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just be prepared for them to lose your paper application too... they "lost" my son's TWICE and we had to resubmit. make copies of EVERYTHING!!!!
UPDATE: Based on some of the advice here, I called FSA again today and specifically asked for a supervisor who specializes in identity verification issues. After explaining I had already called multiple times, they transferred me to someone in the "identity resolution team" who immediately spotted the issue - my middle name was showing up in their system but I'd left it blank on my FAFSA. Such a simple fix that previous reps never caught. Try this specific approach before resorting to paper!
When I had this problem I just drove to my college financial aid office and filled out a paper form saying I tried to submit. They put a note on my account and I got my aid without any issues when the site came back up. In-person always works better than emails for this stuff.
Good news - I just checked the Federal Student Aid Twitter account and they've announced maintenance should be completed by 6AM Eastern tomorrow. Make sure you're ready to submit as soon as it's back up. And yes, calling your financial aid office works fine too - just document the date and time of your call and who you spoke with. If possible, ask them to send you an email confirming your conversation about the extension.
When I applied for my son, his FAFSA was processed but showed 0 financial aid!!! They made a mistake because we definitely qualify. I had to call and call and finally got it fixed. The system is BROKEN. Make sure you appeal whatever they offer you - schools have more money than they admit!!! Don't take the first offer!!
Just to clarify - seeing that your FAFSA was "processed" doesn't mean you were awarded $0. The FAFSA processing is just the first step - it calculates your SAI. The actual aid awards come from each individual school later. But yes, appealing is sometimes possible if your financial situation has changed or if there are special circumstances not captured on the FAFSA.
UPDATE: I finally found the Student Aid Report! For anyone else looking, I had to click on "My Documents" and then download the PDF file. Our SAI is 8,482. I guess now we just wait to hear from the colleges about actual aid amounts. Thanks everyone for your help!
Great! Yes, now you wait for each college to send their financial aid award letters. They'll use your SAI of 8,482 plus their own institutional methodology to determine grants, scholarships, work-study, and loans. Each package will look different based on the school's total cost and available funds. Keep an eye on your email and student portals for each college - sometimes they announce aid packages there first.
One more important thing to understand about the SAI - many colleges are still figuring out how to use it in their aid formulas since it's new. The SAI can actually go as low as -1500 (which wasn't possible with the old EFC), and this can mean more aid for very low-income families. While you're waiting, make sure your daughter has completed any school-specific financial aid forms too. Some schools have their own forms in addition to the FAFSA, like the CSS Profile for private colleges. Those forms aren't affected by the FAFSA delays.
Update: I finally got through to FSA and found out that applications submitted in the first two weeks of January got caught in a massive processing backlog. The rep told me they're working through them chronologically. January 1st submissions should be fully processed by end of this week according to them. STILL RIDICULOUS but at least there's a timeline now.
Malik Jenkins
Great to hear you resolved it! For anyone else reading this in the future - this is the correct process. The system requires both spouses to sign electronically when joint tax returns are used, but the second spouse generally only needs to provide demographic information and consent, not re-enter all the financial data.
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Hiroshi Nakamura
congrats! wish the fafsa people would make this clearer on their website instead of us having to figure it out through trial and error
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