the choice clearer!

For anyone finding this thread later with the same issue: This is a known problem with the 2025-2026 FAFSA contributor system. The Department of Education updated their systems in late 2024, requiring strict matching between: 1. The exact email address listed in the student's application 2. The FSA ID associated with that exact email 3. The legal name matching exactly in both systems Any discrepancy between these three elements will prevent parent contribution access. Also note that contributors MUST have their own FSA ID - they cannot use the student's login information under any circumstances.

Just went through this nightmare myself last month! Another thing to check - make sure you're not using any browser extensions that might be interfering. I had to disable my password manager and ad blocker before the FAFSA parent contribution portal would work properly. Also, if you've been logging in and out multiple times trying to fix this, clear your browser cache completely before trying again. The FAFSA system seems really sensitive to cached login data from previous sessions. Hope this helps someone avoid the headache we went through!

I remember when my son went through this! The SAI used to be called the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) before they changed it. Same concept though. Our number was around 16000 and he still got some decent aid packages from certain schools - especially the private ones with bigger endowments. The state schools gave less aid overall. Don't get discouraged yet!

One more thing about your SAI - it's worth checking if there are any errors in your FAFSA that might have inflated your SAI. Common mistakes include: 1. Reporting retirement assets (401k, IRA) which should be excluded 2. Reporting the home you live in as an asset (primary residence is excluded) 3. Not properly reporting divorced parent information 4. Incorrectly entering business value for small family businesses If you think there might be errors, you can submit corrections to your FAFSA. An SAI reduction of even a few thousand can make a big difference in aid eligibility at some schools.

For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, remember they've completely changed the formula from EFC to SAI (Student Aid Index). Make sure once you get past the FSA ID issue that you're looking at updated guidance for the new FAFSA. The changes are significant and affect how income and assets are calculated.

As a newcomer to this process, I'm finding this thread incredibly helpful! It's reassuring to know that not getting a confirmation email is normal - I was starting to panic thinking we'd done something wrong. The advice about trying to log in immediately makes sense, and I appreciate everyone sharing their experiences. I'm definitely going to write down all our credentials like Katherine suggested, and it's good to know about the SSA verification delay. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge with those of us navigating this for the first time!