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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.
wait i'm confused... isn't FAFSA using the 2023 tax info now for the 2025-26 form? why are they looking at your 2022 taxes?
You're mixing up the tax years. For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, they'll use 2023 tax information. For the 2024-2025 FAFSA (the current application cycle), they use 2022 tax information. The OP is dealing with the current application cycle.
Update: I wanted to thank everyone for the advice! I followed the suggestions and contacted the financial aid office proactively. They were actually really understanding about our situation. They gave us a specific list of documents to provide: 1. Copy of our extension paperwork 2. Letter from our tax professional 3. Documentation of our Fresh Start program enrollment 4. An estimated income worksheet (they provided their own form) They said they'd put a note in my son's file and as long as we provide these documents within 30 days, his work-study shouldn't be affected. They also said we'll need to provide the actual tax return info once we file, but that can be handled through a professional judgment review as someone suggested. I feel so much better knowing what to expect rather than just waiting for a potential verification issue to pop up! Thanks again to everyone who shared their experiences and advice.
That's excellent news! This is exactly why proactive communication with the financial aid office is so important. They deal with these situations regularly and usually have established procedures. Glad to hear your son's work-study position shouldn't be affected.
Has your son checked if Berkeley offers any school-specific financial aid options? My daughter's university had several engineering-specific scholarships that weren't part of the standard financial aid package. Worth asking Berkeley's financial aid office directly!
Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice! I'm going to try using Claimyr first to see if I can get our FAFSA issues resolved and speak to an actual human being at Federal Student Aid. If that doesn't work out, I'll look into the Parent PLUS loan option, and then explore private loans with SoFi and College Ave as backups. I really appreciate all the insights and warnings about variable rates and loan management - this community has been incredibly helpful!
Any update? Did your daughter's submission fix the issue? I'm dealing with a similar situation and wondering if there's hope...
YES!!! It worked! As soon as she properly submitted her section, I got an email notification that I could complete mine. The trick was that she thought she had submitted everything but had only saved it. Once she actually completed the submission of her part, I could access mine. My section only took about 15 minutes to complete. Such a relief!
That's great news! Just a heads-up - after you both submit, it typically takes 3-5 business days for the FAFSA to process and generate the SAI (Student Aid Index). Then her school needs time to create her aid package based on that. Since she's leaving in just 5 days, I'd recommend calling her school's financial aid office to let them know the FAFSA is finally submitted and ask if they can expedite processing for study abroad students.
Charlie Yang
Speaking of FAFSA problems, has anyone else noticed that the new SAI calculation seems completely off? My family income actually decreased this year but somehow my SAI is $4,500 higher than last year's EFC. Makes no sense whatsoever.
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Grace Patel
•That's because the new FAFSA uses a different formula entirely. The SAI isn't directly comparable to the old EFC. The income protection allowance changed, and they eliminated some deductions that were previously available. Many families are seeing significant differences, both higher and lower.
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Mia Green
UPDATE: Success! The incognito mode + keyboard navigation suggestion worked perfectly! I was able to enter my husband's birthdate and complete the contributor section. For anyone else having this issue, here's exactly what worked: 1. Chrome incognito window (Ctrl+Shift+N) 2. Logged into studentaid.gov 3. Used only Tab key to navigate between fields 4. Entered the date as MM/DD/YYYY with the forward slashes Now I'm finally able to submit our FAFSA! Thank you all for the help!
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Lucas Kowalski
•Great news! Glad you got it working. Don't forget to take a screenshot of your confirmation page and save your SAI information when it processes.
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