Update: My husband just completed his section and it went smoothly! He reported our household as 5 people and found the section to report child support payments separately. Thanks everyone for your help - it made the process so much easier having the right information ahead of time.

Congratulations on getting it sorted out! As someone who's helped dozens of families navigate FAFSA for blended situations, I'm glad to see the community provided such clear guidance. For other families reading this thread, I'd add one more tip: always keep documentation of custody arrangements and child support orders handy when filling out FAFSA. Sometimes financial aid offices will request verification of these details later in the process. The distinction between household size and child support paid is one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of FAFSA, so you're definitely not alone in the initial confusion!

This thread is a goldmine of information! I'm a college sophomore who went through this exact nightmare last year. One thing I'd add is that some states (like mine) have an online portal where you can actually check the status of your FAFSA data transfer. It's usually buried deep in their financial aid website, but if you search for something like "[your state] FAFSA data verification" or "federal aid data status" you might find it. Also, pro tip: if you're dealing with this issue in future years, start your FAFSA process WAY earlier. I now submit mine in October (as soon as it opens) specifically to avoid these timing crunches with state deadlines. The processing delays are predictable - it's just that nobody tells you about them upfront! @Abigail Patel so glad you got it resolved! Your residency situation is super common for out-of-state students and hopefully your experience will help others in the same boat.

As a newcomer to this whole financial aid process, I'm absolutely blown away by how complex and interconnected everything is! This thread has been incredibly educational - I had no idea about the multi-step data transfer process between FAFSA and state systems, or that residency requirements could be so nuanced. Reading through everyone's experiences, it's clear that the biggest issue is the lack of transparency about these processing delays and requirements. It seems like students are expected to just "figure it out" through trial and error, which creates so much unnecessary stress during an already overwhelming time. I'm taking notes on all the practical advice shared here - starting FAFSA early in October, checking for state data verification portals, understanding residency exceptions, and having services like Claimyr as a backup for getting through to actual humans when phone lines are jammed. It's unfortunate that we need workarounds to navigate what should be a straightforward process, but I'm grateful for this community sharing real solutions. For anyone else just starting this journey - this thread proves that persistence pays off and there are usually options available even when the system seems to be working against you. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences and creating such a helpful resource!

As someone who just went through this process for my son's freshman year, I wanted to add a few practical tips that really helped us: 1. **Create a repayment plan BEFORE you borrow** - We calculated exactly how much we could afford to pay monthly while he's in school and set up automatic payments immediately. Even $100/month makes a difference! 2. **Track your disbursements carefully** - The money doesn't all go out at once. Our school split it between fall and spring semesters, so we had to make sure we had enough for both. 3. **Consider borrowing slightly less than the full gap** - We left about $1,000 that we covered with a payment plan directly to the school. The payment plan was interest-free for 10 months, which saved us money compared to borrowing that portion. 4. **Download the Federal Student Aid app** - It makes tracking your loan balances and making payments so much easier than the website. The interest really does add up fast, so definitely start making payments during school if you can swing it. We're paying $250/month and it's helping keep the balance from growing too much. Good luck with your daughter's college journey!

Just want to echo what everyone's saying about making payments during school - it's SO important! We're in our second year of Parent PLUS loans and I wish we'd started payments immediately. The first year we thought we'd wait, and watching that balance grow with interest was painful. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet - if you're considering making payments while your daughter is in school, try to pay more than just the interest if possible. Even an extra $50-100 toward principal each month adds up. We use a loan calculator to see how different payment amounts affect the total we'll pay over time, and it really motivates us to squeeze out a bit more each month. Also, definitely shop around and see if your daughter's school offers any institutional payment plans before committing to borrowing the full gap amount. Some schools have really generous terms on their payment plans that can be better than taking the loan for smaller amounts.

Quick update based on recent Department of Education guidance: They've acknowledged the "parent information not processed" display issue and confirmed it's affecting many applicants. They stated that if you received a confirmation number and can see that confirmation in your FAFSA history, your application IS being processed correctly despite what the status shows. They're working on a fix for the display issue, but have advised schools to accept these applications as complete. As long as you have that confirmation, you should be fine for meeting priority deadlines.

I'm dealing with this exact same issue right now! My daughter's FAFSA shows the parent section as "not submitted" even though we completed everything two weeks ago. It's so stressful when you don't know if there's actually a problem or if it's just the system being glitchy. Reading through these responses is really reassuring though - it sounds like this is happening to a lot of families and most applications are actually processing correctly behind the scenes. I'm going to check for an SAI number like someone suggested and contact her school's financial aid office tomorrow. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!

Hey Luca! As someone who just finished nursing school and started repayment last year, I wanted to chime in with some encouragement. Your $24k loan amount is actually pretty reasonable for a nursing program - many of my classmates borrowed way more. The nursing job market is really strong right now, so you'll likely find work pretty quickly after graduation. Also, many hospitals offer loan repayment assistance as part of their benefits package, especially for new grads. So not only will you have that 6-month grace period, but you might even get help paying them off faster once you start working! Don't let your brother's situation stress you out - sounds like his circumstances were very different from yours.

Just wanted to add that as a newcomer to this community, reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful! I'm in a similar situation to Luca - starting a healthcare program soon and worried about loan repayment. It's really reassuring to see actual numbers and experiences from people who've been through this process. The breakdown of $250-300 monthly payments for $24k in loans sounds so much more manageable than the horror stories you hear. Thanks to everyone who shared their real experiences and practical advice - this thread should be bookmarked for anyone starting their FAFSA journey!