My parents just went through this nightmare process and their CPA basically told them the same thing - to use about half of annual revenue for their commercial cleaning business. It worked out fine and we didn't get flagged for verification or anything.

Just wanted to add my perspective as someone who went through this last year with our family auto repair shop. We ended up using the revenue method (about 45% of gross revenue) and had our accountant document it with a simple one-page letter explaining the calculation. Even though small businesses under 100 employees are protected assets (like others mentioned), having that documentation ready was really helpful when we did get selected for verification. The financial aid office accepted it without any issues and actually thanked us for being so prepared! One tip - if you do get selected for verification later, they may ask for your business tax returns anyway just to verify the revenue numbers you used in your calculation. So make sure your valuation is defensible based on your actual reported business income.

This is excellent advice. Local scholarships often have less competition than national ones. Have your grandson start researching local opportunities from:\n\n- Community foundations\n- Local businesses and banks\n- Civic organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.)\n- Your employer or professional associations\n- Religious organizations if applicable\n\nMany of these have deadlines during senior year, so starting research now is perfect timing.

Great thread! As someone who just went through this process with my own family, I wanted to add that it's also worth checking if your state has any specific financial aid programs. Some states have grants or scholarships that have different eligibility requirements than federal aid. Also, make sure your daughter creates her FSA ID well before the FAFSA opens - that was one thing that caught us off guard and delayed our application. The whole process seems overwhelming at first but you're definitely on the right track by planning ahead!

UPDATE: IT WORKED! Thank you all so much for your help. It was actually a combination of issues: 1. I had to use Microsoft Edge as someone suggested 2. I had my daughter log in and re-invite me as a contributor 3. I had to complete the entire contributor section in one session without saving Finally got to the signature page and submitted successfully. For anyone else facing this issue - try all these suggestions and be persistent. The signature page DOES exist, it's just ridiculously hard to get to with all these bugs!

So glad you got it working! This thread is going to be so helpful for other families dealing with the same nightmare. I'm bookmarking this for sure. The new FAFSA rollout has been such a mess - it's crazy that we need workarounds like using specific browsers and completing everything in one session just to get a basic form to work. Hopefully they'll fix these bugs soon, but in the meantime at least we have solutions that actually work. Thanks to everyone who shared their fixes!

One important thing no one mentioned - with an SAI of 8966, your daughter should qualify for some federal work-study too. Make sure that's included in her package! It's usually around $2000-3000 per year where students work on campus. The jobs are usually super flexible around class schedules.

One last piece of advice about the appeal process: be specific about your financial needs and goals. Don't just say "I need more money" - instead, calculate the exact gap between what you can realistically pay and what they're offering, then ask for that specific amount in the appeal. And always be polite but persistent with financial aid officers - they have discretion but are more likely to use it for families who are respectful of their process.

UPDATE: I finally got the courage to click the button and you were all right! It just took me back to where I left off in the application. I was able to finish entering our tax information and household details. One thing I discovered that might help others: if you have multiple children applying simultaneously, the system actually pre-fills a lot of your parent information from the first application to the second one! Saved me tons of time on my son's application. Thanks everyone for your help! The new portal is still confusing, but at least I got through it.

As someone who just went through this exact nightmare with my daughter's FAFSA last month, I can confirm what others have said - that "Provide Signature" button is terribly misleading! It really should just say "Continue" because that's all it does. The system actually has multiple safeguards to prevent accidental submission. You'll go through several confirmation screens and see a clear checklist before you can actually submit anything. One tip I wish I'd known earlier: keep a simple notepad file open while you work and jot down what sections you've completed for each kid - it helps you keep track of where you are in the process when you're juggling multiple applications!