I'm new to this community and currently dealing with this exact situation! My husband and I separated in February 2023, but like many of you, we filed jointly for tax year 2023. Reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful and honestly a huge relief. I was starting to panic thinking there was no way to fix this. A couple questions for those who have been through this: When you contacted the financial aid offices, did you call or email first? And did any of you run into issues where schools required legal separation documents? We don't have any formal paperwork - just started living separately and managing finances independently. I have lease agreements and utility bills showing different addresses, but I'm worried that won't be enough. Also, for those whose appeals were successful - did the schools end up using just your individual income, or did they do some kind of partial calculation? I'm trying to get a sense of what kind of aid adjustment I can realistically expect. Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences. This community has been a lifesaver during such a stressful process!

I'm also going through this exact situation right now and this thread has been such a lifesaver! I separated from my spouse in June 2023 but we filed jointly for tax year 2023. I was completely overwhelmed trying to figure out how to handle the FAFSA correctly. Reading everyone's advice about submitting the FAFSA with the joint tax info first, then immediately starting the professional judgment process has given me a clear path forward. I was initially considering trying to amend our tax return, but it sounds like that would just complicate things unnecessarily. One thing that's really helped ease my anxiety is seeing how many people have successfully navigated this process. The financial aid system definitely isn't perfect for non-traditional family situations, but it's reassuring to know there are established procedures to handle these cases. I'm planning to submit my FAFSA this week and then immediately reach out to each school with documentation of our separation. Thank you all for sharing your experiences - it's made such a difference in my confidence level going into this process!

I went through this same situation two years ago with my twins' FAFSAs! The confusion is totally understandable because the wording is so unclear. Here's what I learned after calling the financial aid office at my kids' college: If your husband's employer stock is in a regular taxable brokerage account (not inside a 401k or similar retirement plan), you MUST report it as an investment, regardless of whether you're planning to use it for retirement someday. The FAFSA doesn't care about your future plans for the money - only the current account type matters. One thing that caught me off guard: if you have dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs) for any of your stocks, those count too and need to be included in your investment total. Also, don't forget about any HSA funds beyond what's needed for current medical expenses - those are technically investments if you're using them for long-term savings. My advice is to gather all your brokerage statements from the same date and add everything up. It's better to over-report slightly than to under-report and get flagged for verification later. The verification process is a nightmare that can delay your aid for months!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm a first-time FAFSA parent and was making this way more complicated than it needed to be. After reading everyone's experiences, I now understand the simple rule: if it's not in an official retirement account (401k, IRA, etc.), it gets reported as an investment - period. My question for the group: we have some I Bonds that we bought a few years ago during the high interest rate period. Those aren't in any retirement account, just regular Treasury Direct holdings. I'm assuming those need to be reported too at their current redemption value? Also, what about a small 529 account we opened for our younger child (the FAFSA is for our older child) - does that get reported as a parent asset even though it's technically for the sibling? Thanks again everyone for sharing your real-world experiences. This community is so much more helpful than the official FAFSA instructions!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm finding this thread incredibly informative! I'm currently going through this exact situation with my daughter - her SAI came back around $18,000 and we're waiting on final packages from several private colleges. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the impact of demonstrated interest on these institutional grants. Some private colleges track how engaged prospective students are (campus visits, info sessions, communication with admissions counselors) and may factor that into their aid decisions. Has anyone noticed a correlation between their level of engagement with the school and their final aid package? Also, for those who successfully appealed or got increases in their institutional grants - did you work directly with the financial aid office or did you also involve admissions counselors? I'm wondering if having multiple advocates within the institution might be helpful. Thanks to everyone sharing their experiences - this is exactly the kind of practical advice that's so hard to find elsewhere!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm learning so much from everyone's experiences! I'm in the early stages of this process with my son who's a junior, so I'm trying to understand what to expect next year. One thing that's really standing out to me from this discussion is how much variation there seems to be between different private colleges in terms of their flexibility with institutional grants and their policies on outside scholarships. It sounds like doing your homework on each school's specific approach is really important. I'm curious - for those of you who have been through this with multiple children or looked at multiple schools, have you noticed any patterns? Like do certain types of private colleges (religiously affiliated, liberal arts, larger universities, etc.) tend to be more generous or flexible with their aid packages? Or is it really just school-by-school? Also, the advice about timing seems crucial - it sounds like being proactive early in the process gives you more options than waiting until closer to decision deadlines. I'm definitely going to bookmark this thread to reference when we start our FAFSA and applications next year. Thanks to everyone for sharing such detailed, real-world experiences!

Update: Just checked NJFAMS again this morning and it now shows "FAFSA RECEIVED"! Looks like it was just a processing delay. Thanks everyone for the reassurance - you saved me a lot of stress!

That's such a relief to hear your update! I'm dealing with a similar situation with my state aid portal showing delays. For anyone else still waiting - I found it helpful to set up email notifications through my state's financial aid portal so I get alerts as soon as my FAFSA data arrives. Also worth double-checking that you listed your state correctly on the FAFSA if you haven't received confirmation after 3-4 weeks. The processing delays this year have been unprecedented but it sounds like most are eventually getting resolved!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm finding this conversation incredibly valuable! My daughter is a high school senior and we submitted her FAFSA about 6 weeks ago - it's been stuck in "Submitted" status this whole time, so seeing that others have waited 3+ weeks for processing gives me some hope that we're not alone in this. The advice about creating a tracking spreadsheet and being proactive with schools about scholarship deadlines is exactly what I needed to hear. I had no idea that "Processed" status didn't guarantee immediate delivery to all schools, or that there could be such variation in how quickly different colleges import the data. I'm definitely going to start preparing a list of her target schools with their scholarship deadlines so we can be ready to contact them directly once our FAFSA finally processes. Thank you all for sharing your real experiences - it's so much more helpful than trying to decode the official government websites!

As someone new to this community, this thread has been incredibly informative and reassuring! I'm currently in the exact same boat - my son's FAFSA just changed to "Processed" status yesterday after what felt like an eternity of waiting. I was completely unclear about whether I needed to take any additional steps or if the colleges would automatically receive the information. Reading everyone's experiences here has given me such a clearer picture of what to expect moving forward. I'm definitely going to implement the tracking spreadsheet idea that several people mentioned - keeping tabs on each school's portal to see when they actually receive and process the FAFSA data. It's both concerning and comforting to know that there can be such variation in how quickly different schools import the information into their systems. For those with tight scholarship deadlines, the advice about proactively contacting financial aid offices seems really smart. I think I'll reach out to the two schools with the earliest deadlines just to make sure they're aware of our situation. It's encouraging to hear that most schools are understanding about the processing delays this year. Thank you all for sharing your real-world experiences - this is exactly the kind of practical advice that you can't find on the official websites!