Just wanted to add that if you're planning to submit early January (which is smart!), make sure you have your 2023 tax documents ready since that's what the 2025-26 FAFSA will use. Also, one thing that caught me off guard last year was that some schools require the CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA, especially private colleges. It has its own separate deadline that's sometimes even earlier than FAFSA! You might want to check if your daughter's school requires it - it's an additional form through College Board that digs even deeper into your finances. If they do require it, you'll want to plan for that extra time and complexity too. The good news is that once you've done both forms once, renewal is much easier the following years!

I went through this exact same stress last year with my son! One thing that really saved us was marking my calendar with "FAFSA prep day" in mid-November to gather all documents before the December 1st opening. That way when the form goes live, you're not scrambling to find tax returns and bank statements. Also, I'd strongly recommend checking if your daughter qualifies for any state-specific grants or scholarships that have early deadlines. In our state, there was a need-based grant program with a February 1st deadline that we almost missed because we didn't know it existed. Her school's financial aid website had a list of all the programs and their deadlines - might be worth bookmarking that page now. One more tip: if you do end up needing help, many community colleges also offer free FAFSA completion events even if your daughter doesn't attend there. They're often less crowded than the high school sessions and the staff tends to be really knowledgeable about the process.

Update your FAFSA with the correct information first, then pursue the professional judgment review. Don't wait - aid is often distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Also, when you speak with your financial aid office, use the term "special circumstances review due to change in income" rather than "appeal" - it will trigger the correct process.

Great to see you got the corrections submitted! Just wanted to add that when you meet with those financial aid offices, bring copies of your father's unemployment documentation (termination letter, unemployment benefits paperwork) and any records showing the timeline of when his job loss occurred. The more specific documentation you can provide about the change in circumstances, the stronger your case will be for the professional judgment review. Also ask each school about their timeline for processing these reviews - some take weeks while others can turn them around much faster. Good luck with those appointments!

This is such a relief to read! I'm currently on day 4 of waiting for my tax data to import and was starting to panic. Seeing that it took Diego 7 days and others have experienced similar delays makes me feel better about waiting it out instead of rushing to manual entry. The verification risk that Sean mentioned is definitely something I want to avoid if possible. Thanks for sharing your experience - it really helps to know this is more common than the official timelines suggest!

I'm going through this exact same situation right now! Started my FAFSA on Sunday and it's been showing "processing" for 4 days now. Reading through all these comments is actually really reassuring - sounds like 5-7 days is pretty normal this year despite what the official site says. I was getting ready to panic and manually enter everything, but after seeing the verification risks that Sean mentioned, I think I'll wait it out a few more days. Diego, so glad yours finally went through! Gives me hope that mine will process soon too.

One more thing - make sure to keep track of which email addresses you used for each FSA ID. I got locked out of my account because I couldn't remember which email I used for which child's application. It's the little organizational details that make the FAFSA process smoother.

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who went through this process last year! You definitely use the same parent FSA ID for both kids - that part everyone got right. But here's something that might save you time: when you start the second FAFSA application, the system will ask if you want to transfer information from a previous application. Say YES to this! It'll pull over most of your parent financial info automatically, so you won't have to re-enter everything from scratch. Just double-check all the numbers since tax info might have changed between applications. Also, don't forget that having two kids in college at the same time can actually help with your Expected Family Contribution, so make sure that's reflected correctly on both forms!

I'm going through the exact same nightmare! Our SAI jumped $42K with virtually identical financials and we also have 3 kids in college. What's really frustrating is that nobody warned us this was coming - we budgeted for this year based on last year's aid packages and now we're scrambling. I've been following this thread closely and I'm definitely going to try calling each school's financial aid office directly like @Luca Russo did. Has anyone had luck with private scholarships or work-study programs as a way to help fill this gap? I'm exploring every possible option at this point because taking on massive Parent PLUS loans feels like it would bury us financially for decades.

Just wanted to chime in as another family dealing with this exact situation. Our SAI went up $39K this year with two kids in college and nearly identical income. What's been most helpful for us is creating a spreadsheet documenting the exact differences between our old EFC and new SAI to present to financial aid offices. I also discovered that some schools have "sibling enrollment verification" forms that weren't required before but can trigger additional institutional aid review. One of our schools actually proactively reached out after we submitted this form. Also, don't overlook your state's higher education agency - ours has a emergency grant program specifically for families caught in the FAFSA transition that wasn't widely publicized. It's only $2500 per student but every bit helps right now. Hang in there everyone - it sounds like schools are really trying to find solutions even if the federal formula isn't helping us.