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my son got his award letters about 3-4 weeks after the SAI came out. each school is different tho. state schools were faster than private ones in our experience
That's interesting - for us it was the opposite! The private schools had aid packages within 2 weeks and the state universities took over a month. I think it really depends on their internal processes and how organized their aid office is.
Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I'm going to check each school's applicant portal first, then call the financial aid offices to confirm they received everything. Better safe than sorry, especially with those May 1st deposit deadlines approaching. I appreciate all the advice - this process is so confusing for first-timers!
your welcome! good luck with everything!
One more thing about merit scholarships - they're completely separate from need-based aid like the Pell Grant. Your daughter can receive both to their full amounts, which is great news! However, there is a concept called "meeting full need" that some colleges follow. If a college is committed to meeting 100% of demonstrated financial need, they calculate: Cost of Attendance - Expected Family Contribution (now called SAI) = Financial Need They then provide enough total aid to cover that gap. If they include merit scholarships as part of meeting that need, it can feel like they're "reducing" other aid, but they're really just putting together a complete package that doesn't exceed the calculated need. Only a small number of elite schools are "need-blind" AND meet full need without loans. Most schools will have a gap between aid offered and your calculated need.
This is really helpful context - thank you! I hadn't heard about the "meeting full need" approach before. It sounds like we need to pay close attention to how each school structures their aid packages. Do you know if schools typically specify whether merit aid is counted separately or included when meeting need?
Forgot to mention - APPEAL YOUR AID if it's not enough! My son got an additional $3500 per year just by writing a polite letter explaining why we needed more help. Include any changes in financial circumstances since you filed FAFSA (job loss, medical expenses, etc). The worst they can say is no! Also, don't forget to do the CSS Profile if any of her schools require it. That's a separate form from the College Board that many private schools use in addition to FAFSA. It looks at assets differently and can affect institutional aid.
Yes! Many people don't realize financial aid offers are negotiable! My daughter got an extra $5k just by showing them a better offer from a similar school. It's like buying a car - never take the first offer 😂
Update on my situation: I finally got through the college selection page by adding schools one by one with a 2-minute wait between each selection. Painfully slow but it worked. The SAI calculation is working now too. Hope this helps!
Thanks for coming back with an update! I'll try the one-by-one approach tonight if the mobile app doesn't work. At least there's hope!
UPDATE: We finally got through the college selection page! Combination of using the mobile app AND doing it at 6am this morning. Now we're on to the parent contribution section. Thanks everyone for your help and commiseration. For anyone else stuck on this - try early morning hours and the mobile app!
Excellent! Glad you found a solution. Just be prepared for possible slowdowns in the parent contribution section as well - that's another area where many users have reported issues. Best of luck with the rest of your application!
congrats!! the parent section was actually easier for me than the college part, hope it goes smooth 4 u
this happened to my sister too and she said her college finaid office helped her fix it without waiting for the web site to work. might be worth asking?
Someone else suggested this too! I'm definitely calling them first thing tomorrow. Thanks!
UPDATE: We're finally fixed! I used the Claimyr service to get through to FSA without the endless hold times, and they were able to manually override the errors. The agent said they're seeing this issue constantly with the new system. For anyone else dealing with this - don't waste your time with the website if you've already tried multiple times. Just call FSA directly (use Claimyr to avoid the wait) and they can usually fix it within minutes once you get an agent. Our school's financial aid office also submitted a secondary correction request on our behalf. THANK YOU everyone for your help!
Great to hear you got it resolved! For anyone else facing similar issues, I recommend documenting everything - screenshots of errors, dates/times of attempts, and any confirmation numbers you receive. This documentation can be crucial if you need to request deadline extensions from your schools due to FAFSA system errors.
Sofia Torres
Glad you got it resolved! And yes, submission history visibility would be a basic quality-of-life improvement they should implement. The good news is they've acknowledged many of the interface and transparency issues and have promised improvements for the 2025-2026 cycle.
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Miguel Ramos
Don't hold your breath on those
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