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If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
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Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
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An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls – which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
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Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
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I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
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wait does the head of household actually matter for fafsa? i thought that was just a tax thing not a financial aid thing?
You're right - "head of household" is a tax filing status. For FAFSA purposes, what matters is which parent is listed as the primary taxpayer on a joint return when using the Data Retrieval Tool. For married couples filing jointly, either spouse can be the FAFSA contributor, but if you're using the DRT, it works best when the FAFSA contributor matches the primary taxpayer listed first on the joint return.
When I called about this they said sometimes the system times out when trying to connect to the IRS database. They told me to wait 24 hours and try again, and it worked the next day! Maybe give that a shot before entering everything manually?
Thanks for the suggestion! We submitted our application about 5 days ago, so I think we're past that window unfortunately. It seems like manually entering is going to be our best bet at this point.
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My daughter applied to 7 colleges and we had something similar happen. I just waited and everything went back to normal after about 5 days. All her financial aid offers came in just fine. Just don't touch anything else on the application! Just leave it be.
Thanks everyone for the reassurance! I'm going to leave it alone and just wait for the financial aid packages to arrive. It sounds like this is just a display glitch that doesn't affect the actual information the schools received. I'll check back in a week to see if the status has reverted to 'completed,' but I won't try to make any more changes. What a relief!
good luck with your daughters college applications! hope she gets good aid packages!
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No, having a different parent submit the FAFSA next year won't affect your daughter's aid eligibility. Since you file jointly, the same household income is considered regardless of which parent completes the form. The only potential issue would be if you entered significantly different demographic information that might trigger a verification check. Also, just FYI - if your husband does next year's FAFSA, make sure he: 1. Creates his own FSA ID (don't share FSA IDs) 2. Indicates he's the same Parent 2 that was listed on this year's form 3. Enters demographic info exactly as it appears on tax documents This should prevent any processing delays next year.
That makes perfect sense, thank you! I'll make sure to have him listed as Parent 1 next time since he's the primary on our taxes. Hopefully the system will work better next year too.
my cousins financial aid got messed up cuz his parents switched who filled out the form each year and they kept getting verification requests...just fyi
That's likely because they may have entered inconsistent information between years. When different parents complete the FAFSA, they need to be careful to use exactly the same demographic information, household size, etc. The system flags inconsistencies, not necessarily just the fact that a different parent completed it.
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That's correct about the loan limits. As a first-year dependent undergraduate student, your annual limit is typically $5,500 (with up to $3,500 subsidized). This amount increases slightly for future years, but the aggregate limit for your entire undergraduate degree is $31,000. This is why it's important to explore all grant and scholarship opportunities to minimize your loan borrowing. Also, when you accept your loans in the portal, you can often accept less than the full amount offered. Just because they offer $5,500 doesn't mean you need to take it all. Calculate your actual expenses and borrow only what you need.
This is really helpful. I need to sit down and actually figure out exactly how much I need instead of just accepting everything. I didn't realize I could take less than what they offered.
One last important thing about Direct Loans: they offer income-driven repayment plans after you graduate. This means your monthly payments will be based on your income, not the loan amount. This is a huge safety net that private loans don't offer. If you're working in public service after graduation, you might also qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) after 10 years of payments. These federal benefits make Direct Loans much safer than private alternatives.
That's such a relief to hear. I'm actually considering teaching after graduation, so it sounds like that might qualify for the forgiveness program? I'll definitely research more into that. Thank you everyone for all this information - I feel so much more confident now about moving forward!
StarStrider
OK so update on my situation - I just got off the phone with my top choice school and they basically said "tough luck" on additional aid. They said I should've applied for scholarships earlier and there's not much they can do now. So frustrating!! Has anyone successfully appealed their financial aid offer? What exactly did you say to make them reconsider?
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Anastasia Fedorov
•That's really frustrating! Appeals work better when: 1. You have competing offers from similar schools (leverage) 2. Your financial situation has changed since filing FAFSA 3. You have unusual expenses not captured on FAFSA 4. You approach it professionally and with documentation Sometimes the first person you speak with isn't authorized to make changes. It might be worth asking to speak with a senior financial aid counselor or the director of financial aid. Be polite but persistent - explain that this school is your top choice but the current package makes it financially impossible without taking on excessive debt.
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Diego Vargas
Thank you all for the helpful advice! I've spent the last day researching and found 7 scholarships I'm eligible for with deadlines in the next few weeks. Also scheduled appointments with financial aid offices at my top two schools for next week. One more question - are there any red flags I should watch out for with scholarships? I've found some with really simple applications that seem too good to be true. Don't want to waste time on scams or give out too much personal info.
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Nia Jackson
•Great question! Watch out for these scholarship red flags: - Application fees (legitimate scholarships don't charge to apply) - Requiring banking information upfront - Guaranteeing you'll win money - Extremely vague eligibility criteria - No information about the sponsoring organization - Poor website design/lots of grammatical errors - No prior year winners listed - Requiring payment to "unlock" or "claim" the scholarship Legitimate scholarships will have clear eligibility requirements, transparent selection criteria, and information about the sponsoring organization. If you're unsure about a specific opportunity, your school's financial aid office can often help evaluate if it's legitimate.
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