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Quick update for everyone in this thread: FSA just released guidance to financial aid offices about the Schedule C income reporting issues with the 24-25 FAFSA. They're implementing a patch this weekend that should fix the DRT data transfer problems for self-employment income. If you're still struggling with this issue, try waiting until Monday to resubmit. You can also request that your school note in your file that you were affected by the known FAFSA Schedule C bug (reference FSA Electronic Announcement #24-7.3 if they ask for documentation).
Thank you for this update! I'll wait until Monday to try again. Do you know if they're also fixing the issues with Schedule E rental income? My parents have a small rental property too.
Yes, the patch is supposed to address both Schedule C and Schedule E income reporting issues. The fundamental problem was in how the system was interpreting different types of income from the tax return schedules. Make sure to still double-check all the values after using the DRT, just to be safe.
As someone who just went through this exact nightmare, I want to add that you should also check if your parents amended their tax return after the initial filing. The FAFSA system doesn't automatically update when amendments are filed, which can cause these verification mismatches. I spent weeks thinking it was a Schedule C issue, but it turned out my dad had filed an amended return in November that I didn't know about. Once I updated the FAFSA with the amended return info, everything processed smoothly. Also, save screenshots of every error message you get - my financial aid office was much more helpful when I could show them the specific error codes rather than just describing the problem.
Oh wow, I never even thought about amended returns! That's a really good point. My parents might have amended theirs too and just not mentioned it to me. I'll definitely ask them about that before I try submitting again. And you're absolutely right about the screenshots - I've been describing the errors verbally to my financial aid office but having the actual error codes would probably be way more helpful. Thanks for sharing your experience!
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Thanks everyone for the clarification! The FAFSA really needs to add better explanations for all these columns and numbers. I found my actual SAI in the confirmation email from Federal Student Aid - it's a single number that will be shared with all my schools. The column numbers were just the order I entered schools, which doesn't affect anything. Such a relief!
Great to hear you found your SAI! You're absolutely right that the FAFSA interface could be way clearer about what all these numbers mean. For anyone else reading this thread - your SAI (Student Aid Index) is the key number that matters for federal aid eligibility. Lower SAI = more potential aid. The college list order numbers are just cosmetic and have zero impact on your financial aid packages. Each school will use your SAI plus their own institutional aid policies to create your offer. Good luck with your applications!
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btw i got stuck on the signature page like 4 times and had to restart, what finally worked was creating a whole new fsa id and starting over, super annoying but it worked
Oh no, that sounds frustrating! I really hope I don't have to create a new FSA ID, but I'll keep that as a last resort option. Thanks for sharing what worked for you!
Wow, thank you all SO much for these incredibly helpful tips! As someone who's been dreading this process, you've given me so much more confidence going into it this weekend. I'm definitely going to: - Use Firefox or Safari instead of Chrome - Do it late night/early morning (2-5am sounds perfect for my schedule) - Break it into multiple sessions like Avery suggested - Take screenshots of every completed page - Have all my documents organized beforehand - Use incognito mode if I run into issues The tip about not using the back button is huge - I would have definitely done that and probably lost everything! And knowing that the SAI calculation is different from EFC helps set expectations. One follow-up question for everyone: For those of you with complicated family situations (like separated parents), did you run into any specific issues in the contributor section that I should be prepared for? My parents are separated but not divorced, so I'm not sure how that will affect the application process. You've all been amazing - this community is exactly what first-gen students like me need! 🙏
Hey Clarissa! So glad this thread has been helpful - I was in the exact same boat as you when I started. For the separated parents situation, here's what I learned from my experience: the FAFSA will ask you to determine which parent you lived with more in the past 12 months, and that's the parent whose information you'll need to include. If it's exactly 50/50, then you use the parent who provided more financial support. The tricky part is that the system sometimes gets confused during the contributor invitation process, so make sure you're crystal clear about which parent you're adding before sending the invitation. Also, have that parent's FSA ID ready to go because the contributor section times out really quickly! You've got this! 💪
This is such a comprehensive list of tips! I'm bookmarking this whole thread for when I tackle mine next week. The separated parents advice from Oliver is really helpful too - I have a similar situation and wasn't sure how to handle it. Quick question: has anyone had success using the FAFSA mobile app specifically for the contributor sections? I saw Avery mention it was more stable, but I'm curious if it handles the parent invitation process better than the website.
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So glad to hear you got in and everything is working now! I had a similar issue last month where the site was down for maintenance and I was panicking about deadlines. For anyone else still having trouble, I've found that the FAFSA site tends to work better early in the morning (like 6-8am) when there's less traffic. Also, if you're still getting errors, try switching from WiFi to mobile data or vice versa - sometimes it's a network routing issue. The key is not to panic about deadlines when it's clearly a system-wide problem. Financial aid offices are usually very understanding about these technical issues since they affect so many students at once.
This is such helpful advice! I'm bookmarking this thread for future reference. The early morning tip is especially good - I never would have thought about traffic patterns affecting the site's performance. It's reassuring to know that financial aid offices are generally understanding about these technical issues. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Just wanted to chime in as someone who went through this exact same nightmare last year! The FAFSA outages seem to happen every year around peak filing time, which is so frustrating when you're already stressed about deadlines. A few additional tips that helped me: 1) If you have access to a computer at your school's library or computer lab, try from there - sometimes it's an ISP-specific routing issue. 2) Keep a backup list of all your financial documents ready so when the site does come back up, you can fill everything out quickly before it potentially goes down again. 3) Consider starting a group chat with classmates also filing FAFSA - we shared real-time updates on when the site was working. Really glad to see Mohammed got through and finished his application! This community is so helpful during these stressful times.
Javier Garcia
Welcome to the FAFSA maze! 😅 As someone who just went through this with my first kiddo last year, I totally feel your pain. The whole "OFFERED" vs "ACCEPTED" terminology is so misleading! One thing I learned the hard way - even after you find all the right buttons and sign all the documents, keep screenshots of everything! My daughter's portal randomly showed her Pell Grant as "pending" for like two weeks even though we'd done everything correctly. Having those screenshots saved us when we had to call the financial aid office to sort it out. Also, pro tip: if your daughter is living on campus, make sure you understand exactly when the aid gets disbursed vs when housing/meal plan payments are due. Sometimes there's a gap that can cause headaches if you're not prepared for it. Good luck navigating this crazy system!
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NeonNova
•This is such great advice about taking screenshots! I wish I had thought of that earlier. The whole "pending" status thing sounds terrifying - did you ever figure out why it showed that way for two weeks? Also really appreciate the heads up about the timing gap between disbursement and housing payments. We haven't even gotten to that part yet but I can already imagine how stressful that could be if you're not expecting it!
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Joy Olmedo
Oh my goodness, this thread is a lifesaver! I'm literally going through the exact same thing right now with my son's financial aid portal at his college. The "OFFERED" status had me so confused - I was clicking everywhere looking for some kind of accept button! Reading through all these responses, it sounds like each school really does handle this differently. My son's portal has tabs labeled "Financial Aid Summary" and "Award Management" but I swear the Award Management section was completely empty when I checked last week. Now I'm wondering if I need to have him grant me access permissions like someone mentioned above, or if we need to complete that entrance counseling first. This whole process feels like you need a PhD just to navigate the websites! Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences - at least now I know we're not the only ones struggling with this. Going to go back and look for that hidden "Documents" tab now! 🤞
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Sofia Morales
•You're definitely not alone in feeling overwhelmed by this! The permission access thing is super common - most schools require students to explicitly grant parent access to financial aid sections even if you can see other parts of their portal. Have your son log in and look for something like "Grant Access to Parent/Guardian" or "FERPA Release" - it's usually buried in account settings or privacy sections. Also, that entrance counseling requirement can definitely cause the Award Management section to stay empty until it's completed. Your son would need to go to studentaid.gov and complete the "Entrance Counseling for Undergraduate Students" if he's taking any loans. Once that's done, the accept/decline options should magically appear! Don't feel bad about needing a PhD for this - I swear they design these portals to be as confusing as possible! You've got this! 💪
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