Based on everything shared here, you're dealing with two separate issues: 1. FAFSA dependency status - determines whose income is counted for aid calculation 2. State residency for tuition purposes - determines in-state vs out-of-state rates For #1, you need the Dependency Override I mentioned earlier. For #2, you need to follow the specific residency appeal process for your Michigan university, which should include: - Documentation of 12+ months physical presence - Proof of financial ties to Michigan - Evidence you've cut ties with Nevada - Documentation of your aunt's legal relationship to you I recommend scheduling a meeting with both the residency determination office AND the financial aid office together, so they can coordinate. Often these departments don't communicate well with each other, which leaves students caught in the middle.

u should also check if ur schol has hardship grants or emergency aid. my friend got like $5000 when his tuition went up and he couldnt pay

one more thing nobody mentioned is that some schools have payment plans so you dont have to pay everything at once. my school lets me pay in 4 payments over the semester and it doesnt cost extra

Thank you all SO MUCH for the helpful advice! I'm feeling much less panicked now. My plan is to: 1. Finish my FAFSA this weekend (with parents' info) 2. Create that spreadsheet showing different payment scenarios 3. Have a serious talk with my parents about exactly what they can commit to 4. Look into payment plans when I get my financial aid package I'll update once I have my SAI and financial aid offer. Fingers crossed for a decent Pell Grant! 🤞

Update for everyone: The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators released a statement today indicating that as of April 8th, only about 33% of FAFSA applications have been fully processed and transmitted to institutions. They're advocating for ED to provide daily processing updates and a firm timeline. Many schools are now creating their own institutional methodologies to generate preliminary aid packages while waiting for official SAI scores. If you absolutely need to make a decision soon, ask financial aid offices about these temporary solutions.

I want to thank everyone for their responses! I called my daughter's top three schools today and got varied responses: School 1: Extended deadline to June 1, offering estimated packages by April 25th School 2: Still holding firm on May 1 deadline but will refund deposits if aid doesn't match expectations School 3: Created an institutional methodology form we can fill out to get an estimated package within a week This is all so stressful, but I feel better knowing we're not alone in dealing with it. Will update if I learn anything new.

Update on this issue: FSA just acknowledged this is a known bug affecting about 20% of contributor invites. The official workaround they're recommending is: 1. Student should cancel all pending invites 2. Log out completely and clear browser cache/cookies 3. Wait 1 hour (this is important) 4. Log back in and send new invites 5. Have contributors check ALL email folders within 24 hours If this doesn't work, they're now providing a manual override process through their support line. When you call, specifically ask for the "Contributor Access Override" process. Hope this helps!

UPDATE: We got it working! After canceling the invites, waiting, and sending new ones to a freshly created email, the invite finally came through. For anyone else having this issue, the solution was a combination of: 1. Having my daughter cancel all pending invites 2. Creating a brand new email account just for FAFSA 3. Waiting a full hour before sending new invites 4. Having her submit the invite to the new email The invite showed up within 5 minutes. Now I'm working through my contributor section. Thank you all for your help!

Has anyone heard if scholarships are being affected by the SAI changes? My daughter has a merit scholarship, but we're still expected to pay way more with the new calculation than we did for her first year. It feels like they're reducing need-based aid for middle-class families.

@OP - Regarding your question about technical glitches: The Department of Education has made significant improvements to the FAFSA system after last year's problematic rollout. The parent/contributor section has been completely redesigned and the direct IRS data transfer should work much more smoothly. They've also added more server capacity for the December opening. For your daughter's final semester, make sure you also check with her school's financial aid office about any special procedures for graduating students. Some institutions have additional forms for students in their final term, especially if they're taking a reduced course load.