this new formula is so confusing!!! i thought it was supposed to make things easier but now im worried about applying for next yr...does anyone know if they're gonna change it again or is this permanent??

UPDATE: I wanted to share what worked for us. After gathering all our documentation (medical bills, proof of reduced hours for my wife), we requested a Professional Judgment review with the financial aid office. We also used the Claimyr service that someone suggested to reach an FSA agent who explained exactly which parts of the formula affected us most (mainly the sibling adjustment change and how our retirement savings were counted). We just heard back today - they've restored $2,800 of the institutional scholarship and we'll be receiving an additional $950 work-study award that wasn't in the original package. Still a loss from previous years, but MUCH more manageable. For anyone else facing this issue - DEFINITELY appeal if you have any special circumstances, be extremely specific in your request, provide documentation for everything, and try to understand exactly which formula changes affected your situation so you can address them directly.

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

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.

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!

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.