This doesn't solve your immediate issue, but for anyone else reading this - if you have to make corrections to your FAFSA, make sure you're extremely careful. Many students are finding that correcting one thing is causing their entire application to get pushed to the back of the line for processing. Only make absolutely necessary corrections right now!

I'm so sorry you're going through this - it sounds absolutely exhausting! I'm a new member here but dealing with similar FAFSA nightmares. One thing that helped me was creating a detailed log of every call attempt (date, time, how long on hold, outcome) and sending that to both my school's financial aid office and my congressman's office. It shows the severity of the situation and some schools are being more flexible when they see documented proof of the system failures. Also, if your school has a student ombudsman or dean of students office, they might be able to advocate for you with enrollment services about the deposit deadline. Sometimes they have more pull than regular financial aid staff. Hang in there - this isn't your fault and you're definitely not alone in this mess!

One final note - make sure your son completes his contributor information promptly. All contributors must submit their information before the FAFSA can be processed. If he delays, it will hold up your daughter's entire financial aid package. The school's priority deadlines for financial aid are important - missing them can mean less aid for your daughter.

Just went through this exact situation last month! Had the same confusion with my 20-year-old who works but lives at home. Here's what I learned: if you're providing free housing, you're almost certainly providing more than 50% support even if he pays for other things. Housing costs are usually the biggest expense when you calculate fair market rent value. I ended up including my son (household size 4 in your case) and yes, he had to provide his tax info as a contributor. It was awkward but necessary. Don't risk verification by trying to exclude him if you truly provide majority support - the delays aren't worth it!

Just wanted to add my experience - we went through this exact same thing last year with my son! The EST amounts stayed on his portal for about 6 weeks, but once he completed all the verification requirements and submitted his final transcript, everything became final within a few days. The actual amounts ended up being within $200 of the estimates, so pretty close. One tip: screenshot or print those estimated amounts now so you can compare later if anything changes significantly. Also, don't forget that even after the EST is removed, you'll still need to formally accept or decline each type of aid in the portal before the money actually gets disbursed to your daughter's account. Good luck!

I'm new here but going through the exact same situation with my daughter's aid package! Reading through all these responses is so reassuring. We've been stressing about the EST amounts too, but it sounds like most people's estimates stayed pretty close to final. One question I have - does anyone know roughly how long after you complete all the verification requirements it takes for the EST to be removed? We're hoping to finalize our college budget soon and wondering if we should expect this to take weeks or months to resolve.

Just wanted to follow up - did any of these solutions work for you? I'm curious which route ended up fixing the problem since I might run into this again with my younger sister applying next year.

That's awesome that you got it resolved! Thanks for sharing the update - it's really helpful to know what actually worked. The "infinite processing loop" explanation makes so much sense for why nothing was working on the website. I'm definitely bookmarking that Claimyr service for future reference since it sounds like the new FAFSA system still has a lot of bugs. Glad you didn't miss your deadlines!

This is such a common situation and you're absolutely right to pursue an appeal! I went through something similar with my son two years ago. The key thing to remember is that financial aid offices build appeals into their budget expectations - they know these cost discrepancies happen after housing assignments. A few additional tips from our experience: - Document everything: save emails, take notes during phone calls with names and dates - Be prepared to explain your monthly budget breakdown showing how the extra $6K impacts your family - Ask specifically about emergency or contingency funds - many schools have these for exactly this type of situation - Don't be discouraged if the first person you speak with says "no" - ask to speak with a supervisor or the director Our appeal took about 3 weeks to process, but we ultimately got an additional $4,500 in institutional grants. The squeaky wheel really does get the grease with financial aid. Stay persistent but polite, and remember that they want your daughter to succeed and attend!

Hey Malik! Just wanted to chime in as someone who successfully appealed after committing last year. You're definitely not too late - in fact, this timing is pretty normal since housing assignments often come out after the deposit deadline. Here's what worked for me: I called the financial aid office and specifically asked to speak with someone about a "professional judgment review" (not an appeal - that terminology matters). I explained that the actual housing and meal plan costs were significantly higher than what I could estimate during the decision process, and that this created an unexpected financial hardship. The key was being very specific about the dollar amounts and explaining that these weren't costs I chose, but rather what was assigned to me. They ended up finding an additional $2,800 in institutional aid within about 10 days. Don't stress too much - financial aid offices deal with this situation regularly and most are pretty understanding when families are caught off guard by post-commitment cost revelations. Good luck!