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btw has anyone else noticed that the new fafsa portal is like 10000x more glitchy than the old one?? like why would they launch a completely broken system in the most important financial aid year ever?? my counselor said they've never seen this many problems in 15 years working in financial aid
UPDATE: I finally got this resolved! I want to share what worked in case anyone else has a similar issue. First, I took the advice about making a tiny correction (I added my middle initial) instead of adding a school code. After doing that, I called my school's financial aid office and specifically asked to speak with a financial aid counselor, not just the front desk. The counselor was able to see that my application was in their system but was stuck in a processing queue because of a flag related to my parents' marital status (which was correct in my application, just flagged for some reason). She manually reviewed it and cleared the flag. Three days later, I got my official financial aid package with the full Pell Grant amount ($7,395) intact! So thankfully all that worry was for nothing, but the stress was real. Thanks everyone for your help and advice!
That's great news! Thanks for updating us. This is a perfect example of why speaking directly with a financial aid counselor (rather than a general office assistant) can make all the difference. I'm glad you got the full Pell amount you're entitled to!
This whole system is ridiculous! Why can't they make this more straightforward?? My ex refused to provide any information for my daughter's FAFSA and we had to go through so much red tape to get her aid package. The FSA website says one thing, then the helpline says another thing!
To clarify some confusion in this thread: 1. For FAFSA: Only the custodial parent (who the student lived with more in the past 12 months) needs to create an FSA ID and provide information 2. For CSS Profile: Many private colleges require both biological parents' information regardless of divorce status 3. Legal agreements: Your divorce decree may have separate requirements about sharing college expenses that are independent of FAFSA rules 4. Special circumstances: If you can't get information from a non-custodial parent for CSS Profile schools, contact each school's financial aid office directly to request a waiver
Has anyone else noticed that the new FAFSA system seems to be creating way more problems than it's solving? Between the signature issues, the SAI calculation errors, and now this submission date problem... it's like they launched a half-finished product. I feel for the OP - this should not be so complicated!
UPDATE: I finally got through to the financial aid office at my daughter's first-choice school! The amazing woman I spoke with confirmed they CAN see our original January submission date in their system, but their automated process had flagged us for missing the priority deadline. She manually overrode it in their system and said we'll be considered as meeting the deadline! Still working on her other schools, but this gives me hope. For anyone with similar issues - be persistent and keep trying to reach a human at the financial aid office!
That's fantastic news! The human touch always makes the difference in these bureaucratic nightmares. Thanks for updating us!
btw make sure ur son fills out the thank you letters for the scholarships he already got. my daughters roomate almost lost her merit scholarship bcuz she didnt send the thank u note they required!!
Oh my goodness, I had no idea! I'll double-check the fine print on his award letters tonight. Thank you for this tip - that would have been a disaster!
Olivia Martinez
Quick question for anyone who might know - does this same process apply for the CSS Profile? My daughter needs to correct some information there too since we're applying to some private schools that require it. Would I need to re-sign that as well or is it different from the FAFSA?
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Emma Bianchi
•The CSS Profile works differently than FAFSA. For CSS Profile corrections, your daughter would typically need to contact each school's financial aid office directly to request the change. Some schools have a specific CSS Profile correction form on their financial aid website. Unlike FAFSA, there's no central correction process - each school handles CSS Profile updates according to their own procedures.
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Emily Nguyen-Smith
Final update - we both signed yesterday and today her application already shows as "processed" with her updated SAI score! That was faster than I expected based on what everyone said. Now I just need to figure out what this SAI number actually means for her financial aid package... but that's probably a question for another thread! Thanks again everyone.
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Mia Green
•Nice! You got lucky with the quick processing time! And yes, understanding the SAI is a whole different headache lol. Congrats on getting it fixed!
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