Congratulations on getting that resolved! What a relief that must be. Since you have some time to prepare now, I'd also recommend having your daughter take a full-length practice test under timed conditions to get a baseline score. This will help identify which areas need the most focus. The official College Board practice tests are free and the closest thing to the actual test format. Also, make sure she gets a good night's sleep before the test - I've seen too many students sabotage themselves by staying up late cramming the night before. Best of luck to her!

So glad you got this sorted out! As someone who went through the National Merit process with my daughter a few years ago, I just wanted to add that prep really does make a difference. Beyond the practice tests everyone mentioned, consider having her focus on vocabulary - the reading section can trip up even strong students with unfamiliar words. Also, if she's aiming for National Merit, she'll need to score in roughly the top 1% for your state (the cutoff varies by state each year). Don't stress too much about the exact number though - just have her do her best! The experience of taking the PSAT will also help her when she takes the actual SAT later.

Yes, that's a key change in the FAFSA Simplification Act. They reduced the number of financial questions by about 60% and eliminated many of the detailed asset questions. They now focus primarily on AGI from tax returns and basic cash/savings balances rather than the detailed investment breakdown from previous years. This should make your completion process faster once you get past the technical issues!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm so grateful to have found this discussion! I'm dealing with the exact same FAFSA parent contributor issue right now - my daughter sent me the invitation yesterday and I'm getting taken straight to the signature page too. Reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful. I'm going to try having her delete and resend the invitation first, and if that doesn't work, I might look into that Claimyr service that @Jade Lopez mentioned. It's reassuring to know this is a known system glitch and not something I'm doing wrong. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and solutions!

For anyone dealing with these kinds of special circumstances, documenting the "unusual nature" of the situation is critical. Financial aid officers have told me they look for: 1. Evidence of abandonment/neglect by biological parents 2. Impossibility (not just difficulty) in obtaining parental information 3. Evidence the student is self-supporting or supported by someone else 4. Letters from professionals (not family friends) who can verify the situation Also, very important: dependency overrides must be renewed EACH YEAR. Don't assume it carries over automatically.

Just wanted to add that you might also want to contact the colleges directly to ask about their specific dependency override policies. Some schools are much more generous with these than others, and it could factor into her final college decision. I've heard that some private schools with large endowments are particularly flexible with special circumstances like this. Also, make sure to ask each financial aid office about their timeline - some process these overrides much faster than others, which could be important given those early priority deadlines you mentioned. Good luck!

Update for anyone following this thread: The Department of Education just released their contingency plan for the potential shutdown. They've confirmed that Pell Grant disbursements WILL continue as scheduled. The document states that approximately 96% of their financial aid staff would be exempt from furlough specifically to ensure critical operations like disbursements continue. However, they also noted that customer service operations would be limited, and processing of new FAFSA applications could face delays. If you have a pending application or are dealing with verification, that's where you might see the biggest impact.

As someone who's been through multiple government shutdown scares while depending on Pell Grants, I can confirm what others have said - the grants themselves are usually protected. What really helped me was creating a backup plan early on. I talked to my financial aid office about emergency aid options, looked into payment plan extensions, and even researched local emergency funds for students. Also, if you're really worried about the timing, some schools will let you defer certain deadlines if you can show that federal aid delays are the cause. The key is being proactive and communicating with your school's financial aid office rather than waiting to see what happens. They deal with these situations regularly and usually have protocols in place. Don't let the anxiety consume you - I know it's scary when your entire education depends on that funding, but the system is designed to keep critical programs like Pell running even during political chaos.

Just to provide some closure on this thread - based on the most recent guidance from Federal Student Aid, for married parents who file taxes jointly, only one parent needs to complete the contributor section on the 2025-2026 FAFSA. However, both parents should have FSA IDs. The good news is that since: 1. Your contributor section shows as processed 2. Your son's SAI has been calculated 3. The corrections were completed successfully This means your son's FAFSA is complete and ready for schools to use for financial aid packaging, regardless of your husband's pending contributor status. The Department of Education has confirmed that in cases where multiple contributors are invited but only one is needed (as with joint tax filing), the system will use the completed contributor information to finalize the application.

As someone who just went through this nightmare with my daughter's FAFSA, I can confirm what others have said - the system is definitely buggy this year! We had the exact same situation where I completed my contributor section in February and it processed fine, but my husband's stayed stuck on "processing" for months even though we file jointly. What finally worked for us was just leaving both applications alone and focusing on whether the Student Aid Index (SAI) was calculated, which it sounds like yours now is! That's the key indicator that your son's application is actually complete from the Department of Education's perspective. One tip that might help others - we found that calling the school's financial aid office directly was way more helpful than trying to reach Federal Student Aid. The school could see on their end that all the necessary information had been received, even though the FAFSA website still showed confusing status messages. They were also able to confirm that our aid package wouldn't be delayed by the processing glitch. Hang in there - this new system has been frustrating for so many families, but it sounds like your son's application is in good shape!