FAFSA
CommunityFinancial Services
Can't reach FAFSA? Claimyr calls for you, so you don't have to wait on hold.
Claimyr is a pay-as-you-go service. We do not charge a recurring subscription.
Using Claimyr will:
- Connect you to a human agent at the FAFSA
- Skip the long phone menu
- Call the correct department
- Redial until on hold
- Forward a call to your phone with reduced hold time
- Give you free callbacks if the FAFSA drops your call
Ask the community...
- DO post questions about your issues.
- DO answer questions and support each other.
- DO post tips & tricks to help folks.
- DO NOT post call problems here - there is a support tab at the top for that :)
What happens after submitting FAFSA corrections? Still waiting for processing
I submitted corrections to my FAFSA form on April 14th (about 3 weeks ago), but my status is still stuck on 'FAFSA Correction Started.' It hasn't moved to 'Correction Submitted' or 'Correction Processed' yet. My parent contributor (listed as completed) finished their section the same day. I'm getting nervous because my college is asking for my final SAI score for scholarship decisions. How long does correction processing usually take? Should I just keep waiting or is something wrong with my application? Starting to stress out!
Join the conversation
Green card holders with foreign income - FAFSA rejects our 2022 Kazakhstan taxes as 'too high'
Super frustrated right now! We moved from Kazakhstan to the US in 2022 and just got our green cards in June 2024. Now I'm trying to fill out the FAFSA for my daughter but hitting a wall with the 2022 tax information. The form keeps rejecting our application saying our taxes are 'too high' after I convert from Kazakh tenge to dollars. In Kazakhstan, we paid around 20% tax rate which seems to be confusing the FAFSA system. We earned good money in Kazakhstan in 2022 but the conversion and tax differences are making it impossible to get through the application. Has anyone dealt with foreign income/taxes on FAFSA as a green card holder? I've tried calling the FSA helpline three times but can't get through to a real person. Our daughter starts college next fall and I'm worried this will affect her financial aid chances.
Join the conversation
Just a thought - have you had your 2022 income reassessed using US tax rules? Sometimes foreign income that was taxable in your home country wouldn't be taxable here, or would be taxed differently. Might be worth consulting with a tax professional who specializes in international situations.
That's actually a really good point. We haven't done that yet, but maybe that would solve the problem if we had a US-equivalent tax calculation to provide the financial aid office.
Update from my earlier comment: I just remembered that most schools have a specific form for reporting foreign income. It's usually called something like "Foreign Income Information Form" or "International Income Worksheet." Check the financial aid section of each college website - you'll likely need to fill this out in addition to the FAFSA.
Thank you! I just found it on my daughter's college website. They actually have a specific process for green card holders with foreign income. I'll start working through their form today.
How long after FAFSA processing until SAI score appears? Can't see finalized report
My family finally got our FAFSA processed yesterday after submitting almost 3 weeks ago! So relieved to see the "Processing Complete" status, but now I can't find our SAI score anywhere on studentaid.gov. The dashboard just shows it's processed but there's no finalized report or SAI number. How long does this typically take to show up? I'm starting to panic because my college's priority deadline for financial aid packages is coming up fast. Has anyone else had a delay between processing and seeing their actual numbers?
Join the conversation
lol mine took 2 weeks after processing to show up but my cousins showed up in like 2 days. its totally random.
TWO WEEKS??? That's ridiculous! The system is so broken.
UPDATE: My SAI finally appeared this morning! It took exactly 4 business days after the processing complete status. Thanks everyone for calming me down and helping me through this. Now onto figuring out what this SAI number actually means for my financial aid package... 😬
Great news! If you need help interpreting your SAI and what it means for your aid package, feel free to start a new thread. There are several of us here who can explain how schools use the SAI to determine grant eligibility, loans, and work-study options.
yay!! so happy for you!!!!
Student login issues with FAFSA account - parent completed but student locked out
I've been trying to help my daughter submit her FAFSA since January and we're completely stuck on her login. The parent portion is all finished but when she got the email invitation to complete her part, we've hit a total roadblock. Every attempt to log in fails with some new error. When we try to reset her password, the system says her account already exists. But when we use her email or phone for recovery, it says 'not recognized'. We've tried creating a new FSA ID but get rejected because 'an account already exists'. It's a nightmare loop we can't escape! We've called the helpline multiple times but can't get through to an actual person who can help. Financial aid deadline is approaching fast and her college is pressuring us for the completed FAFSA. Has anyone dealt with this endless login loop? Any solutions that actually work?
Join the conversation
My daughter had this exact problem!!! We finally fixed it by going to studentaid.gov/fsa-id/recovery and selecting "Forgot Username". When it asked for email, we tried EVERY email address she's EVER had (school, gmail, old accounts, etc) until one finally worked. The system is horrible.
After you get this sorted out, make SURE you check her SAI calculation when it comes through. My daughter had a similar login issue that took forever to fix, and when we finally submitted, her SAI was calculated incorrectly because of how late we submitted and some fields defaulted to incorrect values. We had to go through a whole separate correction process that nearly made her miss priority aid at her top school. Document EVERYTHING in case you need to appeal later.
Oh no, I hadn't even thought about potential calculation issues. Thanks for the warning - I'll make sure to carefully review everything once we get in. This whole process has been so much more complicated than when I went to college!
FAFSA application stuck 'pending' since December - need working customer service number ASAP
I'm seriously about to lose it. Our FAFSA has been stuck on 'pending' since December 20th with absolutely NO explanation. We've called the 'official' number like 15 times and either get disconnected or wait on hold for 2+ hours before giving up. My daughter's college deadline is in THREE WEEKS and we still don't have an SAI score!! When I check studentaid.gov it just says 'processing' with no indication of what's wrong. Does anyone have a REAL working number for FAFSA customer support? Or a way to actually reach a human being who can tell us why our application is stuck??? I've tried emailing twice and got automated responses both times. Please help, I'm desperate!
Join the conversation
just wondering - did u file taxes with a filing extension last year? my cousins fafsa got stuck bcuz of that
No, we filed on time... but we did have to amend our return a few months later. I wonder if that could be causing the issue!
UPDATE: Just called using the Claimyr service someone mentioned above and FINALLY got through to a real person! Our application was flagged because we have income from multiple states (I work remotely for a company in another state). The agent was able to add notes to our file and told me it should be processed within 3-5 business days now. Keeping my fingers crossed but at least now I know what's happening!
That's amazing! Thank you so much for coming back and letting us know. I'm going to try this service tomorrow morning. So relieved to hear you got an actual explanation and timeline!
Isabella Costa
Everyone here is giving you bad info. What's happening is that this year's FASFA is taking FOREVER to process because the whole system is broke. My son submitted his in JANUARY and we just got the SAI last week!!! The education department needs to fix their mess but meanwhile all students are suffering. It's not your fault, you probably did everything right, the system is just terrible.
0 coins
CosmicCowboy
While there are certainly processing delays this year, the status should still change from "Started" to "Submitted" immediately when corrections are properly submitted. It sounds like the OP actually missed the final submission step, which is a different issue from the processing delays.
0 coins
Amina Bah
UPDATE: Thank you all so much for your help! As @confused_parent suggested, I actually never completed the final submission step. I went back into my application and found I needed to confirm the review page and hit the final submit button. Now my status shows "FAFSA Correction Submitted" instead of "Started"! Now I just have to wait for processing, but at least it's in the system correctly. I'll also contact my school's financial aid office as suggested to let them know about the delay.
0 coins
Malik Jackson
Great news! According to the FSA website, correction processing is taking about 3-5 business days once properly submitted. Glad you got it figured out!
0 coins