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btw what was ur SAI if u dont mind me asking? wondering if im in the high or low range compared to others. mine was 4290
Update: I just called my top choice school's financial aid office and they confirmed they've had my FAFSA information since March 18th (2 days after processing) and can see my SAI just fine on their end. They said they've seen this display issue a lot this year and it doesn't affect anything on their side. So relieved!
Based on your follow-up comments about having multiple jobs and divorced parents, I'm almost certain your application is going through additional verification steps. This isn't necessarily bad - it's just part of ensuring aid is distributed accurately. If your housing deposit is due soon, I'd recommend: 1. Contact your school's financial aid office directly - they can sometimes access more information about your FAFSA status than you can see 2. Ask if they offer any temporary aid determinations for students with pending FAFSAs 3. See if they have a housing deposit deferment program for students awaiting financial aid decisions Many schools have processes in place specifically for students in your situation.
After reading through your comments, it definitely sounds like your application is under additional review due to your more complex financial situation. When I worked in financial aid, applications with multiple income sources and divorced parents almost always took longer to process. One important point: if your application has been selected for verification, you should have received a notification. Since you haven't, it's possible there's a communication issue. Double-check your spam folder and make sure your contact information is updated in your FSA profile. If you haven't been able to get through on the phone, I'd try early morning (right when they open) or use Claimyr (claimyr.com) which can help get you through to an agent faster. Getting direct confirmation from FSA about what's happening with your application will give you peace of mind and potentially help resolve the issue sooner.
I'll definitely try calling first thing tomorrow morning when they open. If that doesn't work, I might try that Claimyr service. At this point, I just need answers so I can make plans. Thanks!
another IMPORTANT thing nobody mentioned - if you pay even just $50 extra each month toward the principal, you can shave like 2 YEARS off your repayment and save thousands in interest!! I set up automatic payments for $50 above my minimum and barely notice it, but my payoff date is wayyy sooner now.
Thank you all so much for the advice! I'm feeling much better knowing what to expect. Sounds like I should plan for around $220/month on the standard plan, but I'll have income-based options if my starting salary isn't great. And I'll definitely look into making extra payments toward the principal to save on interest.
Have you also checked if both you and your daughter fully completed the "Review & Submit" steps? Sometimes people think they've submitted when they actually just saved their progress. Also, did you receive email confirmations of submission from FSA? That would confirm both applications were fully completed.
Yes, we both went through all the Review & Submit steps and received confirmation emails back in January. That's what makes this so frustrating - everything seems to be done correctly! I'm going to try the suggestions about contacting an agent directly and having schools manually check for her information. Thanks for trying to help troubleshoot this!
UPDATE: We finally got this resolved! After trying for days, I used Claimyr to reach an FSA agent who discovered the problem. Even though our FAFSA showed as processed with an SAI number, there was a transmission block because my daughter's birth date was entered differently in two places (typo on my part - I put month/day reversed in one section). The agent fixed it immediately and confirmed our FAFSA is now being sent to all schools. Just wanted to update in case anyone else runs into similar issues. THANK YOU all for your help and suggestions!
Ava Williams
Glad it worked out! Make sure you check your student email like every day from now on. They'll send important follow-up stuff there and if you miss those deadlines you could still lose out on aid!
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Zainab Mahmoud
•That's a great tip - I just set up email notifications on my phone so I don't miss anything!
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Raj Gupta
It's great your school extended their deadline! This is an unusual year due to the FAFSA simplification issues. For anyone else reading this thread who might be in a similar situation, here's what you need to know for 2024-2025: 1. The federal deadline is still June 30, 2025 2. Many (but not all) schools have extended priority deadlines 3. State deadlines vary widely - check studentaid.gov for your state 4. Submit all verification documents immediately if requested 5. Monitor your student email and portal daily for requests Even with extended deadlines, earlier submission is always better for maximum aid consideration.
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Zainab Mahmoud
•Thank you for this summary! I'm definitely going to share this info with my friends who are also scrambling with FAFSA right now.
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