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UPDATE: We figured it out! My daughter logged into studentaid.gov and found her SAI score right on her dashboard under 'Your FAFSA Status.' We also confirmed which schools received her information. Turns out she was confused about the difference between the FAFSA results and actual financial aid award letters from schools (which will come separately). For anyone else with this issue - definitely have your student check their actual account rather than waiting for emails. Thanks everyone for your help!
So glad to see this got resolved! This is exactly the kind of confusion I've been seeing with families this year. The new FAFSA system really doesn't do a great job of explaining the difference between getting your SAI processed vs. receiving actual financial aid awards from schools. For future reference for anyone reading this - once you have your SAI, you can also use the Federal Student Aid estimator tools to get a rough idea of what types of aid you might qualify for while you're waiting for official award letters from colleges. The timing this year has been particularly challenging with all the FAFSA delays, so don't panic if things seem to be taking longer than expected!
I'm so sorry you're going through this nightmare. Reading through all these responses, it's clear you're not alone but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. Based on what everyone has shared, I'd suggest tackling this on multiple fronts simultaneously: 1) Use that Claimyr service to actually get through to Mohela, 2) File complaints with both the FSA Ombudsman and CFPB about the interest rate issue, and 3) Contact your congressional representative's office for help navigating the bureaucracy. The fact that your loan doubled despite 12 years of payments is absolutely unacceptable and suggests serious errors in how your account has been managed. Don't give up - you have more options than you realize, and there are people (like the financial aid advisors in this thread) who genuinely want to help you get this resolved.
Thank you so much for summarizing all the great advice in this thread! It's really helpful to have a clear action plan. I'm feeling more hopeful after reading everyone's responses - it's good to know there are actual steps I can take and that others have successfully resolved similar issues. I'm going to start with the Claimyr service tomorrow morning and file the complaints this weekend. Really appreciate this community for having my back when I felt completely lost in the system.
I've been following this thread closely and wanted to add one more resource that might help. If you're still having trouble getting through to Mohela even with the queue services, try calling their "vulnerable borrower" line if you qualify (it's for borrowers experiencing financial hardship). The wait times are often shorter and the representatives tend to be more experienced with complex account issues. Also, when you do get through, immediately ask to speak with a "loan resolution specialist" rather than general customer service - they have more authority to investigate payment application errors and can put holds on your account while issues are being resolved. Document everything with dates, times, and rep names. Your situation sounds like it involves multiple systemic errors that should absolutely be fixable once you get the right person looking at your account.
im so confused about all this FAFSA stuff... so are they changing the rules for next year or for this year or both?? and whats the difference between EFC and SAI anyway?? sorry if thats a dumb question lol
Not a dumb question at all! The EFC (Expected Family Contribution) is being renamed to SAI (Student Aid Index) as part of the FAFSA Simplification Act. For 2023-2024 aid year, they're still using the EFC formula for determining your aid, even though they might call it SAI in some communications. For the 2024-2025 aid year (which many people have already applied for), they're fully implementing the new SAI formula, which calculates financial need differently. The changes include different income protection allowances, handling of multiple students in college differently, and changes to how certain assets are counted. These emails people are getting about 2023-2024 are just them running their new system on old data, which unfortunately triggers automated notifications.
This has been happening to me too! I've gotten 4 of these emails in the past few days and was starting to panic thinking something was wrong with my financial aid. Thank you everyone for the explanations - it's so reassuring to know this is just a system-wide issue and not something I need to worry about. I did check my SAR like others suggested and nothing changed, so I'm going to stop stressing about it. Really wish the Department of Education would just send out a mass email explaining what's happening instead of leaving thousands of students confused and worried!
Update: We found the problem! My daughter went back through the application and discovered she accidentally marked 'yes' to the question about being in legal guardianship. She was confused by the wording. We've submitted the correction and now I can see the parent portion is available for me to complete. Thank you everyone for your help!
Glad you were able to resolve this! This is such a common issue - the FAFSA dependency questions really need clearer wording. For anyone else reading this thread who might face similar issues, it's worth double-checking all the dependency questions before submitting. Even one misclick can completely change your aid eligibility. The legal guardianship question in particular seems to trip up a lot of students. Best of luck with the rest of your financial aid process!
Luis Johnson
Just wanted to add my experience for anyone still waiting - I was in the exact same boat with summer 2024 loans showing "accepted" but no disbursement. Mine finally came through yesterday (took about 10 days from accepted status). The key thing that helped was getting written confirmation from my financial aid office that my classes wouldn't be dropped due to the DoE delays. Also, my school's bookstore let me charge books against my pending aid once I showed them the email confirmation. Don't panic if you're still waiting - it seems like they're processing them in batches now. Just make sure you have that written protection from your school!
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NebulaNomad
•This is really reassuring to hear! I'm still waiting on mine but it's good to know the batches are moving through. Did your school automatically send you the written confirmation about class protection, or did you have to specifically request it? I want to make sure I'm covered but wasn't sure exactly what to ask for.
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Kaiya Rivera
•I had to specifically request it! I emailed my financial aid counselor asking for written confirmation that my enrollment wouldn't be affected by the DoE disbursement delays. They sent back a standard template email within a few hours that basically said "your account has a hold preventing class drops due to pending federal aid." Definitely worth asking for - it gave me so much peace of mind while waiting!
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Mia Roberts
Just checking in - has anyone who was waiting seen their summer disbursements come through in the last few days? I'm still showing "accepted" status but no actual funds yet. My tuition deadline is this Friday and I'm starting to get really anxious. The financial aid office keeps saying "any day now" but I need to know if I should start looking for backup payment options. Also wondering if anyone has had success with that Claimyr service mentioned earlier - seems like it might be worth trying at this point!
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Zainab Ahmed
•I'm in the exact same situation! Still showing "accepted" but no disbursement yet, and my deadline is Monday. I actually tried the Claimyr service that Emma mentioned earlier and it worked - I got through to FSA in about 30 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. The agent confirmed my loans are in the final processing stage and should disburse within 2-3 business days. They also gave me a reference number to share with my school's financial aid office. Definitely worth the try if you're running out of time! In the meantime, I'd still recommend getting that written confirmation about class protection just to be safe.
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