Is anyone else FURIOUS that they completely revamped the FAFSA system this year and it's been nothing but problems?? My niece has been waiting since JANUARY and still doesn't have her SAI. Meanwhile my student loan payments are due AND I'm trying to figure out how to pay for her freshman year. The Department of Education should be ashamed of this disaster.

Update on processing times: I just attended a financial aid conference last week where FSA officials shared that they've added additional staff to process both online and paper submissions. They're now projecting 2-3 weeks for parent verification and about the same for mailed forms that are properly completed. The most common reason for delays is missing information or mismatched data (like a name spelled differently on tax forms vs. the FAFSA). Double-check that all your information exactly matches across all documents.

just wondering im in similar situation but were doing the css profile too for some schools. does anyone know if the preliminary estimates include css profile info or just fafsa? thx

Update: I called three schools today based on the advice here. Two were really helpful! They asked for our AGI from last year's taxes, number of people in household, and number in college. One school gave us a rough estimate range, and the other actually walked through specific amounts for different types of aid they'd likely offer. The third school refused to give any numbers without the processed FAFSA. Now I need to call the other two tomorrow. I also tried the Net Price Calculators as suggested, but the information they asked for was pretty basic and I'm not sure how accurate the results will be. At least it's a starting point though!

This is a common issue with the new FAFSA system. Here's what I recommend: 1. First, confirm the email is correct in the system 2. Have your ex create an FSA ID if he doesn't already have one 3. Have your daughter go to her FAFSA dashboard and check if there are any alerts about parent information being incomplete 4. Try the manual connection method someone mentioned above If all else fails, your ex can call Federal Student Aid directly at 1-800-433-3243. They can manually link him to your daughter's application. Just be prepared for a potentially long wait time. The good news is that this won't necessarily delay her financial aid package as long as everything gets completed before the school's priority deadline.

Any update? Were you able to get this resolved?

I'm honestly so confused by all of this. My daughter is also applying to colleges and some have Dec 1 deadlines, others Jan 15, and one Feb 1. Do I need to submit different FAFSAs at different times? And why does the form ask about parents' education if we don't qualify for need-based aid? The whole system seems designed to be complicated on purpose. I spent three hours on it yesterday and gave up.

Thanks everyone for your helpful responses! We're definitely going to submit the FAFSA and CSS Profile before the December 1st deadline. I'm still learning all the ins and outs of this process - it's so much more complicated than when I went to college. Does anyone know how long after submission we should expect to receive the SAI calculation? And will that be sent to us or just to the schools?

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.