Here's how to maximize your daughters' aid in your specific situation: 1. File the FAFSA as the custodial parent (which is you, since your daughter lived with you most of the last 12 months) 2. When it asks about parents' marital status, select "Divorced or Separated" - not "Married" or "Never Married" 3. Only provide YOUR financial information, not your ex-wife's 4. After submitting the FAFSA, contact each school's financial aid office immediately about a "Professional Judgment Review" or "Special Circumstances Review" - this is critical 5. For next year when both daughters are in college, make sure to indicate the number of dependents in college as "2" - this will significantly reduce your Student Aid Index 6. If your income has changed significantly from the tax year requested on the FAFSA, also mention this in your special circumstances review The professional judgment review is where you'll explain the absence of your ex-wife and provide documentation about being the sole supporter. This can significantly impact the aid offered.

As someone who went through a similar situation with an absent parent, I want to emphasize how important it is to start gathering documentation NOW rather than waiting. Even though you don't have "official" proof of your ex's absence, you can start collecting evidence like: - Bank statements showing you're the sole financial supporter - School records showing only your contact information - Medical/dental records with just your information - Any communication attempts you've made (texts, emails) that went unanswered Also, definitely take advantage of having two kids in college simultaneously - that's actually a huge benefit for aid calculation! The new FAFSA changes how they handle multiple students, but it still helps significantly. One tip: when you do the Professional Judgment Review with each school, ask specifically about their "Parent Refusal" or "Non-Custodial Parent Waiver" policies. Some schools are more flexible than others about waiving the requirement for the second parent's information.

As someone new to this community and currently dealing with the exact same PharmD program classification confusion, this entire thread has been an absolute lifesaver! My daughter is starting her P1 year this fall and we've been getting completely different answers from various departments at her school. Reading through everyone's experiences, I'm now confident that she should be classified as a graduate student once she enters the PharmD portion of her program, regardless of when her bachelor's degree is actually conferred. The advice about getting written documentation from multiple departments is spot-on - I'm definitely scheduling that joint meeting someone mentioned with both financial aid and the registrar's office. Has anyone dealt with how this classification affects merit-based institutional scholarships? Her school offered her a "pre-pharmacy" scholarship as an incoming student, and now I'm wondering if that changes once she transitions to graduate status. Also, for those who mentioned pharmacy-specific scholarships, do most of them require you to already be enrolled in P1 year to apply, or can incoming students apply during their gap year? Thank you all for creating such a helpful resource thread!

As a newcomer to this community, I wanted to thank everyone for this incredibly informative thread! I'm facing the exact same situation with my son who's starting a PharmD program this fall. The confusion around undergraduate vs. graduate classification has been driving me crazy, especially since different staff members at his school keep giving us conflicting information. Based on all the excellent advice here, I now understand that he'll be classified as a graduate student once he enters the P1 phase, even though he won't receive his BS until after completing that first year. I'm definitely going to request written documentation from both the registrar and financial aid office, and I love the idea of scheduling a joint meeting to avoid any miscommunication. One question I haven't seen addressed - has anyone dealt with how this classification affects eligibility for state-specific aid programs? Our state has some grants that are specifically for undergraduate students, and I'm wondering if he'll lose eligibility for those once he's classified as a graduate student, even though he technically hasn't completed his bachelor's degree yet. Thanks again for all the valuable insights - this community is exactly what families need when navigating these complex professional degree programs!

I'm so glad you found this thread as helpful as the rest of us! Your situation with $1,150/month in support payments ($13,800 annually) is definitely substantial and should make a real difference in your aid calculation. What's been most encouraging to me throughout this entire discussion is seeing how many families are successfully navigating this exact challenge. Between the direct FAFSA child support deduction that @LunarEclipse explained and the Professional Judgment process that @Fatima Al-Mansour and @CaptainAwesome used so effectively, there are really concrete pathways to get our actual financial reality considered. Your plan to start gathering documentation now and be proactive with financial aid offices sounds perfect based on everything we've learned here. It's amazing how this community has helped so many of us realize we're not alone in this situation and that there are real strategies that work. Best of luck with your daughter's applications - you're definitely setting yourself up for success by being so well-prepared!

This entire thread has been such a valuable resource for families dealing with child support situations! As someone who's been following along and learning from everyone's experiences, I wanted to add that it's also worth checking if your state has any additional financial aid programs that might stack with federal aid. Some states have their own need-based grants that use different formulas than FAFSA, and they might be more flexible about considering your actual financial circumstances. Also, don't forget to look into college-specific scholarships and grants that might not be tied to FAFSA calculations at all - many schools have discretionary funds they can use for families in unique situations like yours. The key takeaway from this amazing discussion seems to be that there are multiple layers of support available if you know where to look and are persistent about advocating for your family's real financial situation!

As a newcomer to this community, I wanted to jump in and say how incredibly helpful this entire thread has been! I'm actually facing a very similar decision about potentially taking on more work hours, and seeing all the real-world experiences and practical advice shared here has been invaluable. What really stands out to me is how everyone emphasized the importance of talking to your financial aid office BEFORE making any major work decisions - that seems like such a crucial first step that I probably would have overlooked. I also love the idea of creating projections and "what if" scenarios to understand the actual numbers rather than just worrying about unknowns. Thanks to everyone who took the time to share their experiences and strategies. This is exactly the kind of supportive community discussion that makes navigating financial aid so much less intimidating!

As someone who just went through this exact situation last semester, I wanted to share my experience! I was terrified about working full-time affecting my aid, but after talking with my financial aid counselor, I learned that the timing really matters. Since you're planning to work in spring semester, that income will show up on your 2025 tax return, which will affect your 2027-2028 FAFSA (not next year's). This gives you some breathing room to plan ahead! I ended up working full-time at a campus job that offered tuition reimbursement, which helped offset the future aid reduction. The key is being strategic - consider jobs with educational benefits, keep detailed records of school-related expenses, and definitely run those "what if" scenarios with your aid office before you commit. You're being smart to think about this ahead of time rather than just hoping for the best!

Wow, this thread is exactly what I needed to find! I'm currently stuck in this same login nightmare and have been pulling my hair out for the past week. Like everyone else here, I keep getting "account not found" when I try to log in, but then it says an FSA ID already exists when I try to create a new one. It's the most frustrating catch-22! Reading through all these experiences has been such a relief - I was starting to think I had somehow completely messed up my FAFSA application. The middle initial issue that so many people mentioned really resonates with me because I know I've been inconsistent with that across different forms over the years. Sometimes I use my full middle name, sometimes just the initial, and sometimes I skip it entirely depending on the form requirements. I also moved apartments this past fall and had to update my address in the FAFSA system, which based on everyone's stories here seems to be another major culprit for these verification flags during the SAI migration. Definitely going to try that Claimyr callback service everyone keeps recommending - I cannot deal with sitting on hold for hours anymore just to get disconnected. When I do get through, I'll make sure to specifically mention "identity verification flags" and "SAI migration issues" rather than just asking for a password reset. Thanks so much to Lorenzo for starting this thread and to everyone who shared their solutions! This community has been infinitely more helpful than the official FAFSA support resources. It gives me hope that this nightmare is actually fixable!

As someone who works in higher education administration, I wanted to add that this login issue has become so widespread that we're seeing it affect roughly 15-20% of students this year. The SAI migration really did create a perfect storm of technical problems. One additional tip that might help some of you: if you've ever used a school computer or library computer to access your FAFSA, sometimes those public networks can create additional verification flags in the system. The agent should be able to see if there are any "suspicious login location" flags on your account that need to be cleared along with the name/address inconsistencies. Also, for those worried about deadlines - most schools have received guidance from the Department of Education to be flexible with FAFSA-related deadlines this year due to the system issues. Don't panic if you're running close to your deadline; just make sure your financial aid office knows you're dealing with technical problems. The good news is that once these verification flags get cleared by an agent, the login issues typically don't come back. It's just a matter of getting through to someone who knows how to handle these specific SAI migration problems rather than regular password support.