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We went through this last year with my son. What helped us was submitting an appeal letter with specific documentation about expenses FAFSA doesn't consider - like elder care costs for my mom, some medical bills not covered by insurance, and major home repairs we had to do. The school ended up giving us an additional $5k per year in institutional grants after the appeal. Definitely worth trying!
u might wanna check scholarships too my sister got like 5k from local organizations and her dads work had a scholarship for employees kids. every bit helps when ur looking at that much money
It worked for us! My husband was super skeptical too. But it connected us to a real FSA agent who fixed our issue. I'm not sure if it works for every government agency, but it definitely worked for Federal Student Aid.
Update: We called FSA this morning (after trying for two days!) and found out there was a small discrepancy between how her name appears on her Social Security card and how she entered it when creating her FSA ID. Apparently even a missing middle initial can cause the verification to hang! The rep helped us correct it, and we were told the verification should complete within 1-2 days now. Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!
That's great! This is exactly why waiting for verification completion is important. Had you tried completing the application with the mismatch, you might have encountered more serious errors later. Once verification is complete, the application should go smoothly. Just be sure to have all your tax information ready - for 2025-2026 FAFSA, you'll need 2023 tax information for both student and parents if she's a dependent student.
This is a known issue with the redesigned FAFSA. Here's what you need to understand: 1. Yes, both parents' information is required for an accurate SAI calculation if both provide significant support, regardless of marital status. 2. The system should not have automatically submitted after just one contributor completed their portion - this is a technical error affecting many families. 3. The correction function should be available to your daughter 3-7 days after initial submission. She needs to login, select "Correct Your FAFSA" and then add you as an additional contributor. 4. Most important: While waiting for the correction ability to become available, contact all the financial aid offices at schools your daughter is applying to and explain the situation. They may provide temporary deadline extensions while you resolve this issue. 5. Once both contributors' information is included, her SAI will be recalculated, potentially changing her aid eligibility significantly. Documentation is critical - save screenshots showing the technical error, keep the invitation emails, and document all communication attempts with FSA.
Just wanted to add that if your daughter can't access the correction function after a week, and you can't reach FSA by phone, have her visit her school's financial aid office in person. They have dedicated channels to help resolve FAFSA issues that aren't available to the general public. They can sometimes initiate a correction request through their institutional portal.
My daughter had to submit her fafsa last month and we kept having problems too. but it was with the student contribution section not the parent part. anyway we gave up on the website and went to her college financial aid office and they helped us finish it right there. maybe try that?
The financial aid offices are completely overwhelmed right now. My sister works in one and said they're booking appointments 3-4 weeks out just to help with FAFSA issues. The Department of Education really screwed up this rollout.
YES!! I finally got it working! I used that Claimyr service to get through to an actual FSA agent. The woman I spoke with was super helpful and explained that there was a conflict between how my name was entered in the FSA ID system versus my tax records. She made some adjustment on their end and had me try again while on the phone with her. The form finally processed correctly and I was able to complete the entire application! Such a relief. Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions - this forum saved my sanity!
Javier Morales
my daughters school financial aid office actually helped us fix this over the phone!!! try calling them they might be able to tell u exactly whats wrong and how to fix it
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Paolo Bianchi
•Great suggestion! While schools can't process the signatures themselves, many financial aid offices can view the status of your FAFSA in their system and give you specific guidance on what's missing. They deal with these issues every day and often know exactly which page to direct you to.
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TechNinja
Update: We got it fixed! Followed the advice about checking the "My FAFSA" section and found the missing signatures option. Both my daughter and I signed with our FSA IDs last night, and this morning I got an email saying our FAFSA has been processed and sent to her schools! The SAI score is now showing in our account. Thanks everyone for the help. The system really should make it more obvious when signatures are missing instead of showing as "submitted" which made me think it was complete.
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Paolo Bianchi
•That's great news! And you're absolutely right about the confusing status messages. I've passed this feedback to our FSA contact - they're collecting user experience issues to improve the system for next year. Glad your daughter's application is now fully processed!
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Olivia Clark
•Awesome! So glad you got it resolved without having to spend hours on hold. The relief when that SAI score finally shows up is real! 😅
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