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wait so if im starting college this fall and will be filling out my first FAFSA, will this affect me too? im so confused about all this loan stuff
No, this won't affect you now. This issue only happens later when people consolidate already-existing federal loans. Just focus on completing your FAFSA accurately to qualify for grants first (free money), then subsidized loans (government pays interest while you're in school), and only take unsubsidized loans if absolutely necessary.
One important thing to add - if you're concerned about the interest capitalization that happened during consolidation, you might want to make small extra payments (even $20-50/month) that go directly to principal once you start working toward PSLF. This can help reduce the overall size of your loan despite the capitalization. Also, keep an eye on the PSLF waiver programs. The Biden administration has been regularly extending and modifying these waivers to help more borrowers qualify, and there might be further adjustments that could benefit your situation.
That's a great tip about making small extra payments. I didn't realize I could do that while on PSLF. And yes, I'll definitely keep an eye on any new waiver programs or policy changes!
what school is it? some schools are known for better financial aid than others
One more important point - even though your son only applied to one school, you still have the option of refusing to enroll if the financial aid package makes attendance impossible. Sometimes the financial aid office needs to understand that you literally cannot attend without additional support. Be prepared to demonstrate this with specific numbers if needed. Also, check if the school has a CSS Profile requirement in addition to FAFSA. Many private universities use both, and missing the CSS Profile could limit your institutional aid substantially.
Update: I finally got through to FSA! I used that Claimyr service someone mentioned above and got connected to an agent in about 15 minutes. The agent confirmed there was a verification flag on our application that wasn't showing up in our portal. Apparently our income information had a small discrepancy with the IRS data. The agent was able to clear the flag since the difference was minimal, and said our SAI should calculate within 3-5 business days. I also reached out to my son's school financial aid office who said they'll put a note on his file about the FAFSA delay. Thank you all for your help!
That's great news! Glad you got it sorted out!
I'm glad you got this resolved! For anyone else experiencing this issue, here's a quick summary of the solution path: 1. Contact your school's financial aid office to notify them of the delay 2. Use a service like Claimyr to reach FSA quickly or be prepared for long hold times 3. Ask the FSA agent specifically about "hidden verification flags" or "calculation errors" 4. Request that they manually review your application 5. Get a case number or reference number for the conversation 6. Follow up with your school again after the SAI is calculated The new FAFSA system is improving but still has these technical issues that require human intervention to solve. Always document your conversations and follow-ups.
After dealing with this for days, I called my son's college financial aid office directly. They said they're hearing about this issue from LOTS of families. Their suggestion was to have the student remove the parent as a contributor temporarily, then add them back and generate a fresh invitation link. Apparently this resets something in the system. Worth trying if you're still stuck!
We tried that THREE times and it still gave me the error page each time! This whole system is a disaster. Why did they have to change everything from the old FAFSA anyway? That one at least WORKED.
The change to the new system was mandated by the FAFSA Simplification Act passed by Congress. The intention was good - to make the form shorter and easier to complete - but the implementation has obviously been problematic. The Department of Education had to compress what was supposed to be a multi-year rollout into a much shorter timeframe, which is partly why we're seeing so many technical issues.
when my mom had this problem we fixed it by having her create a completely new FSA ID. for some reason the old one she used last year kept triggering the error page. kinda annoying to make a new account but at least it worked!
Interesting! I might try this as a last resort. Did she have any trouble with the new FSA ID being linked to her tax information for the IRS Data Retrieval Tool?
Kara Yoshida
my son just did this last week!! he had to click around his dashboard for a while but eventually found where to sign. the button was kinda hidden in the tasks section. tell him to look for "FAFSA waiting for signature" or something like that
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Darren Brooks
•Thank you! Just texted my son to look specifically in his tasks section. Fingers crossed he finds it!
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Demi Hall
Just following up - were you able to get your son's signature completed? Remember that after he signs, there's one more step: the form is officially submitted only after signing. You should both receive a confirmation email with a confirmation number once that happens. This is an important detail many people miss.
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Darren Brooks
•Yes! He finally found it in his dashboard. You were right about the confirmation email - we both got it yesterday. Such a relief! His SAI score was higher than we expected though... might need to figure out if we made a mistake somewhere. Thank you again for your help!
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