Quick tip that might help others: For anyone dealing with these delays and needing to make college financial decisions, contact your school's financial aid office directly. Many colleges have implemented provisional aid award processes specifically to deal with the FAFSA processing backlog this year. They can often use estimated SAI calculations based on tax return copies you provide directly to them while waiting for official FAFSA processing. This won't help with the tax refund delay, but it can at least keep your college financial planning on track.

My friend works at the IRS (not supposed to tell me this stuff but whatever) and she says they're prioritizing processing people who OWE money first, then doing refunds after. So if you're getting a refund, you're automatically at the back of the line. Has nothing to do with FAFSA - just how they maximize revenue collection.

my cousin said they might extend it again if too many people still dont have their SARs

UPDATE: I finally got my SAR!!! Called FSA using that Claimyr service someone mentioned above and got through to an actual person in about 30 minutes. They found a small error in my parent's contribution section that was holding everything up. The agent fixed it right away and my SAR was processed within 24 hours. Already submitted my Cal Grant application with 2 weeks to spare before the extended deadline. Such a relief! Thanks everyone for your help!

AVOID PARENT PLUS LOANS IF YOU CAN!!! The interest rates are RIDICULOUS compared to the regular student loans. Our first child graduated 2 years ago and we're still buried in Parent PLUS debt. The subsidized and unsubsidized federal loans have much better rates and more flexible repayment options. Max those out first! Also look into private loans before Parent PLUS - if you have decent credit you can probably get a better rate.

Does anyone know if we need to fill out a separate CSS Profile for the NY school? I've heard some schools require that in addition to FAFSA, but I'm not sure if that's related to the federal loans or something else entirely.

am i the only 1 who thinks its RIDICULOUS they made this new system and its been nothing but problems?? like they had YEARS to plan this rollout and its still a mess. my brothers fafsa from last year took like 3 days to process and mine is going on week 5 with these same weird emails

UPDATE: For anyone following this thread - after about 3 weeks, the emails finally stopped for us. Our SAI showed up in the system after about 25 days (much longer than previous years). But everything processed correctly even with those annoying emails. So if you're experiencing this, just hang tight!

just fyi my neighbor had their kid emancipate right b4 college and they got TONS more aid that way. might be worth looking into legal emancipation if ur kids r 17

After reading through all these responses, I think your best options are: 1. The strategy mentioned by the financial aid counselor about PLUS loan denial leading to increased unsubsidized loan eligibility for your children 2. Filing appeals for professional judgment at each school based on the multiple students in college and any other special circumstances 3. Looking into whether any of your children qualify for merit scholarships or outside private scholarships Remember that falsifying information on the FAFSA has serious consequences including having to repay all aid received, fines up to $20,000, and possible prison time. The schools and the Department of Education have sophisticated systems to detect fraud.