make sure ur son applies for ALL the scholarships!!! my daughter got a weird one for $1500 because her great grandfather was a freemason lol. check with ur employer too, lots have scholarships for employees kids!

That's a great point! I'll definitely look into scholarships through my company. And I'll have him start researching scholarship opportunities soon too. Every little bit helps!

BTW make sure you check EVERYTHING else on the old form too while you're at it. If there's one mistake there could be others! Take it from someone who had to redo their entire verification process because of dumb little errors 😫

For anyone else reading this thread with similar issues - here's a quick checklist for handling demographic corrections on prior year FAFSAs: 1. Submit the correction through studentaid.gov ASAP 2. Notify your school's financial aid office in writing 3. Provide supporting documentation if requested 4. Check if verification is needed (usually only if your SAI changes) 5. Review current year application for accuracy before submitting Most biographical corrections don't impact your aid eligibility, but they're important for proper record-keeping in the federal system.

Has anybody actually looked at whether this makes mathematical sense? I mean if your parents are close to retirement they might have a lower income soon which could qualify them for lower payments under ICR. If you refinance, you're stuck with the full payment no matter what. Just make sure you RUN THE NUMBERS before making this decision. I know ppl who regretted refinancing because they lost all flexibility when life circumstances changed!!

just fyi i forgot to mention in my first post - when i refinanced they gave me options for 5, 10, 15, or 20 year terms. the shorter terms had better interest rates but higher monthly payments. i went with 15 years to keep payments manageable but still not be paying it off until im 50 lol. shop around bc every lender has different term options!!

why dont u just try signing with ur daughters fsa id if she has the password? my mom did that when we had same problem lol

UPDATE: IT'S FIXED! Wanted to share what worked for anyone else facing this issue. These steps did the trick: 1. I used Microsoft Edge instead of Chrome (thanks for that tip!) 2. Checked my FSA ID info and found my address was incorrect as someone suggested 3. Updated my address in my FSA ID account 4. Completely logged out of everything 5. Cleared all browser data 6. Logged back in to my parent account 7. Found a notification in the "My FAFSA" section (not under corrections) 8. Clicked that notification which took me to a working signature page The signature button is now showing my signature as complete! My daughter's application now shows fully processed with her SAI score calculated. Thanks everyone for your help!

To address your follow-up question about documents for a special circumstances appeal, here's what you should gather: 1. Personal statement detailing your situation (be specific about financial separation while legally married) 2. Documentation showing you pay household expenses (mortgage/rent, utilities, insurance) 3. Documentation showing you'll be solely responsible for education costs 4. Tax returns with a statement explaining why the joint return doesn't reflect your actual situation 5. Budget worksheet showing your income and expenses separately 6. If applicable, any documentation regarding why your spouse cannot contribute (medical issues, etc.) Regarding Work-Study: Even if it wasn't initially offered, during your appeal process you can request to be considered for it. Many schools have additional work-study funds they can allocate during appeals. One last suggestion - see if your son's school offers any tuition installment plans. These don't reduce the cost, but they break payments into smaller monthly amounts that might be more manageable than lump-sum semester payments.

btw my neighbor's kid got like 5k more in aid after appealing so it def works sometimes! also dont forget to fill out FAFSA again next january, sometimes sophomore yr they give more aid (happened for my daughter).