Just saw on the news that Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued a formal apology for the FAFSA issues and promised complete transparency going forward. They've apparently added additional staff to process the recalculations faster. I'm still frustrated, but at least they're acknowledging the problem and trying to fix it.

I'm in the exact same boat and it's absolutely maddening! My daughter's FAFSA was also flagged for the SAI miscalculation and two of her top choice schools have put her aid packages on hold. What makes it worse is that we already submitted housing deposits based on the original numbers. Now we're stuck in limbo wondering if we'll even be able to afford those schools once the "corrected" calculations come through. The lack of communication and transparency from the Department of Education has been shocking. How do you launch a system affecting millions of families without proper testing? I've been checking studentaid.gov obsessively but there's never any real updates. Thanks for posting this - it helps to know we're not alone in this mess, even though I wouldn't wish this stress on anyone.

Based on everything you've shared, here's your action plan: 1. Wait for withdrawal option to appear (5-7 business days from original submission) 2. Contact schools now about deadline exceptions (with documentation) 3. Use Claimyr or similar service if you need to speak directly with FSA 4. After withdrawal processes, wait 1-2 days before starting new application 5. Follow the correct student-initiates process for the new application Your daughter will not lose aid eligibility due to this error as long as you communicate proactively with her schools. The most important financial aid deadlines are actually the schools' institutional aid deadlines, which are often different from their FAFSA priority dates. Be sure to check those as well. Hang in there - this year's FAFSA process has been challenging for almost everyone!

I went through something similar last year with my oldest daughter! The stress is absolutely real, but you're getting great advice here. One thing that really helped us was creating a shared Google doc with all the important dates, error messages, and contact attempts - it made communicating with the schools much easier when we had everything documented in one place. Also, don't beat yourself up too much about the mistake. The new FAFSA system is genuinely confusing, and even financial aid professionals are struggling with it this year. My daughter's college told us they've seen a 300% increase in these types of errors compared to previous years. You're definitely not alone, and the schools really are being understanding about it. One tip for when you do the new application: have your daughter sit right next to you when you both go through it step by step. We found it helpful to read each question out loud before answering to make sure we understood what they were asking. Good luck - you've got this! 💪

Thank you all for the helpful responses! This clears up a lot of my confusion. I'll stick with the FinAid calculator estimates for now since it seems like they're reasonably accurate for our situation. I'm relieved that his income won't completely eliminate his Pell eligibility since we definitely need the help with college costs.

Just wanted to add my experience as another data point - my daughter had $9,500 in scholarships plus about $6,800 from work-study last year, and we still received about 85% of the maximum Pell Grant. Our family income was around $35K. The key thing I learned is that the student income protection allowance really does make a difference - only the amount above that threshold gets assessed at 50%. One tip: make sure you're distinguishing between taxable and non-taxable scholarships when filling out the FAFSA. The non-taxable portion (tuition/fees/books) shouldn't be reported as income, only the taxable portion (room/board). This can make a meaningful difference in the calculation.

UPDATE: Thank you all so much for your help! I followed the steps that were suggested, and it turns out I DID miss the final submission step. Even though my information was processed and I could see my SAI, I never clicked the final 'Submit to Schools' button on the submission tab. Once I did that and entered my FSA ID password again, the red mark disappeared and I got a confirmation email that my FAFSA was officially submitted! Such a relief. The interface really is confusing - they should make that final step more obvious!

Congratulations Natalie! This thread is going to be so helpful for other students who run into the same issue. I went through this exact same confusion last year and it's such a relief when you finally get that confirmation email. The FAFSA system really needs better user interface design - so many people get stuck at that final submission step because it's not intuitive at all. Thanks to everyone who contributed such detailed and helpful advice here!

After using Claimyr to reach FSA yesterday, I wanted to update. The agent explained that there's a bug in the system where some colleges can see certain flags/issues that aren't visible to students on the studentaid.gov portal. They had to manually clear those flags in our account. Financial aid is now being processed at all schools! Definitely worth getting through to an actual agent who can see the backend system.

So glad to see this resolved! This thread is going to be super helpful for other families dealing with the same issue. It's crazy that there are backend flags that students can't see but schools can - no wonder so many people get stuck in this loop. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and solutions. The FAFSA system definitely needs some major improvements, but at least we have workarounds like calling FSA directly or using services like Claimyr to actually get through to someone who can fix these invisible issues.