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idk why everyone's so worked up about this. filling out the fafsa took me like 30 min this year. way easier than before. just have your tax stuff ready and it's pretty straightforward
You must have been one of the lucky ones. Our FAFSA was stuck in "processing" for WEEKS and then got flagged for verification. We had to submit additional documentation THREE TIMES because they kept saying they couldn't read the documents even though we uploaded clear PDFs exactly as requested. The whole process took almost 3 months!
Important tip: The 2025-2026 FAFSA will use your 2023 tax information, but if your financial situation has changed significantly since then (job loss, major income decrease, etc.), you'll need to complete the FAFSA with the 2023 info first, then contact each school's financial aid office to request a professional judgment review. Also, don't pay anyone to fill out the FAFSA for you. There are plenty of free resources: - Your daughter's high school probably has FAFSA completion events - Many states have free FAFSA help hotlines - The Federal Student Aid Information Center: 1-800-433-3243 The only thing worth paying for might be something to help you actually reach a human at the FSA office if you run into problems, since their phone lines get overwhelmingly busy during peak season.
Just to clarify some confusion I'm seeing in the comments: The FAFSA form is updated every year, but the 2025-2026 application will use the same streamlined system that was introduced last year. The changes aren't drastic year-to-year, so if you've done research on the current simplified FAFSA process, most of that information will still be relevant. The main things that change annually are: 1. The specific income protection allowances (which affect your SAI calculation) 2. Some of the exact questions and their order 3. Occasionally the verification requirements But the core process, the SAI formula structure, and the general approach remain consistent. So don't panic about massive changes - it's more of an annual refresh than a complete overhaul.
btw when october hits submit ASAP!! some schools have priority deadlines & some aid is first come first serve
Another important thing to know - even though the federal deadline is June 30, 2026, that's for the entire 2025-2026 academic year. That means if you're starting in Fall 2025, you need to submit MUCH earlier than that June 2026 date. I think that deadline confuses a lot of people. Also, the FAFSA form itself should take about 30-45 minutes to complete if you have all your documents ready. You'll need: 1. Your SSN 2. Your driver's license number (if you have one) 3. Your 2023 tax records (for 2025-2026 FAFSA) 4. Records of untaxed income 5. Information about your assets 6. List of schools you're applying to If you're a dependent student (most undergrads are), you'll need your parents' information too.
This is excellent advice. And remember that starting with the 2024-2025 FAFSA, the form has been significantly redesigned. It's now called the "Better FAFSA" and is supposed to be simpler, but there have been some technical issues during the transition. For the 2025-2026 form, hopefully those will be resolved, but still plan to submit early in case of any system problems!
Thank you all for this helpful information! I'm going to mark December 1 on my calendar and aim to submit that first week. I'll also make a spreadsheet of all my potential nursing schools with their specific FAFSA and CSS Profile deadlines. One last question - if my parents are divorced, whose information do I need to include on the FAFSA?
For divorced parents, you'll need to report information for the parent you lived with more during the past 12 months. If you lived with both equally, then you report the parent who provided more financial support. If that parent has remarried, you must also include your stepparent's information. This is different from the CSS Profile, which might require information from both biological parents depending on the school's policy.
Fatima Al-Sayed
im having the exact same problem but mine started after i needed to make a correction to my parents tax info. it keeps saying submitted in emails but shows incomplete on the site. so frustrating!!!
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Jamal Edwards
•That's interesting - so maybe it's not just related to the maintenance but also happens with corrections! I wonder if they're going to fix it anytime soon.
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Jamal Edwards
UPDATE: It worked!!! I followed the advice from @profile1 exactly (logged out, cleared cache, waited 30 mins, then tried again without changing anything) and it FINALLY submitted properly! Now studentaid.gov shows my application as complete and I got a different confirmation email that looks more official than the previous ones. Thank you all so much for your help! For anyone else facing this issue, definitely try those steps before starting over.
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Amara Okonkwo
•That's great news! Glad it worked for you. The FSA has now posted an official notice about this issue on their status page, so hopefully they'll have a permanent fix soon for everyone else still experiencing it.
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