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am i the only one who thinks its crazy we have to jump through all these hoops?? one wrong click shouldnt take MONTHS to fix. my cousin had to drop out for a semester bc of fafsa delays
UPDATE: Following advice here, I contacted my daughter's college financial aid office and explained the situation. They're submitting a Professional Judgment request and gave us a special form documenting the dependency status error. They said this happens A LOT with the new system. Still waiting for resolution but at least we have a path forward now. Will update when we (hopefully) get this fixed!
UPDATE: We tried incognito mode on Chrome AND disabled Norton password manager - IT WORKED! We were able to complete the spouse section without any cursor jumping. Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. For anyone else with this problem, definitely try disabling any password managers or autofill programs first.
my daughter had this problem too but in her case it was because she was using an older version of Safari. its amazing how poorly tested the new FAFSA system is when so many families depend on this for college!!!! govt should be embarrassed.
Update: My SAR finally came through! For anyone else looking, the SAI is right at the top of the first page with a heading that says \
Great news! Your SAI essentially represents what the federal government believes your family can contribute annually toward college costs. It's not the exact amount you'll pay - it's used by schools to calculate your financial need (Cost of Attendance minus SAI). A lower SAI means you qualify for more need-based aid. Each school will use this number to create a unique financial aid package for you. Make sure to compare these packages carefully when they arrive!
Update: I verified this is legitimate by logging directly into my studentaid.gov account (not through the email link). There was a notification about the beta test in my message center. I've started the test application and it does look much improved! The contributor section especially seems way more straightforward than last year's confusing mess.
wait i'm confused...is this different from teh regular FAFSA? i thought the FAFSA always opens in october...so is this like a early version or something totally different?
This is a test version of next year's FAFSA (for the 2025-2026 school year). The regular FAFSA for 2025-2026 will still open in October as usual. This beta test doesn't replace the regular application - it's just to help the Department of Education find and fix problems before the official launch. If you participate in the beta, you'll still need to complete the regular FAFSA when it opens in October.
StarStrider
i'm just wondering... does anyone know if the parent contribution gets split between multiple kids in college? my youngest starts next year so both my kids will be in college at the same time
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Fatima Al-Qasimi
•Great question! The new FAFSA calculations changed how multiple students are handled. Previously, having multiple students in college significantly reduced each student's Expected Family Contribution. However, with the new SAI formula, there is no longer an automatic reduction for multiple students. Instead, the FAFSA provides each college with a "multiple in college" flag, and it's up to each institution to decide how to adjust aid packages. You should contact each school's financial aid office to ask about their specific policies for siblings in college.
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Giovanni Colombo
my son got more money sophomore year than freshman! we applied in december right when it opened and he got grants he didnt get first year. definitely do it early!!!
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Liam Sullivan
•That's encouraging! I'm definitely marking December 1 on my calendar now.
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