one more thing - when u submit ur appeal make copeis of EVERYTHING and send by certified mail or delivry confirmation if not submitting online. cant tell u how many times schools "lost" paperwork conveniently close to deadlines.

Thank you all SO MUCH for the helpful advice! I just wanted to update that I was able to get through to FSA using that Claimyr service (which worked exactly as described), and they confirmed I can submit a Professional Judgment request. I've already downloaded the special circumstances form from our school's website and am gathering all our medical documentation. The agent even put notes in our file about our conversation! I'm also going to request a meeting with the senior financial aid officer tomorrow as suggested. Feeling much more hopeful now that we can get this resolved before the deadline. Will update when I hear back about the appeal!

Does anyone know if you can fill out the FAFSA from your phone? My laptop is broken and I'm trying to avoid using the public computers at the library for something with so much personal financial info...

I procrastinated on my FAFSA last year too and it turned out fine! Just submitted late and still got my full Pell Grant and everything. Don't listen to the people saying you've missed out on all the money - that's not how federal aid works. Just get it done now and you'll be fine. Good luck!

has anyone tried getting a job at starbucks or amazon?? they both have tuition programs that pay for school. my roomate works at starbucks and gets like $5k a year for school through their program

When my daughter was in school, we used a combination of a small private loan through Discover (their rates were decent at the time) and our state's education loan program. The state loan had better terms than most private options. Also, don't forget to look into whether your school offers an installment payment plan. Many schools will let you pay tuition in monthly installments for a small fee, which can be much better than taking out additional loans. My daughter's university charged only $50 to split tuition into 5 payments per semester, interest-free.

my cousin went to suny last year and they told him the negative sai mainly just get him the subsidized loans instead of unsubsidized. still have to pay it back but at least no interest while in school i guess 🤷‍♂️

One more thing to check - look at the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) listed in any communications from the schools. Sometimes schools still use this older term instead of SAI. If they list an EFC number that's different from your -1500 SAI, that could explain the discrepancy. Some schools use institutional methodologies that calculate need differently from the federal formula. For SUNY schools specifically, they typically meet only a portion of demonstrated need. Their institutional aid often goes to students with SAI scores much lower than -1500. But you should definitely be seeing some Pell Grant funds with that SAI.

Let me clear up some confusion here about the high school diploma correction issue: 1. This is related to the FAFSA Simplification Act changes for 2024-2025 applications 2. The education section was completely redesigned, causing integration issues 3. The online correction form has a specific bug with toggle fields (like yes/no questions) Here's what actually works: - Call FSA directly at 1-800-433-3243 - Tell them specifically you need a "manual override correction" for the education section - Request a confirmation email once corrected - Allow 3-5 days for the correction to appear in the system Your SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation is directly affected by education status, so this is definitely worth fixing properly. If you have a deadline approaching, ask the agent to note this in your file and request expedited processing.

i had this problem too but for my associate's degree. the website is garbage. i ended up going to my schools financial aid office in person and they helped me fill out a paper form to fix it. took like 2 weeks to process tho