After helping three kids through college, I've found that the best approach is actually a hybrid one. Take the institutional loan for part of the need (maybe half) and a private loan for the rest. This gives you some of the benefits of both - deferred payments on part of the debt while securing a lower interest rate on the rest. Also, make sure you've exhausted all federal loan options first through your FAFSA - Direct Subsidized loans don't accrue interest during school and have the best protections.

Update: After talking with the financial aid office, we discovered that the institutional loan actually has a 1% origination fee that wasn't clearly disclosed, which adds about $780 to the first year's loan cost. We've decided to go with a combination approach - taking the maximum federal Direct Subsidized loans first, then splitting the remaining need between the institutional loan and a fixed-rate private loan at 5.7%. This gives us some payment flexibility while controlling the total interest cost. Thanks everyone for your insights - they really helped us make a more informed decision!

Update on my situation - the adblock suggestion worked for me! Turned off all extensions and suddenly I could see the Complete button. My application is finally in review status after being stuck for almost a month. This is ridiculous that we have to troubleshoot a government website like this.

Has anyone received their actual SAI score yet after getting past the 'In Process' stage? I'm wondering how long that typically takes after the application moves to 'In Review' status. Our university needs the official SAI for scholarship consideration.

Thanks everyone for your advice! I'll definitely use some of the refund for my textbooks, but I'll try to find used copies or rentals when possible to minimize how much I spend. I appreciate all your help explaining how this works!

off topic but nursing textbooks r insanely priced!! my sister paid like $250 for ONE book last year. check if ur library has reserve copies, thats what she does now

One other thing to check - make sure there isn't a mismatch between your husband's name as entered in the FAFSA and his name as it appears with the Social Security Administration. Even small differences like using a middle initial vs. full middle name can trigger verification issues. The system sometimes defaults to "no SS number" when it detects a potential name/SSN mismatch.

UPDATE: I finally got it fixed!!! For anyone else having this problem, here's what worked: I used an incognito browser like someone suggested, but the key was entering the information in a specific order: 1. Name 2. Date of birth 3. Social security number 4. THEN uncheck the "no SS number" box (even though I never checked it) For some bizarre reason, that sequence worked! The system accepted everything and I was able to move forward. Now just waiting for my SAI calculation to see what aid I qualify for. Thanks everyone for your help!

OMG I have twins too and FAFSA is the WORST for multiple kids! SO much duplicated effort. Why can't they just let us fill out ONE form for the family and then apply it to both kids???? I spent literally HOURS doing basically the same form twice. Such a waste of time!!!!

Thank you all for the helpful responses! I feel much more confident now. My husband will complete the contributor section for our daughter's application, and we'll make sure to list both twins as college students. We'll be careful to use the exact same financial information when we do our son's FAFSA next week. I appreciate all the advice from fellow parents who've been through this before!