The system is LITERALLY designed to make this difficult. They don't want to give out aid so they create these impossible bureaucratic mazes. I bet they processed the wrong application ON PURPOSE knowing most families will give up fighting it. All these "errors" just mean more money they don't have to pay out in grants!!!!!

UPDATE: I finally got through to FSA after using that Claimyr service someone recommended! The agent confirmed exactly what you all suspected - they processed the online application with the incorrect SSN and flagged my son as independent because my information wasn't linked correctly. The agent submitted an urgent correction to link our accounts properly and update his dependency status. They said it will take 3-5 days to process, and then both the school and state aid office will automatically receive the updated information. I've also emailed my son's financial aid officer with a summary of the call including the confirmation number the FSA agent gave me. Fingers crossed this gets resolved before tuition is due! Thank you all SO MUCH for your help. I was going in circles with the school and state aid office before posting here.

The transfer system is ANOTHER SCAM! My daughter lost a FULL SEMESTER when she transferred because the schools have these ridiculous arbitrary rules about which credits they'll accept. It's all designed to squeeze more money out of families!

That's awful! Did you try appealing? My son had to submit syllabi from two courses for review and eventually got them approved after initially being denied. But yeah, the system is definitely not designed to be student-friendly.

Just to clarify one more important point - you absolutely NEED your own FSA ID as a parent contributor. The FSA ID you created is correct and necessary. You'll use it to electronically sign the FAFSA after completing your section. Just make sure the email associated with your FSA ID matches the email your daughter entered when adding you as a contributor.

UPDATE: I finally got the contributor email! It actually came through this morning. My daughter had to go back into her FAFSA and re-send the invitation. Make sure she clicks on the "Contributor" section in her FAFSA and checks that your status is "Invited" and not something else. The parent section wasn't too bad - took me about 30 minutes to complete once I had all our tax info ready.

Update: Just got off the phone with the financial aid office at my son's college. They were actually super helpful (which surprised me after all the FAFSA frustration). They explained that we can submit an appeal for our SAI score because of my husband's one-time bonus situation. They're sending us the forms today. The counselor also mentioned that LOTS of families are appealing this year because of the FAFSA delays and calculation changes. So if anyone else thinks their SAI doesn't accurately reflect their situation, definitely reach out to your schools!

my daughters fafsa was submitted same week as yours and we just got her award yesterday too!! such a relief but now im panicking about the may 1 deadline since we have to compare offers from 3 schools lol why do they make this process so stressful every single year??

my sister did the thing where she deferred but paid the interest monthly and it worked great for her! the loan didn't grow while her kid was in school but she didn't have to stress about full payments either

Based on all the advice here, it sounds like you're leaning toward deferment with voluntary interest payments. That's a smart approach that many parents successfully use. I'd just add that you should get everything in writing from your loan servicer about how to make sure those voluntary payments are applied to interest correctly. Sometimes they need specific instructions to apply payments the way you want.