DoE initiated FAFSA correction on 4/28 but no SAI calculation yet - stuck in limbo

This happened to me too! The Department of Education initiated an automatic correction on my daughter's FAFSA in early March, and it took exactly 14 business days from that point to receive the SAI calculation. The DoE is doing this for many applications this year as part of their enhanced verification process. If it's been more than 14 business days (which it sounds like it has for you), you should definitely try to reach someone at Federal Student Aid. The most common reasons for these self-initiated corrections are income verification discrepancies or citizenship verification issues.

my brother had this same thing happen!! dept of ed did a 'correction' and then sat on his application for like a month w/no SAI. so annoying, esp when THEY started the correction not us!!

The Department initiates these corrections when there's a mismatch between your reported information and their internal records (usually tax data). Since it's already been processed on 4/28, you should have received your SAI by now. This is absolutely a situation where you need to speak with an FSA representative directly. Have you tried using Claimyr to get through the phone lines? I was in a similar situation and used their service at claimyr.com - they managed to get me connected to an agent within 20 minutes after I'd spent days trying on my own. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. The agent I spoke with was able to manually review my application and release the SAI calculation that same day.

This is part of the disaster that is the 2024-25 FAFSA rollout. DoE has been initiating corrections on thousands of applications due to various data issues. In most cases, these corrections are related to mismatched IRS data or citizenship verification problems. The standard processing time after corrections should be 3-5 business days for an SAI calculation, but we're seeing widespread delays of 2-4 weeks due to system backlogs. I work in a college financial aid office, and we're telling students to: 1. Check if your Student Aid Index (SAI) appears on the confirmation page in your FAFSA (not just the processed date) 2. Verify if ISIR data has been sent to your schools (call the financial aid office) 3. Contact FSA directly if it's been more than 10 business days Many schools are extending financial aid deadlines because of these widespread issues, so contact your financial aid office immediately and explain the situation. They may be able to offer you a provisional aid package or extension.

OMG the EXACT same thing happened to my application!! The correction came out of nowhere and now ive been waiting FIVE WEEKS with no SAI!!! My school is threatening to give away my housing if I dont pay the deposit but I cant get my financail package without the stupid SAI!!! This whole FAFSA system is completely BROKEN. I tried calling 12 times and either get disconnected or told the wait is over 2 hours. This is ridiculous!!!

I had this happen with my son's FAFSA. Department of Education correction showed up randomly, then nothing for weeks. Turned out they were verifying our citizenship status even though we're all citizens born here. I finally got through to someone after a 3 hour wait on the phone and they manually pushed it through. His SAI showed up the next day. The agent said they're dealing with a huge backlog of these auto-corrections and many are just sitting in the system waiting for review. Keep calling until you get through.

Just a quick update for everyone experiencing this issue - the Department of Education announced yesterday that they're dedicating additional resources to clear the backlog of SAI calculations for applications with self-initiated corrections. They're prioritizing applications where the correction was processed more than 10 business days ago, so you should see movement soon. You can check the FSA social media accounts for the announcement.

My daughter had this issue last month and what worked for us was going back into the FAFSA and clicking "Make FAFSA Correction" even though there wasn't anything to correct. We just went through each page, didn't change anything, and resubmitted. Somehow this "pushed" the application through the system and her SAI showed up 2 days later. Might be worth trying!