I'm going through this exact same issue right now! My mom rolled over her old employer's 401k to a Roth IRA last year and our SAI went from what should be around $8,000 to over $45,000. I'm a first-generation college student and this is all so overwhelming - I had no idea retirement account transfers could mess up financial aid calculations like this. Thank you everyone for the detailed explanations about Professional Judgment reviews and the specific documentation needed. I'm definitely going to gather all the forms you mentioned (the 1099-R, account statements, etc.) and contact each of my schools directly. One quick question - should I mention in my letter that I'm first-generation and this was an honest mistake due to not understanding how these transfers affect FAFSA? Or should I just stick to the technical facts about the rollover? I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses, but I also want them to understand we weren't trying to hide income or anything like that. This community has been such a lifesaver - I was starting to think I might have to skip my freshman year because of this!

This is such a widespread issue this year! I'm a financial aid counselor and we've seen a huge uptick in IRA/401k rollover problems with the new FAFSA system. The automated tax data retrieval is pulling gross distribution amounts instead of taxable amounts, which creates these massive SAI inflations. A few additional tips from what I've seen work best: 1. When you submit your Professional Judgment request, include a cover letter with "IRA ROLLOVER CORRECTION" in the subject line - this helps our office identify and prioritize these cases immediately 2. If possible, get your tax preparer or financial advisor to write a brief letter confirming this was a non-taxable rollover event. Having a professional verify the situation often speeds up the review process 3. Don't wait for schools to process corrections before applying for additional aid programs. Many state and institutional deadlines are coming up soon, and you can always update those applications once your SAI is corrected The silver lining is that once one school processes your Professional Judgment documentation, you can reference that decision when contacting other schools - it sometimes helps expedite their review process. Hang in there, everyone dealing with this. Your persistence will pay off and you'll get the aid you're entitled to!

I just went through this exact situation last month! The "in progress but not submitted" status had me panicking too. What really helped me was logging into my studentaid.gov account and looking at the FAFSA summary page - it shows you exactly which sections are complete (with green checkmarks) and which ones still need work. Don't forget that even after you think you've finished everything, you still need to digitally sign with your FSA ID AND make sure your parent signs too if you're a dependent. I thought I was done but realized I never actually hit the final "Submit My FAFSA" button at the very end. Once you do submit it properly, you should get an email confirmation within a few days and your application status will change. You're almost there - just power through those last sections!

Hey Emma! I just wanted to chime in as someone who literally just finished this process last week. The "in progress but not submitted" status is basically the FAFSA's way of saying "your homework is saved but not turned in yet." I was in the exact same boat - had most of my application done but got stuck waiting for my parents' tax info. When I finally logged back in, I realized I had like 3 sections that still needed completion, plus I had to make sure both my parent and I signed with our FSA IDs. The key thing is that NOTHING happens until you hit that final submit button and get the confirmation email. I was stressed about deadlines too, but once I sat down and knocked out the remaining sections, it only took about 30 minutes to finish everything. You've got this - just gather those tax documents and power through tonight!

I'm so glad you asked this question because I was literally just going through the same confusion a few weeks ago! Your SAI of 3561 and Pell Grant of $4,400 are totally normal and correct - don't worry about your cousin's advice because they're definitely not the same thing. Think of your SAI (Student Aid Index) as like a "financial need score" that FAFSA calculates for you. The lower this number, the more financial aid you qualify for. Your Pell Grant is then the actual free money you get based on that score. It's kind of like how your GPA determines what scholarships you might qualify for, but your GPA isn't the same as the scholarship dollar amount - they're related but completely different numbers! With an SAI of 3561, getting $4,400 in Pell Grant is exactly right according to the federal payment schedules. I had a slightly lower SAI (around 3200) and got about $4,700 in Pell, so you're definitely in the right ballpark. The maximum Pell Grant this year is around $7,395 for students with very low SAIs (like 0 or negative), and it decreases as your SAI increases. The whole financial aid system is way more confusing than it needs to be, but once you understand that your SAI is just the government's way of measuring your financial need (not a dollar amount), everything else starts making sense. You're getting a solid amount of free money for college - congrats!

Hey Benjamin! I completely understand your confusion - this tripped me up so much when I first applied too! Your SAI (Student Aid Index) of 3561 and Pell Grant of $4,400 are absolutely correct and totally normal. Think of it this way: your SAI is like a "financial need rating" that FAFSA calculates based on your family's financial info. It's not a dollar amount - it's more like a code that determines what aid you qualify for. The lower your SAI, the more financial need you have. Your Pell Grant is then the actual free money you receive based on that rating. For 2025-2026, the maximum Pell Grant is around $7,395 (for students with very low SAIs), and it decreases as your SAI increases. With your SAI of 3561, getting $4,400 in Pell is exactly where you should be according to the federal payment schedules - that's actually a really good amount of free money! Your cousin was definitely wrong about them being the same thing. They're two completely different types of numbers that work together, but they'll never match. Don't stress about it - this is probably the most common question financial aid offices get! Once you understand that SAI is just an input that determines your eligibility, the whole system starts making more sense.

One more piece of advice: if your daughter decides to take the loan for credit-building purposes, I recommend putting the full amount into a high-yield savings account immediately. This way, the money is always available to pay off the loan, and you might even earn a bit of interest on it in the meantime. The key to making this strategy work is discipline - keep the loan funds separate and don't view them as available spending money.

As someone who just went through this process with my daughter last year, I can confirm this strategy works well if you stay disciplined! A few practical tips from our experience: 1) Set up autopay for a consistent monthly amount (we did $100/month) to ensure you never miss a payment, 2) Keep detailed records of payments made - we used a simple spreadsheet to track everything, and 3) Consider having your daughter make the payments herself from a part-time job if possible, since it teaches financial responsibility alongside credit building. Her credit score went from non-existent to 720 by the time she graduated, and we paid off the remaining balance two weeks before her grace period ended. The key is treating it like any other bill - consistent, on-time payments every month without fail.

I'm so grateful to have found this discussion! My family is dealing with the exact same IRS processing nightmare - we filed our taxes in January and it's now been over 4 months of "still processing" with zero communication from the IRS. I was absolutely panicking that this would somehow disqualify us from financial aid or cause major delays for my son's college applications. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been incredibly reassuring. The consistent message seems to be: don't let IRS delays derail your FAFSA timeline. I'm particularly grateful for the professional insight from those who work in financial aid offices - knowing that this situation is routine and that there are established procedures to handle it makes me feel so much better. I'm going to follow the advice here and attempt the IRS Data Retrieval Tool tomorrow, with manual entry as backup if needed. It's clear that meeting financial aid deadlines is far more important than waiting for the IRS to get their act together. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and helping anxious parents like me navigate this stressful process!

Welcome to everyone who's dealing with this frustrating IRS processing delay! I'm new to this community but unfortunately not new to this exact problem. We filed our 2023 taxes in late February and have been stuck in processing limbo ever since - no letters, no explanations, just the dreaded "still processing" message every time we check. Reading through this entire discussion has been incredibly eye-opening and honestly such a relief! I had no idea how common this issue was or that the FAFSA system was designed to handle these delays. I was genuinely worried that somehow our delayed return would make us look unreliable to financial aid offices or cause problems with my daughter's aid package. The professional insights from those working in financial aid offices have been particularly valuable - knowing that they see this situation constantly and have established procedures to deal with it takes so much pressure off. I'm definitely going to follow the advice here: try the IRS Data Retrieval Tool first thing Monday morning, then manual entry if needed, and focus on meeting our financial aid deadlines rather than waiting for the IRS to catch up. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and advice. It's amazing how much stress this community has helped alleviate for families like ours who are navigating this process for the first time!