One thing nobody's mentioned is that if your income dropped 28% in 2023, you should definitely file a Professional Judgment request regardless of what you decide about the deposit waiver. That's a significant change that could dramatically affect your SAI and resulting aid package. For the PJ request, you'll need: - 2023 tax returns or W-2s - Documentation of job loss/income reduction (if applicable) - A detailed letter explaining the change - The school's special circumstances form (usually on their financial aid website) Also, check if your son's top choice uses CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA - private schools often do. The appeal process might be different for institutional aid vs. federal aid.

Update us on what you decide to do! The timing of these offers right before May 1 commitment deadlines is particularly challenging. Whatever you choose, make sure to submit any appeals ASAP - many schools distribute their remaining aid funds by mid-May.

Update? Were you able to determine what happened with your loans? If your daughter's federal loans truly are starting at 3 months, that's an error that needs to be corrected immediately.

So glad you got this sorted out! This is actually a really common source of confusion that trips up a lot of families. The "heads up" notifications from loan servicers can be super misleading - they often make it sound like payments are due immediately when they're really just giving you advance notice. Your experience is a perfect example of why it's so important to distinguish between federal and private loans, and to understand the specific terms of Parent PLUS loans. Thanks for sharing the resolution - I'm sure this thread will help other families who run into the same issue!

For anyone else having this issue, here's a step-by-step fix that worked for me and seems to have helped the original poster: 1. Start at the very beginning of your renewal application 2. Complete EVERY field on EVERY page (even if unchanged from last year) 3. Click 'Save' on each page before proceeding 4. When you reach the financial section, try the IRS Data Retrieval Tool first 5. If the tool doesn't work for your situation, you should then get the option to enter manually 6. Complete the application in a single session if possible Also, clear your browser cache or try a different browser if you're still having troubles. The 2025-2026 FAFSA has a lot of technical updates, so these glitches are unfortunately common.

As someone new to this whole FAFSA process, this thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm a first-time applicant and was getting really worried when I hit similar issues with my financial sections not updating properly. It's reassuring to know this is a common problem with solutions. I'm definitely going to follow the step-by-step guide that Vanessa shared - it sounds like the key is being super methodical and not skipping any steps, even if they seem redundant. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!

so how long did it take everyone to get their SAI after submitting? im on week 3 of waiting and getting nervous...

Pro tip: If you're having trouble finding that confirmation email, try searching your entire inbox for "FAFSA" or "Federal Student Aid" - the subject line is usually something like "Your FAFSA form has been successfully submitted." Also, if you submitted late at night or on weekends, sometimes the confirmation email can take a few hours to arrive. I've seen students panic thinking they didn't submit when the email was just delayed. The confirmation number format is usually something like "FAFSA-" followed by numbers and letters, so you can search for that pattern too if needed!

Thank you for this information! I'll check the NACAC list and reach out to both schools about possible extensions. This whole process has been so much more stressful than when my older son applied 4 years ago.

I'm dealing with this exact same issue! My son was accepted to 4 schools and 2 of them are being completely vague about 2024-25 costs. What's really frustrating is that one school told me over the phone that they "expect" tuition to increase but couldn't give me even a ballpark figure. Meanwhile, I'm trying to compare actual financial aid packages and make an informed decision. The FAFSA delays have definitely made everything more complicated, but I agree with others here that some schools seem to be using it as an excuse to delay announcing what are probably significant tuition hikes. I've started keeping a spreadsheet of which schools are being transparent vs. which ones are being evasive - it's actually becoming a factor in our decision-making process. Transparency matters, especially when we're talking about potentially taking on debt for the next 4 years. Has anyone had luck getting actual numbers by going through admissions counselors instead of financial aid offices? Sometimes they have more flexibility to share preliminary info.