I remember when i did my first fafsa my dog actually ate my w-2 form (not kidding lol) and i had to call my employer for a new copy which took forever and i almost missed the priority deadline. Make sure you have ALL your documents ready before you start! Also the most confusing part for me was the asset questions because i have a small inheritance from my grandma in a special account and wasn't sure if i needed to include it. Ended up having to call financial aid office at my school to figure it out.

One important thing to remember about your parent needing to be there: technically no, they don't need to be physically present when you complete the FAFSA. However, they DO need to: 1. Have their own FSA ID (which they should create themselves) 2. Provide you with their financial information OR log in themselves to complete the parent portion 3. Electronically sign the FAFSA with their FSA ID Since you mentioned your mom isn't tech-savvy and your dad travels, you have options: - Schedule a specific time to complete it when your chosen parent is available, even if just by phone - Have your parent create their FSA ID in advance, then provide you with the necessary information - Some parents give their child the FSA ID login to complete everything, though this isn't technically allowed since electronic signatures verify that the actual person is signing Most importantly, don't wait until the deadline! The earlier you submit, the better your chances for certain aid programs with limited funding.

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.

my cousin works for fafsa call center and she said their whole system is messed up right now because of some update they did this weekend. she said they're fixing it but might take until wednesday.

UPDATE: The Federal Student Aid office just posted on their social media that the two-factor authentication system is currently experiencing significant delays. They're prioritizing verification codes for accounts with pending verification requests or correction deadlines within the next 72 hours. They recommend: 1. Try again during off-peak hours (before 8am or after 10pm Eastern) 2. Ensure your contact information is correct in your profile 3. If you have an urgent deadline (within 72 hours), use the Contact Us form on StudentAid.gov and select "Account Access Issues" as your topic They expect to have the system fully operational again by Wednesday.

Has anyone mentioned that they now want MUCH more investment information???? Like literally every single account. We had to report my husband's small employee stock purchase plan that we'd completely forgotten about and it delayed our whole application by THREE WEEKS because we had to get special valuation statements. They even wanted information about a tiny inheritance my husband received that was only $5,400! Ridiculous how they penalize families who save responsibly while giving massive aid to families who never bothered to save a cent for college.

Just went through this with my kid who's a freshman now. I recommend taking screenshots of EVERYTHING during the FAFSA submission process. Our confirmation page never arrived by email even though the system said it sent it. Also, make sure your daughter lists all potential schools on the FAFSA when she first submits it - adding schools later triggers additional verification steps sometimes. And weirdest thing - after submitting, login to the studentaid.gov account every few days to check status. They don't always send notifications when there are problems or if they need more info. We almost missed a verification request because the email went to spam.

hey just wondering - did ur husband enter ur info (like ur SSN and income) when he did his part? Or was he just doing his own information? My husband and I are trying to figure out if we do our sections separately or if one of us puts in everything.

my cousins FAFSA got delayed for like 2 months bc his dad thought he did everything but actually the mom never signed it and they didn't realize until the school told him his aid package was on hold!! check with ur daughter's school financial aid office they can sometimes see exactly whats missing