I'm so glad I found this thread! I was literally about to call my school's financial aid office in a panic because I thought something went wrong with my application. I've been filing the FAFSA for 3 years now for my grad program and always relied on seeing that loan eligibility confirmation at the end. It's honestly pretty poor user experience design to remove information that students have come to expect and rely on, especially without any clear communication about the change. Thanks everyone for confirming this is just a display issue and not an actual eligibility problem!

Just adding my voice to confirm this is happening to everyone! I submitted my FAFSA for 2025-2026 two weeks ago and had the exact same experience - no loan eligibility amount shown on the confirmation screen, which definitely freaked me out initially. I'm a second-year PhD student and have been relying on those Direct Unsubsidized loans, so seeing nothing about loans was alarming. After reading this thread and calling my university's financial aid office, they confirmed it's just a system display change and my $20,500 annual loan eligibility is still intact. Really wish the Department of Education had communicated this change better - would have saved a lot of students unnecessary stress! For anyone still worried, definitely reach out to your school's financial aid office for peace of mind.

Great news! This is exactly why in-person visits can be so helpful. One small tip for future reference - keep a folder with all your financial aid documents including verification forms, tax transcripts, SAR, etc. This will make the process much smoother next year, as many of the same documents are often needed again. Glad you got it resolved before the priority deadline!

As someone who just went through this nightmare last semester, I feel your pain! The verification process is so stressful when you're already worried about financial aid deadlines. One thing that saved me was setting up an IRS online account for my parents - if they can verify their identity online, they can get the tax transcript immediately rather than waiting 10 days for mail. You need their Social Security number, filing status, and some info from their previous year's return, but it's way faster than the mail option. Also, definitely keep copies of everything you submit! I learned the hard way that documents sometimes get "lost" in the system and you'll need to resubmit. Take photos of everything before you hand it over or upload it. Hope you get everything sorted before your deadline - sounds like you're on the right track now that you found those hidden forms!

This entire thread has been incredibly eye-opening! I'm currently stuck in the exact same situation with my daughter's Parent PLUS application - empty dropdown, unhelpful customer service, the whole nine yards. Reading through everyone's experiences, it's clear this is a widespread issue that FSA should really address better. I'm going to work through the checklist that's emerged from this discussion: 1) Verify her school is actually listed on her FAFSA (not just submitted), 2) Check her enrollment status with the school directly, 3) Give it 3-5 business days for systems to sync up, and 4) Contact the financial aid office for the paper form backup plan if needed. It's frustrating that we have to crowdsource solutions like this, but I'm so grateful for everyone sharing their real-world fixes. This is way more helpful than anything I got from the official support channels!

I'm experiencing this exact same issue right now! My son is starting his junior year and I've been trying to complete his Parent PLUS application for two weeks. The school dropdown has been completely empty every time I try. After reading through all these responses, I realize I never actually verified that his school is listed on his FAFSA - I just assumed it was since he's been attending there for two years. I'm going to have him log in and double-check that tonight. It's so frustrating that the FSA phone support doesn't walk parents through these basic troubleshooting steps. This thread has been more helpful than three different phone calls to their helpline! I'll definitely try the financial aid office route if the FAFSA fix doesn't work within a few days. Thanks everyone for sharing your real experiences and solutions!

Make sure she actually submits it NOW for the 2024-2025 year! My son's friend thought he could wait until closer to his January start date and ended up missing out on a ton of departmental scholarships because those have earlier deadlines even though the FAFSA itself can be submitted later. The whole system is RIDICULOUS honestly.

Hi there! I went through this exact same situation last year with my daughter. She started her master's program in January 2024, and I was equally confused about the timing. Here's what I learned: Yes, she absolutely should submit the 2024-2025 FAFSA RIGHT NOW for Spring 2025 enrollment. Don't wait - I made that mistake initially and almost cost my daughter some funding opportunities. One thing that really helped us was creating a simple timeline: - Submit 2024-2025 FAFSA immediately (covers Spring 2025) - December 2024: Submit 2025-2026 FAFSA when it opens (covers Fall 2025 and beyond) Also, have her list ALL the grad schools she's applied to on the FAFSA - you can always remove schools later if she doesn't get accepted, but you can't go back in time if you miss a school's internal deadlines. The independent student status for grad school was actually a pleasant surprise - much simpler than when we were factoring in our family income for her undergrad applications. Good luck with the process!

my daughters SAI finally got fixed this morning! went back down to the original amount. check ur accounts everyone!

I'm dealing with the exact same issue! My SAI went from around $47k to $94k overnight and I've been stressed out of my mind. After reading through all these responses, I'm feeling a bit more hopeful that it's a widespread bug rather than something wrong with my specific application. I've already reached out to my financial aid office with screenshots like someone suggested, and I'm going to mention that Dear Colleague Letter GEN-25-03 that Miguel referenced. It's so frustrating that this is happening right when we need to make crucial financial decisions about college, but at least we're not alone in this mess. Fingers crossed it gets resolved soon for all of us!