Update: Thanks everyone for your help! My husband created his FSA ID last night and was able to sign. The whole process took less than 10 minutes once I showed him where to go. Our son's FAFSA is now officially submitted with both parent signatures. Such a relief to have this done correctly!

Congrats on getting it figured out! This thread is super helpful - I'm bookmarking it for when I help my daughter with her FAFSA next year. The signature requirement definitely seems like one of those things that catches a lot of families off guard. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences!

Since you've tried all the standard methods, here's what worked for me after dealing with this same issue last month: 1. Use the studentaid.gov mobile app instead of the website - sometimes the SAI appears there when it doesn't show on the web version 2. Look for "View Student Aid Report (SAR)" under the FAFSA status section and download the PDF - the SAI should be at the top 3. If you still can't find it, your son should ask his college financial aid office if they can see his SAI - they often have access to it even when families can't see it The FAFSA system is experiencing unprecedented issues this year due to the major overhaul. Many schools are aware of these problems and have workarounds in place.

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! My daughter's FAFSA shows "processed" but we can't locate the SAI anywhere. After reading all these responses, it's clear this is a major system-wide issue with the new FAFSA. I called her college's financial aid office yesterday and they confirmed they can see her SAI on their end, so they're just using that instead of requiring us to provide it. Definitely recommend calling the school directly - it might save you hours of frustration trying to navigate the broken studentaid.gov system. The financial aid counselor I spoke with said they're getting dozens of calls about this exact problem every day.

The SAI is definitely for the entire academic year! I went through the same confusion last year. What really helped me was understanding that the SAI isn't what you actually pay - it's just a number used to determine your aid eligibility. The actual aid you receive (like Pell Grants) gets split between fall and spring semesters. If you want to see exactly how your aid breaks down by semester, check your student portal or ask for a semester-by-semester breakdown from financial aid. Also, keep in mind that your total cost of attendance includes tuition, fees, room/board, books, and personal expenses - so your out-of-pocket cost will depend on how much grant/scholarship aid you receive based on that SAI number.

I'm new to the FAFSA process and this thread has been incredibly helpful! I was actually making the same mistake - I thought my SAI was what I'd need to pay each semester. Reading everyone's explanations really cleared things up. One follow-up question though: if the SAI is for the whole year and aid gets split between semesters, what happens if you need to take a semester off for medical reasons or something? Does that affect your aid for the remaining semester, or do you just lose half of what you were allocated? I'm trying to understand all the "what if" scenarios before I finalize my course planning.

Great to hear you got it sorted out with Claimyr! I'm dealing with the same issue right now for my twin daughters - both FAFSAs processed but no SAI visible anywhere. I was dreading spending hours on hold with FSA, so I'm definitely going to try that callback service. Quick question - did they give you the SAI for both kids in one call, or did you need separate calls since they have different FSA IDs?

Just wanted to add another option that worked for us - if your daughter's colleges use the CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA, some schools will display the SAI in their CSS Profile institutional methodology calculations even before they fully process the FAFSA data. We found our son's SAI listed in the financial aid portal of a private college that uses CSS Profile about a week before the other schools had it available. It's worth checking if any of her schools use CSS Profile and logging into those portals first. Also, some state financial aid websites (like Cal Grant in California) will show the SAI once they receive the FAFSA data, which can be faster than waiting for individual colleges.

Just wanted to add that if your parents are truly separated (living apart with intent for permanent separation), you should also be prepared to report only one parent's income and assets going forward. Since they filed jointly in 2022, you'll use that joint return for the 2024-25 FAFSA, but you'll need to determine which parent you lived with more in the past 12 months - that's your "custodial parent" for FAFSA purposes. Their income and assets (and any new spouse's) will be what counts for future aid calculations. This can actually work in your favor financially if the custodial parent has lower income than what the joint return showed.

One thing to keep in mind is that when you report "separated" as the current marital status, the FAFSA will then ask you to identify which parent is your custodial parent (the one you lived with most during the past 12 months). This is crucial because it determines whose financial information you'll need to provide in addition to the 2022 joint tax return. Make sure you're clear on this before you start filling out that section, as it affects which parent's current assets and any new spouse information you might need to include. The custodial parent determination can be tricky if you've been splitting time between both parents since the separation.