After reading through all the advice here, I want to add one more important point: make sure you gather your own financial information. Since you'll be considered independent if the override is approved, the FAFSA will evaluate your finances only. You'll need: 1) Your tax returns if you've filed (or income information even if you didn't earn enough to file) 2) Information about any assets in your name (bank accounts, etc.) 3) Documentation of any unusual expenses you've had to handle on your own Also, ask each school about additional institutional aid that might be available specifically for students in your situation. Many colleges have special funds set aside for independent students who have experienced hardship.

I'm really sorry you're going through this, but I want to emphasize that you're not alone and there IS a path forward. Based on what you've described, you definitely qualify for a dependency override, and once approved, you'll likely be eligible for maximum financial aid. Here's my advice for immediate action: 1) Submit your FAFSA NOW without parent information - check the box indicating special circumstances. Don't wait for the override approval first. 2) Create a spreadsheet with all the colleges you're applying to and their financial aid office contact information. Email each one TODAY explaining your situation and asking for their dependency override process. 3) Start gathering documentation immediately: - Your father's death certificate - Any records about your mother's deportation - Letters from adults who know your situation (teachers, friends' parents, clergy, etc.) - Your own financial documents (bank statements, W-2s if you work) 4) Write a detailed personal statement explaining your circumstances - be specific about dates, living situations, and how you've been supporting yourself. The key is to be proactive and persistent. Financial aid offices deal with these situations regularly, and they want to help students in genuine need. Don't let one unhelpful counselor discourage you - there are people who will advocate for you once you connect with the right resources. You've got this! Start making those calls and sending those emails today.

One important point that hasn't been mentioned yet: If these are federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans for the 2025-2026 academic year, the current interest rate is 6.8%. At that rate, a $5,500 loan accrues about $1.02 in interest per day or roughly $31 per month. Making interest-only payments during school is an excellent strategy to prevent capitalization (when unpaid interest gets added to the principal) after the grace period ends. Just make sure your daughter is aware that you're doing this for her benefit - it's a wonderful gift you're giving her by reducing her long-term debt burden!

Just wanted to add one more tip that helped us - if your daughter's school uses quarters instead of semesters, they often disburse loans at the beginning of each quarter rather than all at once. So even if the fall quarter loan was disbursed back in September, the winter quarter portion might not have been disbursed yet (depending on when winter quarter started). This could explain why you're not seeing the full $5,500 amount. Also, once you do get access to her loan servicer account, you can set up autopay for the interest payments which usually gives you a small interest rate reduction (like 0.25%). Every bit helps when you're trying to minimize the long-term cost!

Anyone know if they automatically notify you when there's a problem?? Or do they just leave your application sitting there forever? I feel like mine is just lost in some digital black hole and no one will ever look at it...

Just wanted to share our experience to help ease some anxiety - we submitted our daughter's FAFSA on January 15th and got the SAI back yesterday (January 27th), so exactly 12 days including weekends. No verification issues, thankfully! I was really stressed about her February 1st deadline at her top choice school, but I called their financial aid office last week and they said they're used to FAFSA delays and won't penalize students as long as the application was submitted before the deadline. They even mentioned they've extended their internal processing timeline this year specifically because of the volume delays everyone's experiencing. For anyone still waiting - hang in there! The schools really do seem to understand what's happening with processing times right now.

Quick update on deadlines: The Department of Education just announced that schools should be flexible with FAFSA deadlines this year due to the processing delays. Many universities are extending their priority deadlines by 2-3 weeks. Definitely worth checking with your specific school!

I'm so glad I found this thread! I'm a new parent going through this process for the first time and was completely panicking when I saw the "In Review" status. Reading everyone's experiences here has been incredibly reassuring. It sounds like this is just part of the new system design rather than something we did wrong. I'm going to follow the advice about contacting the financial aid office and checking the portal regularly for status changes. Thank you all for sharing your experiences - it really helps to know we're not alone in dealing with these FAFSA issues!

After digging through some news articles, it sounds like the legal challenge is specifically about how SAVE calculates discretionary income and the undergraduate-only subsidy. Since the court issued a stay rather than a permanent injunction, there's actually a decent chance this gets resolved before too long. In the meantime, I'd recommend everyone: 1) Apply for a different IDR plan as backup, 2) Document all communications with your servicer, and 3) Keep checking studentaid.gov for updates.

I'm in a similar boat and just wanted to share what I learned from calling my servicer (FedLoan) yesterday. They confirmed that if you had a pending SAVE application before July 18, it's essentially frozen - they can't process it but they also can't throw it away. The rep suggested I could either wait to see if the court decision gets overturned, or withdraw my SAVE application and apply for PAYE instead. She also mentioned that if the ruling gets appealed successfully, any payments made under a different IDR plan during the suspension period should still count toward forgiveness timelines. Still a mess, but at least there's some clarity on the process.