Hi Joanie! I can understand why those posts might seem contradictory - FAFSA rules around custody vs. guardianship can be really confusing, especially for grandparents in your situation. The key distinction is that custody and guardianship are different legal arrangements. With custody, you may have physical care of your grandchild but the parents still retain their legal rights. With legal guardianship, you've been granted broader legal authority by a court. For FAFSA purposes, what matters is who provides more than 50% of the student's support and who the student lived with most in the 12 months prior to filing. If you're the custodial grandparent providing the majority of support, you would typically be considered the parent on the FAFSA. However, since every situation is unique and these rules can be complex, I'd strongly recommend contacting your school's financial aid office directly. They can review your specific legal documents and circumstances to give you the most accurate guidance for your FAFSA completion. Have you been able to speak with a financial aid counselor yet about your particular situation?

Quick update - if you're still having the signing issue, I just remembered another potential fix. Make sure your FSA ID password doesn't contain any special characters that look similar to others (like l vs I or O vs 0). The system sometimes misinterprets these during the signature authentication process. Also, check if your son accidentally entered any of your information differently than what's on your FSA ID (even small differences like "St." vs "Street" can cause the error).

So glad to hear you got it working, Fatima! For anyone else still struggling with this issue, I wanted to add that the FAFSA help Twitter account (@FederalStudentAid) has been pretty responsive lately with tech support questions. They can sometimes escalate cases or provide specific troubleshooting steps. Also, if you're really pressed for time with state deadlines, some states allow you to submit an estimated FAFSA and correct it later - might be worth checking your state's specific requirements. The email mismatch issue seems to be catching a lot of parents off guard this year!

Correct - if you need exactly $15,000 to cover costs, you would need to borrow approximately $15,660 to account for the 4.228% origination fee ($15,000 ÷ 0.95772). Regarding minimums, there is no federal minimum for Parent PLUS loans, but some schools have their own minimum amounts they'll process (often $500 or $1,000). This would be another good question for your daughter's financial aid office. And one last tip - consider what your repayment approach will be. Although payments can be deferred while your daughter is in school, interest will continue accruing. Some parents choose to make interest-only payments during this time to prevent the loan from growing significantly before regular repayment begins.

As someone who just went through this process with my son who also transferred as a junior, I wanted to add a few practical tips that helped us navigate the timing crunch: 1. Don't wait for the school's financial aid office to contact you - they often assume parents know about PPL options. Be proactive and reach out to them first. 2. If you're cutting it close to the tuition deadline, most schools will work with you if you can show them your approved PPL application, even if funds haven't been disbursed yet. They may offer a temporary payment plan or hold. 3. Keep copies of EVERYTHING - your credit check results, MPN, approval notice, etc. We had to resubmit documents twice because of "system glitches." 4. Once approved, the actual disbursement usually takes 1-3 business days to reach the school, so factor that in when planning around due dates. The whole process is definitely stressful the first time, but you've got this! Your daughter is lucky to have a parent willing to navigate this maze for her education.

Yes, document any non-taxable income like disability benefits. For FAFSA purposes, this still counts as income even though it's not taxed. However, the good news is that with only disability income, your student will likely still qualify for significant need-based aid. When completing the FAFSA, the application will ask if the parent receives certain federal benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, or SSI - answering yes to any of these can qualify the student for an automatic zero EFC (now called 0 SAI - Student Aid Index), which maximizes their aid eligibility.

As someone who's helped multiple students through unusual FAFSA situations, I want to emphasize a few key points: 1) You're absolutely right that only the biological father should be listed as the parent, regardless of who claims her on taxes. 2) His SSDI income actually needs to be reported on the FAFSA, but since he likely qualifies for means-tested benefits, she should get automatic maximum aid eligibility. 3) Start the application early because verification is almost guaranteed with a single-parent household with only disability income. 4) Have documentation ready: custody papers, proof of benefits, and a signed statement explaining the mother's absence. The silver lining is that her aid package will likely be very generous! Make sure the father completes and signs the FAFSA himself using his own FSA ID.

Thank you everyone for all this helpful advice! I'm feeling a lot less panicked now that I understand the process. Going to start collecting all our documentation right away and make that spreadsheet showing our income change. Still not looking forward to the process but at least I know what to expect now!

One thing I'd add that hasn't been mentioned yet - when you're documenting your income change, also include any documentation about changes to your assets from the house sale and relocation. Since you mentioned you sold your house and moved 7 states away, that could significantly impact your asset calculation on the FAFSA too. The financial aid office might want to see the closing statement from your house sale, any moving expenses, and documentation of your new living situation (rent vs. mortgage, etc.). Asset changes can sometimes be just as important as income changes in these professional judgment reviews!