One additional clarification that might help others reading this thread: if you have a second mortgage or home equity loan on your primary residence that you used for purposes OTHER THAN buying/improving that home (like paying for college or starting a business), that portion IS reported as debt on the FAFSA. This is a small technical detail but important for some families with complex financial situations.

I went through this same confusion last year! Just wanted to add one more reassurance - you're interpreting it correctly. Your primary residence and its mortgage are completely excluded from FAFSA calculations. The key phrase is "the home the parent lives in" - that's your primary residence, period. Don't overthink it! I made the mistake of second-guessing myself and almost included my home value, but thankfully caught it before submitting. The FAFSA language is definitely confusing, but everyone here has given you the right guidance. Good luck with your daughter's application!

Just wanted to follow up - did you manage to create your FSA ID and access your daughter's FAFSA? The contributor system has been one of the most problematic parts of the new FAFSA rollout, but most parents have been able to work around it by creating their own accounts.

So glad to hear you got it sorted out! This thread is going to be really helpful for other families dealing with the same issue. The contributor invitation system really has been a nightmare for so many people this year. It's reassuring to know that creating your own FSA ID is a reliable workaround. Hopefully the Department of Education fixes these technical issues before next year's FAFSA cycle!

my friend got 0 SAI for law school and still got some school scholarships so its def worth asking about! every school handles it different

As a recent grad school applicant myself, I can share that having a 0 SAI was actually helpful for me! While it's true that graduate students don't get federal grants like Pell, my university's financial aid office told me that students with 0 SAI get priority consideration for their limited pool of graduate need-based scholarships. I ended up receiving a partial tuition scholarship that I might not have qualified for with a higher SAI. Also, I was automatically eligible for work-study, which has been great for gaining experience while earning money. My advice would be to definitely reach out to both your graduate program and the financial aid office - they can tell you exactly what aid you might be eligible for with your 0 SAI at your specific school!

UPDATE: My daughter's verification just completed! It only took about 36 hours. She logged in and added me as a parent contributor, and I received the email right away (checked spam folder too just in case). Now I'm starting my portion. Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice! Created my FSA ID ahead of time like suggested, and I'm ready to go with all our tax documents.

As someone who just went through this process with my youngest, I wanted to add a few practical tips: 1) Have your daughter screenshot the confirmation page after she sends your contributor invite - it shows the date sent and your email address, which is helpful if there are any issues later. 2) The contributor portal looks different from the regular FAFSA interface, so don't be surprised if it seems unfamiliar when you first log in. 3) If you're divorced/separated, make sure your daughter adds the correct parent based on the custody/support requirements - this can't be easily changed later without contacting FSA. The whole process is much smoother now compared to last year's rollout chaos!

Thank you all so much for the helpful advice! I've gathered the steps we need to take: 1. Student needs to call FSA at 1-800-433-3243 to request dependency status reset 2. Have all parent information ready for when the application can be corrected 3. Complete corrections within 3 days after reset is processed 4. Contact our financial aid office to inform them of the situation I also found that backup option through Claimyr if the student has trouble getting through on the phone lines. I'm meeting with them tomorrow and will go through all these steps. Really appreciate everyone's insights!

As someone who just went through this nightmare with my own kid, I'd also recommend having the student screenshot their current FAFSA submission before calling FSA. Sometimes the reset process can cause other information to get lost, and having those screenshots saved us from having to re-enter everything from scratch. Also, if possible, have them call first thing in the morning (8 AM EST) - that's when I had the most luck getting through quickly. The afternoon wait times were brutal.