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btw if ur looking at community college as a backup DON'T FEEL BAD!!! my kid did 2 yrs at community then transferred and saved like $30k and got the SAME DEGREE in the end!!
That's reassuring. I'm definitely considering it as our backup plan if we can't get this resolved. The hardest part would be telling her she has to leave all the friends she's just made. 😞
happened 2 my nephew also. no email from fafsa but $$$ showed up at the school. weird system but it works i guess lol. congrats on the pell grant btw!!!
To answer your follow-up question - no, if the aid is already showing in her college portal, not having the SAR email shouldn't cause problems with receiving the aid. The school has clearly received all the necessary FAFSA information. However, it's still good practice to locate your SAR and check your SAI score. This helps you understand exactly why you qualified for the aid package you received. It's also useful documentation to have if you need to appeal for additional aid or if there are any questions later in the academic year.
Everyone saying you have to wait is wrong. You need to IMMEDIATELY contact the school you're trying to add to your FAFSA. Explain the situation and provide them with your FAFSA ID. Most schools have a process for this exact situation - they can access your FAFSA information even if you haven't officially added them to your list. For the scholarship deadline, get documentation that you've initiated this process - emails between you and the financial aid office, screenshots of your current FAFSA status, etc. Submit this documentation to the scholarship committee explaining the situation. DON'T just wait for processing - be proactive!
Thank you for the encouragement! I'm definitely going to be proactive. I've already sent an email to the scholarship committee explaining the situation, and I'll call the school's financial aid office first thing in the morning.
UPDATE: You all have been so helpful! I spoke with the financial aid office at the school we need to add, and they said they can indeed access our FAFSA information with our FAFSA ID number - they just needed my daughter's permission. The scholarship committee also granted us a 5-day extension after I explained the situation and provided documentation of our efforts. I also tried the Claimyr service that someone recommended to get through to FSA, and I actually got to speak with someone who confirmed our FAFSA should be processed within 48 hours. Thank you all so much for helping us navigate this stressful situation! I'll update again once everything is finalized.
That's excellent news! This is exactly why it's always worth being proactive rather than just waiting. Glad to hear the scholarship committee was understanding - that's very common when you communicate clearly and provide documentation. The 48-hour processing time is also faster than average, so that's a win too!
One more tip about the parent FSA ID process: choose a memorable username that you'll remember year after year. Many parents forget their FSA ID details between annual applications, which causes massive headaches. I recommend storing your FSA ID username (not password) in a secure note on your phone or computer so you can easily access it next year.
That's excellent advice. I'll definitely make note of my username once I create it. Is there a password recovery option if I do forget in the future?
Yes, there is a password recovery option, but it works best if you still have access to the same email and phone number you used when creating the account. If those have changed, recovery becomes much more complicated and may require contacting FSA directly. That's why it's so important to keep track of your username and keep your contact information updated on your FSA account.
to the person who asked about divorced parents - yes both parents need seperate FSA IDs if both are contributing. my ex and i both had to make accounts for our daughters application and we each got separate emails from her. its actually better this way because neither of us can see the others financial info
QuantumQuest
If your school's deadline is in 18 days, I would strongly recommend contacting your school's financial aid office directly. Explain the technical issues you're having with the parent section. Most schools have processes in place for FAFSA technical difficulties, especially with all the problems in the new system. They may be able to hold your aid package or give you a deadline extension while you resolve the issues. Don't wait until after the deadline to do this!
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Miguel Ortiz
•That's great advice. I'll email my financial aid office today and see if I can schedule an appointment to discuss the situation. Thank you!
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Keisha Robinson
One more thing to check - make sure your parent is using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool if possible. This automatically pulls the tax information directly from the IRS, which eliminates the possibility of manual entry errors with the AGI. About 30% of the parent section issues we see are resolved by using this tool rather than manual entry.
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Miguel Ortiz
•We tried using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool first, but it kept saying my dad wasn't eligible to use it. Not sure why - he filed a standard 1040 and doesn't have any unusual tax situation. That's part of what's been so frustrating.
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Keisha Robinson
•That's interesting. There are a few reasons the tool might not work: if he filed as married filing separately, if he filed an amended return, or if his address on the FAFSA doesn't exactly match his tax return. It might be worth trying again and making sure the address formatting is identical to what's on his tax return.
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