To clarify some confusion in this thread: For 2025-2026 FAFSA purposes, your situation falls under the "special case" rules. Since you have 100% physical custody and claim your daughter on taxes, she is automatically considered your dependent for FAFSA purposes regardless of the financial support test. This is specifically addressed in the FSA Handbook section on household size for independent students. Government benefits received for the child (SNAP, WIC, etc.) actually count as support YOU provide. So you're absolutely correct to include her in your household size, and doing so will help your SAI calculation significantly.

I was in this same situation!!! my daughter was 3 when i went back to school and i only made like $12k but she lived with me full time. I DID include her in my household size and i got way more financial aid bc of it (full pell grant + state grants). i think they look at household size vs income so having her counted helped me qualify for more. never got any questions about it either

Update to my earlier comment - I should clarify that while our parent section eventually processed automatically, it did take almost two weeks. If your deadline is next week, you probably do need to be more proactive than we were. Contacting the school is definitely a good idea.

UPDATE: I used Claimyr this morning and actually got through to FSA! The agent found that there was a mismatch between how my name appears on my tax return versus how I entered it in my FSA ID. They fixed it right there and said the parent section should process within 3-5 business days. I also called my son's school financial aid office, and they said they'll make a note in his file about the FAFSA technical issue so his application won't lose priority status. Thank you everyone for your help!

Just a quick update - I got the SSN issue fixed with my daughter's application after we used that Claimyr service. The agent said nearly 40% of applications this cycle have similar verification issues because of how the new system processes things. The good news is that once it's fixed, the aid package usually comes through within 5-10 business days since the SAI calculation is already done.

UPDATE: We called the financial aid office this morning and they were super helpful! Turns out there was a transposed digit in my son's SSN. They're sending a specific verification form that he needs to complete and submit with a copy of his social security card. They said it should be processed within 3-5 business days after they receive it. Thanks everyone for your help!

Somtime the schools take FOREVERRR to send out there aid packages, my daughters college took almost 2 MONTHS after fafsa processed to send her awards. So frustrating!! But you can call the financial aid office directly to ask for a timeline, sometimes they'll give you an early estimate over the phone.

UPDATE: I finally called the college's financial aid office and they said they're behind on processing because of all the FAFSA delays this year. They expect to have aid packages out within 2 weeks, and they suggested we go ahead with orientation since we can still make decisions after seeing the package. The woman was super nice and said based on our SAI, we should qualify for "significant assistance" but wouldn't give specific numbers. Fingers crossed!

Have you checked if your application is stuck in verification? Sometimes the system flags applications for verification but doesn't clearly communicate it. For grad students with separate filing spouses, the FAFSA often requires additional verification due to the separate tax situations. Log into studentaid.gov and check the verification status specifically.

Update on your situation: I consulted with our graduate financial aid specialist. For the 2025-26 FAFSA, there's a known issue affecting graduate students with separate-filing contributors. The system sometimes fails to process applications when there's any discrepancy in financial information, particularly with retirement accounts and business income. My recommendation: 1. Start a fresh application 2. Have both your and your husband's tax documents ready side-by-side 3. Report retirement accounts on the correct person's profile (not split) 4. Be extremely precise with business income if either of you has any 5. Double-check the "support provided" section numbers The good news is that graduate student aid deadlines are typically later than undergraduate, so you should still have time to correct this for fall semester.