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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!
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!
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!
One important thing no one mentioned: if your school's financial aid priority deadline is approaching, send an email to your financial aid office with your daughter's name, student ID (if she has one), and brief explanation about the birthdate correction. Request that they flag her application as "in process" rather than incomplete. Many schools will honor their priority deadlines if they know corrections are in progress. I work with college-bound students and this saves many families from missing out on institutional aid.
Andre Dupont
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.
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ThunderBolt7
•This is excellent advice. Even small additional payments can significantly reduce the total interest paid over the life of the loan. Just make sure to specify that the extra amount goes toward principal reduction, not just applied to future payments.
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Carmen Sanchez
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.
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ThunderBolt7
•You're welcome! One more tip: when you graduate, you'll have a 6-month grace period before repayment starts. Use that time to set aside a small emergency fund if possible. Having even $1,000 saved can prevent you from needing to use credit cards for unexpected expenses when loan payments start.
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