FAFSA
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FAFSA processed with wrong SSN - school and state aid conflict - who to contact?
I'm at my wits end trying to resolve my son's FAFSA mess! He accidentally put MY social security number wrong (transposed two digits) and instead of waiting for corrections, the FAFSA rep told him to create a completely new account. Big mistake! The system flagged both accounts as conflicting, so they just "paused" the one with the incorrect SSN. Then we had signature verification problems, so we ended up mailing in a paper form with proper signatures. Now FAFSA says everything's processed, but when the college gave us his financial aid package yesterday, there's ZERO state aid included. Called the state aid office and they said there's an "issue the school needs to address" but when we contacted the financial aid office, they claim they don't see any problems on their end! I think FAFSA processed the online application (the one without my signature) and not the paper one we submitted. The award package looks like they're treating my son as an independent student with no parent contribution, which is completely wrong - we included all our tax info! Should we be calling FAFSA directly or keep pushing with the state aid department? The school seems useless and keeps telling us to "just accept the current package" but I know there's more aid he qualifies for if they'd use the correct application.
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FAFSA parent confusion - Created student account but unsure if I need separate parent form
My daughter created her studentaid.gov account last week and filled out her portion of the 2025-2026 FAFSA form. She told me it's now my turn to complete the parent section, so I made my own FSA ID account yesterday. But now I'm confused - do I need to start a brand new FAFSA application on my account? Or is there a way for me to access her existing application to just fill out the parent contribution part? The website isn't very clear and I don't want to mess anything up by creating duplicate applications. This whole process is so confusing!
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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.
Got it, thank you! I did create my FSA ID successfully, so at least that part is done. Just waiting on that invitation email now.
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.
That's great to hear! I'll have her try resending the invitation tonight. 30 minutes doesn't sound too bad at all. Did you need your full tax return or just the AGI number?
You'll need your 2023 tax return info (AGI, taxes paid, etc.), any untaxed income information, and current asset values (cash/savings/investments excluding your primary home and retirement accounts). The questions are pretty straightforward once you're in there!
FAFSA processed after 55 days - financial aid package finally showed up!
Y'all I'm legit crying right now!!! After months of checking my son's college portal every day with NOTHING, his financial aid package FINALLY showed up this morning. Timeline: submitted FAFSA on January 18th, didn't get processed until March 15th (57 days later!!!), and then the award appeared today, April 3rd. The waiting was literally killing me - I was having panic attacks thinking we wouldn't qualify for anything or that something was wrong with our application. His SAI score was higher than I expected (ugh), but he still qualified for some grants and work-study. The Parent Plus loan options are there too, though I'm trying to avoid those if possible. Anyone else on this ridiculous waiting roller coaster? Is this just how long it takes now with the "simplified" FAFSA? 🙄
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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!
That's great news! Yes, appeals are definitely worth trying this year. We successfully appealed our daughter's package at two schools. One increased her grant by $4,500 and the other by $3,200. Just make sure you document everything thoroughly - they want specific numbers and proof, not just explanations.
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??
Don't panic about the May 1st deadline! As I mentioned above, many schools are extending their deadlines this year due to the FAFSA delays. Call each school's admissions office and ask about their policy. Also, when comparing financial aid packages, make sure you're looking at the net cost after all grants and scholarships, not just the total aid offered. Some packages look larger but contain more loans rather than grants.
Parent PLUS loan deferment decision - need advice for 2025-2026 repayment options
Just got approved for a Parent PLUS loan for my daughter's sophomore year and I'm stuck on the repayment option screen. There's a checkbox asking if I want to defer payments until after she graduates. I originally thought deferring was the obvious choice (who wouldn't want to postpone payments?), but my brother mentioned something about interest accumulating faster if I defer. We're borrowing $17,800 and I'm worried about making the wrong choice. If we defer, will we end up paying thousands more in the long run? But if we don't defer, the monthly payments might be tough right now. Anyone have experience with this decision? What did you choose and why?
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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
That only works if you can AFFORD the interest payments!! My mom couldn't even afford those and now the loan is a complete disaster. The whole system is predatory if you ask me!
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.
Thank you! Yes, I'm going to choose deferment but set up automatic interest payments each month. I'll definitely get written confirmation on how to make sure they're applied correctly - great point! I really appreciate everyone's advice here - it's helped me understand my options so much better.
FAFSA mix-up: Submitted 2023-24 form but need 2024-25 for this Fall - must I redo everything?
I'm panicking right now. We spent HOURS completing my son's FAFSA in January, triple-checking every number and document upload. Just got an email from his university financial aid office saying they're waiting on his "2024-2025 FAFSA" for fall enrollment. Looking at our confirmation, I realized we filled out the 2023-2024 form instead of the 2024-2025 one! Do we seriously have to start completely over with a new application? Will any of our information transfer? His orientation is in 3 weeks and I'm worried this will mess up his entire aid package. Has anyone else made this mistake? Should I call FSA directly or work through the university?
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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!!
That's a great tip - thank you! I'll make sure he checks regularly. The lack of communication in this process is so frustrating.
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.
Thank you - we'll definitely follow up with the financial aid office directly. I'm hoping they'll be understanding since it was an honest mistake. Do you think it would be better to call or go in person if possible?
Mei Chen
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!!!!!
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Fatima Al-Qasimi
I don't think it's a conspiracy. The new FAFSA Simplification Act changes actually EXPANDED eligibility for federal aid. But the system rollout was a disaster. There are just too many technical issues because they rushed the implementation before the system was ready. It's incompetence, not malice.
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Andre Moreau
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.
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Zoe Stavros
That's excellent news! Be sure to follow up with both the school and state aid office early next week if you don't hear anything. Sometimes the updated ISIR comes through but gets stuck in their processing queue. A friendly nudge can help move things along.
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