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Have you guys looked at Parent PLUS loans? The interest rate is fixed at 8.05% right now which isnt amazing but atleast its federal and has some of those protections? Thats what we did when my kid's aid package wasnt enough
One more suggestion - check if your daughter's school has a payment plan option. Many colleges will let you spread payments over 10-12 months with only a small fee (like $50-100) rather than interest. We're using this for about half of what we owe and then taking smaller loans for the rest. Also, if your daughter can find a part-time job on campus through Federal Work-Study, that money doesn't count against future aid eligibility the way some scholarships can.
Has anyone found any clear information about how they calculate the SAI with parental assets? I know they have some kind of protection allowance, but the numbers I'm seeing online are from previous years. Our family has some savings for emergencies and my mom is worried it will prevent me from getting any aid at all.
Yes, there's a protection allowance for parents' assets in the SAI formula. For 2025-2026, parents' assets are assessed on a sliding scale starting at 12% above the protection amount. The protection amount varies based on the parents' age and whether they're married or single. Roughly, if your parents are in their 40s-50s, the protection amount is around $10,500 for single parents and $21,000 for married parents (these numbers adjust annually). Assets above that amount only count partially against your aid eligibility. Definitely don't empty savings accounts - the formula is designed to protect reasonable emergency savings.
Thank you so much! That's super helpful and makes me feel better. I was worried we'd be penalized for having any savings at all.
Update: I just found another really useful section on the site that explains the differences between the SAI and old EFC calculations. For those confused about the changes, there's a whole comparison chart at studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/topic/fafsa/article/sai-vs-efc that breaks it down. Apparently some types of income are treated completely differently now!
Thanks for sharing this! The changes to how they treat different income sources is a big deal. For example, untaxed combat pay is now excluded from the calculation, which helps military families.
UPDATE: I got through to someone at FSA using that Claimyr service another commenter suggested. It worked surprisingly well - I got a call back in about 20 minutes instead of waiting on hold forever. They found our application in their system! Apparently it was flagged for a verification issue unrelated to the signature problem. The agent reset something on their end and said it should reappear in our account within 24 hours. I'll update again tomorrow to let everyone know if it worked. Thanks for the help, everyone!
FINAL UPDATE: Our application is back! It showed up this morning with a status of "Processing" and all our information intact. The agent was right - they hadn't lost our data after all. Such a relief not having to start over. For anyone else having this problem, definitely try contacting FSA directly before assuming you need to start over. And that Claimyr service was definitely worth it to avoid the hold times.
Great news! Glad it worked out. This new FAFSA system has been causing so many similar problems. Just a reminder to everyone - once your application is processed, download and save a PDF copy of everything for your records.
i just remembered that my kids account last year got verified faster after we called and mentioned the deadline. might be worth trying that?
UPDATE: Just wanted to update everyone who helped. My daughter called the Federal Student Aid Info Center this morning (had to try several times to get through) and explained the situation. They verified her identity and were able to add the schools directly! No need to wait for the account verification. The representative said the schools should receive her FAFSA information within 3-5 business days. Such a relief! Thanks for all the help and suggestions.
Great news! I'm glad they were able to help. This is definitely the fastest solution when you're facing deadlines. For future reference, it's always good to have all potential schools added early if possible, but it's nice to know there are workarounds when plans change.
Ravi Malhotra
That's exactly the kind of school-specific form I was talking about! Glad you got it sorted out. Those Title IV authorizations are important but often overlooked in the FAFSA process. Best of luck with your classes!
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Javier Cruz
nice! u got this š
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