Our SAI came back fine with just one parent contribution. As long as you included your total household AGI correctly, there shouldn't be an issue with the calculation. The system is primarily looking at your tax information rather than who specifically entered it.

i think ur overthinking this tbh. if the system says its processing then its good. my mom did ours by herself and my stepdad didnt do anything and i got my aid package already

For anyone in this situation in the future: I learned from an aid advisor that the reason this happens is because the new FAFSA system needs to run the student's information through the income verification process with IRS data before they open up the parent contribution section. The delay is built into the system design. Just an explanation for why it works this way - doesn't make it less frustrating!

In my experience, the deadline refers to when the student submits - not when all signatures are complete. My son's college explicitly told us this. The parent signature can come a few days later without affecting your place in line for financial aid. The school cares about when you initiated the FAFSA, not when every last step was completed.

The financial aid system is DESIGNED to be confusing and predatory. My daughter had a similar situation and we accepted the aid package only to realize later we'd unknowingly signed up for the highest interest Parent PLUS loans when she qualified for much better options. These schools prey on confusion and fear with these fake "deadlines" to maximize their revenue. It should be criminal how they operate.

One thing nobody has mentioned - you can actually NEGOTIATE your financial aid package! After you accept this one, gather information about better offers from other schools, documentation of any special circumstances, and examples of your daughter's academic achievements. Then request a financial aid appeal meeting. Many schools have additional institutional funds they can offer, especially for students with strong academics. Don't just take their first offer as final!

With your family income at $34,000 for a household of 4, you are EXACTLY who the Pell Grant was created to help. You'll almost certainly qualify for the maximum amount. I've been working with FAFSA applications for years, and I've noticed that when people think they should qualify but don't, it's usually because of one of these mistakes: 1) They accidentally reported retirement assets as regular assets (retirement accounts should be excluded) 2) They entered income information incorrectly (like putting a decimal point in the wrong place) 3) They didn't use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, resulting in mismatched information 4) They missed the state or school deadlines for additional aid 5) They didn't follow up on verification requests The FAFSA itself doesn't have an income cutoff - everyone should apply. Individual schools may have different thresholds for their institutional aid, but federal programs like Pell Grants have consistent formulas nationwide.

When you first login to the FAFSA website its really confusing!!1! Make sure you go to studentaid.gov not any other website bc there are scam sites that charge $$ to fill out the FAFSA when its supposed to be FREE (hence the F in FAFSA lol

Update: My application FINALLY finished processing today (took 26 days total) and I was able to make corrections! The correction tab automatically appeared on my dashboard and I fixed my income information. Now it says the corrections are processing and will take about 1-2 weeks. Thanks everyone for your help!

I went thru this back in january when i was doing fasfa for my kids. the first kid was easy but for the second one i had to wait forever to fix some stuff about our house value. just a tip but save PDF copies of everything before AND after corrections so you have proof if something gets messed up later. happened to my neighbor and she had no proof of what she submitted originally