This is really helpful insight from someone who works in the system. It's amazing how the lack of transparency creates so much anxiety for students. Would you say calling the financial aid office is more effective than emailing at this stage?

calling is ALWAYS better than emailing especially this time of year when were drowning in emails. but be prepared to wait on hold for a long time. if you call first thing in the morning (like right when the office opens) you usually get through faster. also be super nice to whoever answers because we deal with angry people all day and are more likely to go the extra mile for someone who treats us like humans lol

Remember that the free market will adjust to whatever changes happen. If federal loan forgiveness becomes more restricted, private companies will step in with alternative solutions. Competition will force colleges to lower prices if federal funding dries up. It's basic economics - less

This perspective ignores how the higher education market actually works. When state funding for public universities declined over the past 20 years, tuition didn't decrease - it increased dramatically to make up the difference. Private loans typically have higher interest rates and fewer protections than federal ones. The idea that market forces alone will solve accessibility issues in higher education isn't supported by historical evidence or current economic research.

My daughter's FAFSA has been "processing" for almost 3 months now lol. Every time I call they give me a different answer. One person said it was because we have rental property (we don't), another said it was because of her dependency status (she's clearly dependent). The whole system is broken this year and nobody seems to know what's going on.

Just a quick update based on what I'm seeing across multiple cases: if your SAI is being recalculated and you already received financial aid offers, the colleges will handle this in different ways: 1. Some will honor the original offer even if your SAI changes 2. Some will adjust only if the change is significant (usually >$2000 difference in SAI) 3. Some will recalculate everything, which could change aid amounts It really depends on the school's policies and how close you are to the decision deadline. The most important thing is to communicate directly with each financial aid office rather than waiting for the process to complete on its own.

the whole system is BROKEN. i even wrote to my congressman and guess what?? NOTHING HAPPENED. good luck getting any real help from anyone in the system!!

To answer your follow-up question about correcting a FAFSA that's already submitted - yes, you can absolutely make corrections! Log into studentaid.gov, go to the FAFSA application section, and select "Make FAFSA Corrections." You can add your older daughter to your younger daughter's form this way. This is important to get right, as it directly affects how your SAI gets divided. Regarding the Statement of Non-Tax Filing - if you did file taxes, you don't need this form. It's only for people who weren't required to file. From your mortgage comment, I'm guessing you did file taxes, so you likely just need to submit your tax transcript instead. For the processing time on your younger daughter's application, unfortunately patience is required, but if it goes beyond 4-5 weeks, that's when you should start making calls to check on the status.

I work in a financial aid office, and I can tell you that this issue is extremely common this year. The Department of Education's new FAFSA system is experiencing significant delays with the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Most students AREN'T receiving follow-up emails confirming successful transfers. Here's what you should do: 1. Log in to your FAFSA and check if your tax information appears populated (you'll see actual numbers in the tax fields) 2. If your SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation has been completed, that's a good sign your tax info was received 3. Contact your school's financial aid office - they can often see on their end if your tax data was successfully imported If after 4 weeks you still see no progress, then you should definitely contact Federal Student Aid directly. The standard processing time has increased from the usual 3-5 days to 2-4 weeks for many applicants this cycle.

I just got off the phone with Federal Student Aid about this same issue! Apparently there's a HUGE backlog with the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. The agent told me they've had over 3 million transfer requests since January and they're struggling to process them all. She said if it's been more than 3 weeks, we should manually enter our tax info rather than waiting for the transfer to complete. I'm so frustrated with this whole system!!!