Thank you all for the great advice and encouragement! We're going to wait for all the offers to come in and then start the appeal process with her top choices. I feel much better knowing this first offer isn't necessarily what we'll have to accept. Will update when we hear from the other schools!

Just wanted to add another perspective as someone who went through this process with twins last year! Your experience is unfortunately very typical for that first offer. What really helped us was creating a spreadsheet to track not just the grant amounts, but the NET COST after all aid for each school. Some schools with higher sticker prices ended up being cheaper than "affordable" state schools after aid. Also, timing matters - we noticed schools that released decisions later in the cycle often had more competitive packages, possibly because they could see what other schools were offering. Don't be afraid to ask the financial aid office directly: "What would it take for my daughter to receive additional aid?" Sometimes they'll tell you exactly what documentation or circumstances would help your case. One last tip: if your daughter has any unique talents, achievements, or circumstances that weren't fully captured in the original application, mention those in your appeal. Schools sometimes have small pots of money for specific situations that aren't part of their standard formula. Good luck - the process is stressful but it often works out better than that first disappointing offer suggests!

One thing to keep in mind about FAFSA corrections: while you can make multiple corrections throughout the year, it's best to be thorough and make all necessary changes at once. Each correction submission can take up to a week to process, and multiple corrections can potentially flag your application for verification, which requires additional documentation and delays your aid package. So double-check everything while you're making this retirement account correction!

Just wanted to add that it's also worth checking if your school has any FAFSA workshops or one-on-one help sessions. My college's financial aid office offers free appointments where they'll review your FAFSA with you to catch errors before you submit. I wish I had known about this when I was filling out mine - would have saved me from making similar mistakes! Some schools even have peer tutors who are trained to help with FAFSA questions. It might be helpful for your final year to take advantage of these resources if they're available.

If you do end up needing private loans, one more tip: many lenders offer an interest rate reduction (usually 0.25%) if you set up automatic payments. It doesn't sound like much, but it adds up over the life of the loan. Also, some lenders offer graduation rewards or on-time payment incentives that can help reduce the overall cost.

Update: Thank you everyone for the great advice! We visited the financial aid office during orientation and explained our situation. They found an institutional grant for $3,500 and helped us understand our Parent PLUS options better. We're still exploring private loans for the remaining gap, but narrowed it down to either our local credit union or Discover based on your recommendations. I'll post again with our final decision in case it helps future families!

Did you remember to list both daughters separately on the FAFSA? A lot of people with twins only enter one child by accident

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this - a 68% SAI is absolutely unreasonable! As someone new to navigating FAFSA, I've been reading through all these responses and they're incredibly helpful. That $42k inheritance you mentioned is likely the main culprit here. The FAFSA formula hits liquid assets (cash/savings) much harder than most people realize - I think it's around 5.64% of assets vs about 22-47% of income above certain thresholds. So that inheritance could be adding over $2,000 to your SAI right there, on top of the income calculation. Definitely pursue the Professional Judgment review that others mentioned - financial aid officers can often work with families when the standard formula produces unrealistic results like yours. Keep us posted on how the meetings with the colleges go!

UPDATE: We figured it out! It turns out my son had entered my husband's email address incorrectly (switched two letters). Once we fixed that and resent the invitation, my husband got the email within minutes. He's created his FSA ID and is completing his portion now. Thanks everyone for your help! The FAFSA process is definitely not user-friendly this year.

Great to see you got it resolved! This is such a common issue with the new FAFSA system. For anyone else reading this thread who might be dealing with similar problems, I'd also recommend having your student screenshot or write down exactly what they entered for each parent's email address before submitting. That way if there are delays, you can quickly spot any typos without having to dig back through the application. The new contributor system is definitely more complicated than the old FAFSA, but once you get through it the first time, it makes more sense. Hope your son gets his aid package soon!