After you speak with the financial aid office, I strongly recommend submitting a formal appeal letter. Include: 1. Documentation of unusual expenses not captured by FAFSA 2. Any changes in financial situation since you filed 3. Competing offers from other institutions 4. Specific calculation showing how they're not meeting their 75% promise Be polite but firm. Many families don't realize appeals are standard practice and schools expect them. With an SAI of 2500, your son should qualify for substantial need-based aid at a school claiming to meet 75% of need.

As someone who went through this exact situation last year, I'd recommend creating a spreadsheet to track all your son's aid offers as they come in. Include columns for COA, SAI, calculated need, grants/scholarships, loans, and actual percentage of need met. This will help you see which schools are truly generous vs. just good at marketing. Also, don't forget to factor in indirect costs like travel home, personal expenses, and potential summer storage. These can add thousands to your actual family contribution even if the school "meets need" on paper. When you call the financial aid office, ask for their estimated indirect costs too - some schools lowball these numbers to make their aid packages look more attractive. Your instincts are right to question this package. With an SAI that low, most genuinely need-blind schools would offer significantly more institutional aid.

Retirement accounts like 401k and IRAs are NOT reported on the FAFSA at all! They're completely excluded from the SAI calculation. So if your investment growth was primarily in retirement accounts, you don't need to worry about reporting that growth. Only reportable investments would include taxable brokerage accounts, 529 plans (reported as parent assets), stocks, bonds, CDs, etc. This is one reason why financial planners often suggest maximizing retirement contributions during college years.

Just wanted to add - if you're still unsure about anything, most colleges have financial aid offices that are super helpful with FAFSA questions. I called my daughter's school last year when I was confused about asset reporting and they walked me through it step by step. They'd rather help you get it right the first time than deal with corrections later. Plus they know exactly how their school handles different situations, which can be really valuable info!

FINAL UPDATE: My correction processed! My SAI went down by almost $4,700 after removing the retirement account. That should definitely increase my aid eligibility. So glad I caught this mistake and was able to fix it. If anyone else makes this error, definitely submit a correction ASAP!

Wow, this is such a helpful thread! I'm working on my FAFSA right now and I was about to include my dad's 403b account. Thank you everyone for clarifying that retirement accounts should NOT be reported - you just saved me from making the same mistake! @Ev Luca so glad you were able to get it fixed and saw such a big improvement in your SAI. The step-by-step correction instructions from @Marcelle Drum are super clear too. This community is amazing!

Update: I was able to add the community college through the correction process! It was actually really simple - just logged in, selected "Make FAFSA Corrections," and added the new school code. The whole thing took maybe 5 minutes. I also called the community college's financial aid office, and they said we're well within their priority deadline for fall semester. Thanks everyone for your help!

So glad to hear your update worked out! Just wanted to add for anyone else reading this - when you add schools through the FAFSA correction process, make sure to print or save a copy of the confirmation page. I learned this the hard way when there was a technical glitch and one school didn't receive my daughter's FAFSA data. Having that confirmation helped us resolve it quickly with Federal Student Aid. Also, keep checking your Student Aid Report (SAR) to make sure all the schools you want are listed there. Community college was the best decision my daughter made too - she's now at her dream university as a junior with zero debt from her first two years!

Just wanted to add - make sure you understand if her full-ride includes room and board or just tuition and fees. Sometimes students still need loans for living expenses even with a "full tuition" merit scholarship. If that's the case, you might actually want to keep your FAFSA active to qualify for federal loans which typically have better terms than private options.

Congratulations on your daughter's full-ride scholarship! As someone who went through a similar situation last year, I can share what worked for us. We had already submitted our FAFSA when my son received a full merit scholarship, and I was worried about the same thing. Here's what I learned: you absolutely cannot withdraw or delete a processed FAFSA - it's permanently in the federal system. However, what matters is how the school handles it. Since your daughter's scholarship is specifically labeled as merit-based and states it's not based on financial need, you should be protected. I'd suggest drafting an email tonight that says something like: "My daughter has been awarded the Presidential Merit Scholarship. We would like to formally decline consideration for all federal financial aid but want to confirm this will not impact her merit-based scholarship award in any way." In our case, the school's financial aid office was very understanding and simply marked our file as "federal aid declined" while keeping the merit scholarship intact. The key is getting that written confirmation for your peace of mind!