This is excellent advice. Local scholarships often have less competition than national ones. Have your grandson start researching local opportunities from:\n\n- Community foundations\n- Local businesses and banks\n- Civic organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.)\n- Your employer or professional associations\n- Religious organizations if applicable\n\nMany of these have deadlines during senior year, so starting research now is perfect timing.

Great thread! As someone who just went through this process with my own family, I wanted to add that it's also worth checking if your state has any specific financial aid programs. Some states have grants or scholarships that have different eligibility requirements than federal aid. Also, make sure your daughter creates her FSA ID well before the FAFSA opens - that was one thing that caught us off guard and delayed our application. The whole process seems overwhelming at first but you're definitely on the right track by planning ahead!

Just wanted to add my perspective as someone who went through this last year with our family auto repair shop. We ended up using the revenue method (about 45% of gross revenue) and had our accountant document it with a simple one-page letter explaining the calculation. Even though small businesses under 100 employees are protected assets (like others mentioned), having that documentation ready was really helpful when we did get selected for verification. The financial aid office accepted it without any issues and actually thanked us for being so prepared! One tip - if you do get selected for verification later, they may ask for your business tax returns anyway just to verify the revenue numbers you used in your calculation. So make sure your valuation is defensible based on your actual reported business income.

Hey Drew! I'm actually going through this exact same situation right now with my family's tutoring business. We have 3 employees and similar minimal assets (mostly computers and educational materials). After reading through all these responses, I'm feeling much more confident about using the revenue method. The fact that businesses under 100 employees are protected assets is HUGE - I had no idea about that! One question for anyone who's been through verification - did they ask for additional business documentation beyond tax returns? Like bank statements or equipment lists? Trying to figure out what else I should have ready just in case. Thanks for posting this question - it's been incredibly helpful for those of us dealing with the same confusing situation!

UPDATE: IT WORKED! Thank you all so much for your help. It was actually a combination of issues: 1. I had to use Microsoft Edge as someone suggested 2. I had my daughter log in and re-invite me as a contributor 3. I had to complete the entire contributor section in one session without saving Finally got to the signature page and submitted successfully. For anyone else facing this issue - try all these suggestions and be persistent. The signature page DOES exist, it's just ridiculously hard to get to with all these bugs!

So glad you got it working! This thread is going to be so helpful for other families dealing with the same nightmare. I'm bookmarking this for sure. The new FAFSA rollout has been such a mess - it's crazy that we need workarounds like using specific browsers and completing everything in one session just to get a basic form to work. Hopefully they'll fix these bugs soon, but in the meantime at least we have solutions that actually work. Thanks to everyone who shared their fixes!

I'm new to this whole process and this thread has been incredibly helpful! My daughter is a junior and I'm trying to understand FAFSA better before we go through it next year. Just to clarify - when you mention that the FAFSA uses tax information that's "two years old," does that mean for the 2025-2026 school year, they're using 2023 tax returns? And if someone's financial situation changes dramatically between filing taxes and when their kid starts college, that's when the Professional Judgment Review comes in? Sorry if this is basic, but I want to make sure I understand the timeline correctly so we can plan ahead.

Just wanted to add another perspective as someone who's been through this process twice! My experience with appeals was really positive - both of my kids had significant changes between tax filing and college enrollment (job loss for one, medical expenses for the other). The key things that helped us: 1) Being organized with documentation from the start, 2) Writing a clear, factual letter explaining the circumstances without being overly emotional, and 3) Following up consistently but not aggressively. One tip I haven't seen mentioned - if your daughter applied to multiple schools, prioritize your appeal efforts on the schools that are genuinely her top choices. The appeal process takes time and energy, so focus where it will have the most impact. Also, some schools will do a "pre-read" of your appeal materials over the phone before you submit everything formally, which can save you time if they indicate they won't be able to help much. With her strong merit aid already secured, you're in a good negotiating position. Good luck!

I'm dealing with something very similar! My son's SAI jumped about $800 for his sophomore year and it's been so stressful trying to figure out why. Reading through all these responses has been really helpful - I had no idea about the asset protection allowance changes or how student income is weighted so much more heavily than parent income. It sounds like there are so many factors that can cause these increases even when your basic financial situation hasn't changed. The suggestion about getting a side-by-side comparison from the financial aid office sounds like the best next step. Has anyone had success actually getting their SAI reduced after one of these meetings, or do they usually just explain why it went up without being able to do anything about it?

I'm new to this whole FAFSA process and this thread has been incredibly eye-opening! My daughter is currently a freshman and I had no idea that SAI could increase so much between years even without major financial changes. The explanations about student income being weighted at 20% vs parent assets at 5.6% is shocking - I wish they made this clearer upfront. Sofia, I hope you're able to get some answers from the financial aid office. It sounds like the side-by-side comparison Miguel suggested is definitely the way to go. I'm definitely bookmarking this discussion for when we file next year so we can be more strategic about timing any student income or asset changes. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - this is exactly the kind of real-world insight they don't tell you about in the FAFSA tutorials!