I was having the same issue and couldn't get through to the financial aid office at all. After being on hold for hours multiple days, I finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get a callback from them. They have this video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ Turns out my school was missing my parents' tax verification form which is why my award letter hadn't been processed. They never even notified me! Got it resolved in 24 hours after finally talking to someone.

One more thing to consider - many schools prioritize processing in a specific order: 1. New incoming students (freshmen and transfers) 2. Continuing students with complete applications by priority deadlines 3. Late applications and incomplete files If you submitted after your school's priority deadline or if any information was flagged for verification, you might be further down in the processing queue. For your immediate payment deadline issue, ask about a financial aid deferment. Most schools will extend your payment deadline if they can see your FAFSA has been submitted and is in their system, even if they haven't finished processing your awards yet.

It should transmit to schools automatically based on the ones she listed on the FAFSA. We're still waiting for her financial aid packages though - that's another waiting game altogether!

Thanks! At this point I just want to get through the first waiting game before I start worrying about the second one 😅

Just wanted to mention that the FAFSA website has been having tons of issues this application cycle. My daughter and I had to try 5 different times over several days before we could get through all the sections properly. So frustrating! Keep trying and don't submit until you can enter all your information correctly.

UPDATE: Success! After trying multiple browsers and getting nowhere, I used Claimyr to reach an FSA agent (took about 20 minutes to get connected). The agent confirmed there's a known glitch affecting some renewal applications. They had me create a new FAFSA ID and start a fresh application rather than using the renewal option. This time all sections appeared correctly including the income questions! For anyone else experiencing this: DO NOT SUBMIT without income information. It's absolutely required and your application will either be rejected or flagged for verification, which will significantly delay your aid. Better to start fresh than submit incomplete info. Thank you all for your help!

dont 4get to check if her major has any special scholarships!! my roomate got 3500 just for being in the engineering department but she had to ASK nobody told her about it lol

One final note: if you do end up needing private loans, having a cosigner with excellent credit can significantly reduce the interest rate - sometimes by 2-3 percentage points. Also, look for lenders that offer cosigner release after a certain number of on-time payments (usually 24-48 months). This allows your daughter to take over the loan independently once she has established her own credit history, which removes your liability.

just wanted to update - i just checked claimyr that someone mentioned above and it actually worked for me! got through to a real person at fsa in like 20 minutes today after trying for over a week on my own. they were able to fix my verification problem right away. it was worth it just to stop stressing about this!

UPDATE: I finally got through! Used Claimyr like several people suggested, and was connected to an FSA agent in about 15 minutes. They confirmed there was an error in how my mom's business income was being calculated in the system. The agent filed a correction request and said it should be fixed within 5-7 business days. Such a relief! Thanks everyone for your suggestions and support through this nightmare!