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The FAFSA system is BROKEN!!! My triplets all had different SAIs last year and no one could explain why!! We had to file appeals with every single college and it was a NIGHTMARE. The whole system is designed to confuse parents and students. Keep pushing until you get answers!!!
triplets omg i can't even imagine doing 3 applications 😱
UPDATE: Mystery solved! After going through both applications with a fine-tooth comb (and finally getting through to FSA), we found TWO differences that were causing the SAI discrepancy: 1. One twin did indicate planning to work during college while the other didn't 2. One application had a small typo in how many months our family size would remain the same (I put 9 months for one and 12 months for the other) The FSA agent explained that these two factors combined created the $1,200 difference. She helped me correct both applications so they're consistent now. The SAIs are still processing but should be the same when they're recalculated. Thanks everyone for your help!
This is a great example of why it's important to be extremely consistent when completing multiple FAFSA applications for students in the same household. I recommend that parents create a document where they record all their answers for the first application, then refer to it while completing subsequent applications. This helps avoid these types of discrepancies.
lol welcome to fafsa 2025-26... where everything's made up and your data doesn't matter! 🤣 but srsly tho the new "simplified" system is 10x worse than before
RIGHT?! they literally made it wayyyy more complicated and buggy. my counselor said they've had more fafsa problems this year than the last 5 years combined
Update on this issue: The Department of Education released a patch yesterday for this specific problem. If your parent logs in today, they should see an option that says "Recover previous contribution data" on their dashboard. This should restore the information they previously entered. If that option doesn't appear, there's a workaround: 1. Have your parent create a new contribution from scratch 2. On the first page where they enter their name/info, there's now a small link at the bottom that says "Load saved information" 3. Clicking that will usually recover their previously entered data Hope this helps with your May 1st deadline!
UPDATE: IT WORKED!! My mom logged in this morning and saw the "Recover previous contribution data" option! She clicked it and everything she had entered was there. She was able to complete the signature process and now my FAFSA shows as submitted! Thank you SO MUCH for letting me know about the patch!!!
I was worried about the same thing! But I've logged in like 50 times (I'm obsessive lol) and my application has processed normally. Got my SAI calculation after about 3 weeks. Just don't click on any "edit" or "update" buttons while you're in there if you're worried!
Does anyone else think it's RIDICULOUS that we're all scared to even check our applications? The whole FAFSA system is such a disaster this year. My son's college financial aid office told us they're seeing TONS of students with unexplained corrections and delays. They actually advised us not to touch the application unless absolutely necessary!
It's definitely been a challenging rollout with the FAFSA Simplification Act changes. While I understand the caution, official FSA guidance doesn't support the "don't log in" approach. The issues are related to system processing, not user logins. Your son's school is likely being cautious due to the high volume of problems they're seeing.
I'm going to share something that might save you time later - after you and your daughter resign, take a screenshot of the confirmation page. Then about 5 days later, check that the DOB is actually updated in the system. I had a similar situation with my son's FAFSA (wrong address), and even after resigning, the change didn't go through the first time. Having that screenshot of the confirmation helped when I had to call FSA to get it sorted out.
That's an excellent tip! I'll definitely take screenshots of everything. Thank you!
UPDATE: Just wanted to let you know that after I resigned both myself and my mom yesterday for our DOB correction, the new FAFSA report was ready this morning! So it didn't take 3-5 days like they said - it was less than 24 hours. Hope yours is as fast!
That's amazing news! Thanks for coming back to share that update. We just finished resigning about an hour ago, so hopefully we'll have the same quick turnaround!
Sophia Carter
do u think theyll fix the contributor stuff this time? my stepdad couldnt add himself as contributor cuz the system kept crashing and we had to submit without his info which messed up our SAI calculation
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Chloe Zhang
•OMG the contributor section was IMPOSSIBLE! We had the same problem with my husband (student's stepdad) and had to call like 10 times to get it fixed. Hopefully they actually tested the system this time 🙄
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Brandon Parker
I know we're all a bit traumatized from last year's FAFSA launch, but I've heard from colleagues at the Department of Education that they've completely overhauled the technical infrastructure after last year's issues. They're doing extensive testing before the launch this time, so hopefully it'll be much smoother. The new SAI calculation is actually more generous for many families than the old EFC was, especially for those with multiple students in college.
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Hunter Hampton
•That's reassuring to hear! I've been reading that the new calculation doesn't give as much of a break for multiple students in college though? Is that accurate?
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Brandon Parker
•Yes, that's correct - I should have been clearer. The new SAI calculation is generally more favorable for lower-income families, but you're right that they removed the significant discount for multiple students in college that existed under the old system. Families with multiple college students may see higher SAI numbers than they would have under the old EFC calculation. Each student gets their own SAI now.
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