btw make sure ur kid logs into the studentaid website every few days after u submit. my application got stuck in processing cuz they needed more info but never emailed me about it!!

Just to clarify on deadlines - while the federal deadline is June 30, 2025, many states and institutions have much earlier deadlines for their own aid programs. Since you mentioned a February deadline, I'm guessing that was your school's priority deadline. Immediately after submitting the new FAFSA, I strongly recommend following up with the financial aid office directly to explain the situation. They may have institutional funds they can still provide or might be able to consider you for aid programs where deadlines can be extended in special circumstances. Having this conversation sooner rather than later maximizes your options.

my brother got extra financial aid by submitting a special circumstances form to his college. not thru fafsa but directly to the school. maybe try that?

One more important thing to understand: FAFSA (federal aid) and institutional aid are different. Even with a high SAI, your daughter might still qualify for: 1. Unsubsidized federal loans (don't require demonstrated need) 2. Merit scholarships from individual schools 3. State grants (which sometimes have different formulas) 4. Institutional need-based aid at private colleges For the private colleges, definitely complete both the FAFSA and CSS Profile. The CSS Profile schools often have more institutional aid available and may have a more holistic review process. They might ask for the non-custodial parent's information regardless, so be prepared. Don't give up hope! Many families in similar situations find options through a combination of different aid sources.

did u try using a different browser? i heard someone say that internet explorer (lol) actually works for the 2000 birth year glitch

GOOD NEWS! FSA just released an update yesterday that specifically mentioned fixing the birth year issue for people born in 2000. If you update your browser and clear your cache completely, it should work now. I just helped my little brother submit his (he's a 2000 baby too) and it went through fine. They've been rolling out fixes all month for various bugs in the new system.

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.

My daughter had this same issue last year when applying for fall 2024. What ended up happening was that when the FAFSA was processed, it actually pulled the correct income info directly from the IRS through the data retrieval tool, so her error was automatically fixed! Did you use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool when filling out the form? If so, it might correct itself.

One important thing to remember: after making the correction, you AND your parent will both need to re-sign the FAFSA with your FSA IDs. The correction isn't submitted until both signatures are applied. Many students miss this step and wonder why their correction wasn't processed.