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If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
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Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
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Was a bit nervous or untrusting at first, but my calls went thru. First time the wait was a bit long but their customer chat line on their page was helpful and put me at ease that I would receive my call. Today my call dropped because of EDD and Claimyr heard my concern on the same chat and another call was made within the hour.
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An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls – which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
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Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
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I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
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Also don't forget that the CSS Profile (which some private colleges require) is WAY more complicated for undocumented families than FAFSA... if any of your students are applying to private schools make sure you warn them about this extra form!!!
Oh no, I completely overlooked this! Several of my students are applying to private universities. Do you know if the CSS Profile has similar protections regarding confidentiality of immigration status?
One practical solution that worked well at my previous school: We created a one-page reference sheet that listed exactly what documents parents should bring to FAFSA workshops (tax returns, W-2s, bank statements, etc.) along with FAQs about immigration status concerns. We translated it into multiple languages and sent it home 2 weeks before our workshops. This significantly increased both attendance and successful completion rates. Happy to share a template if that would help.
I would be incredibly grateful if you could share that template! Having a professionally designed resource would make such a difference. Should I message you my email address?
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my nephew was in this exact situation!!! he applied for like 20 private scholarships specifically for seniors and ended up getting enough to cover most of what fafsa wouldnt. try looking at fastweb and also check with your sons specific department at school - sometimes they have emergency funds for students about to graduate.
I didn't even think about department-specific funds! My son is in Engineering - I'll have him talk to his department advisor tomorrow. And I'll definitely check out fastweb tonight. Thank you!!
One thing no one has mentioned is that your son should immediately schedule an appointment with both financial aid AND the Dean of Students office. The Dean often has discretionary emergency funds specifically designed for students at risk of not completing their degree due to financial hardship. Since this is his senior year, they have a vested interest in seeing him graduate (it affects their completion rate statistics). Have him prepare a brief one-page summary of his academic achievements, campus involvement, and career plans to bring to these meetings. This approach, combined with your formal appeal, maximizes your chances for additional assistance.
This is brilliant advice! I just texted my son to have him set up that appointment with the Dean's office. He's maintained a 3.6 GPA throughout and has been involved with the robotics club - hopefully that helps make his case. Thank you so much for this suggestion!
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Let us know if that Claimyr thing works!!! I might try it too if it actually helps you get through!
Will do! I'm going to try it tomorrow morning and will update here with how it goes.
UPDATE: I used the Claimyr service that was recommended and finally got through to a FAFSA agent! The call wait was about 25 minutes (instead of the infinite hold I was getting before). The agent found the issue - turns out there was a glitch where my dad's retirement account was being counted as available assets even though it should have been excluded. They're correcting it and reprocessing my FAFSA. My SAI should drop by about 8500 points, which will make a HUGE difference for aid eligibility. So relieved to have this resolved before scholarship deadlines!
OMG THANK YOU for updating!! Definitely going to try this for my issue too! So glad you got it fixed!
That's excellent news! Retirement accounts should indeed be excluded from the FAFSA asset calculations. This is actually a common system error we've seen with the new processing system. Glad you got it resolved and that your SAI will be more accurate now.
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I'm having a similar issue but with Parent PLUS loans. My parents applied for me (I'm an undergrad) and the old FAFSA used to show how much they could borrow through Parent PLUS. Now there's nothing until the school processes everything. Does anyone know if there's a way to estimate what they'll be approved for? My parents need to know for budgeting since they're helping with my college costs.
Parent PLUS loans are technically available up to the cost of attendance minus any other aid received. However, PLUS loans do require a credit check, so approval isn't guaranteed. Your school's financial aid office can provide an estimate of your cost of attendance, and you can subtract any grants/scholarships and Direct loans you expect to receive to estimate the maximum PLUS eligibility. But final amounts will come from your school once they process your FAFSA.
UPDATE: I got my SAI score email today (took 5 days) and logged back into studentaid.gov. Still no specific loan amount mentioned, but I called my graduate financial aid office and they confirmed I'm still eligible for the full $29,500. They said the FAFSA change was intentional to emphasize grants over loans, but eligibility calculations haven't changed. So for anyone else confused by this - don't panic! Your loan eligibility is still there, they just don't show it prominently anymore. Thanks everyone for the help!
thanks for updating us! i was still worried lol
Dmitry Petrov
Ok so the weird thing about FAFSA now is with the new FAFSA Simplification Act changes, you may actually be better off filing early anyway. The new formula has different treatment of divorced/separated parents. Isn't the parent who provides more financial support the only one who fills it out now? Someone correct me if im wrong.
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Amara Adebayo
•You're partially right. Under the new FAFSA rules, only the parent who provides more financial support includes their information. However, in this case, the issue is that the 2023 tax return still includes the soon-to-be ex-husband's income since they filed jointly. That's why filing early and requesting a special circumstances review is still the best approach here.
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PixelWarrior
Thank you everyone for the advice! I'm going to file as soon as the FAFSA opens in December using my 2023 tax information and then immediately request special circumstance reviews from each school. I'll make sure to gather all the documentation (divorce decree, current pay stubs, etc.) in advance so I'm ready to go. I'm still worried about how this will affect my son's aid package, but at least I have a plan now. Should I warn my son that his initial aid offers might not look great until the special circumstances reviews are processed?
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Fatima Al-Mansour
•That's an excellent question. Yes, it would be good to prepare your son that the initial aid offers might not reflect your actual situation. Explain that the special circumstances review process might take some time (usually 2-4 weeks after submission), and that the final aid packages could look substantially different. One tip: keep detailed records of all communications with financial aid offices. I recommend following up by email after any phone conversations to document what was discussed.
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Giovanni Rossi
•yes def tell him!!!! my daughter got so upset when her first aid package was tiny and thought she couldn't go to her dream school. then after our appeal it was SOO much better but she had already mentally given up on it. kids take this stuff really hard!!
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