FAFSA Application from January 15th Still Processing - Later Submissions Already Approved?
This is driving me CRAZY! I submitted my FAFSA application on January 15th (triple-checked the submission confirmation email), and it's still showing as 'Processing' on studentaid.gov. Meanwhile, my roommate submitted hers on February 2nd and already got her SAI score last week! I've seen posts from people who submitted in late January getting processed already. Has anyone else who submitted on or around January 15th actually been processed? Am I alone in this FAFSA limbo? My college's priority deadline for financial aid packages is coming up in 10 days and I'm seriously starting to panic.
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Natalie Adams
same boat! jan 16 submission and still nothing. meanwhile my brother submitted feb 1 and got his sai yesterday. makes zero sense
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Jordan Walker
•That's so frustrating! Have you tried calling them? I'm wondering if applications from mid-January got stuck in some kind of technical glitch.
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Elijah O'Reilly
I'm a financial aid counselor, and we're seeing this pattern at our university as well. There seems to be a processing delay specifically affecting applications submitted between January 12-17. The Department of Education hasn't officially acknowledged the issue, but multiple schools are reporting the same problem. We suspect it's related to the SAI calculation update they implemented in late January.
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Jordan Walker
•Thank you for confirming I'm not going crazy! Do you know if this will affect meeting priority deadlines? Should I contact my school's financial aid office about this?
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Elijah O'Reilly
•Yes, definitely contact your financial aid office immediately. Most institutions are aware of this issue and have procedures in place to accommodate affected students. Bring your FAFSA submission confirmation email as proof of timely filing. They can likely place a hold on your file so you don't miss out on priority funding.
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Amara Torres
I had this exact problem! Jan 14th submission that seemed to vanish into thin air while later applications were processed. After three weeks of checking the portal daily and seeing no movement, I finally managed to get through to a Federal Student Aid agent who manually reviewed my application. Turns out there was a data transmission error that affected a batch of applications, but they wouldn't have caught it without me calling in.
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Jordan Walker
•That's really worrying. How did you manage to get through to an actual person? I've called twice but gave up after being on hold for 45+ minutes each time.
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Amara Torres
•I used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that holds your place in line and calls you back when an agent is available. Saved me from the hold time nightmare. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. The FSA agent told me they're dealing with higher than normal call volumes because of this mid-January submission issue.
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Olivia Van-Cleve
SHOCKER the government screwed something up lol. This happens EVERY year with FAFSA but somehow worse this time? I submitted Jan 3 and got processed Jan 30, my sister submitted Jan 17 and still waiting. The whole system is designed to make us fail I swear
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Mason Kaczka
•not everything is a conspiracy bro. sometimes software just breaks. happens all the time in big systems
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Sophia Russo
Hi there! I work in our university's financial aid office, and we're actually sending out notices to all students today about this specific issue. The Department of Education has identified a processing error affecting approximately 200,000 FAFSA applications submitted between January 13-18. They're prioritizing fixing these applications, but in the meantime, they've advised schools to accept screenshots of submission confirmations as proof of meeting priority deadlines. If you're worried about your school's deadline, email your financial aid office with: 1. Your FAFSA submission confirmation 2. Your FAFSA ID number 3. The date you submitted They should be able to flag your account so you don't miss out on any aid opportunities while this technical issue is resolved.
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Jordan Walker
•Thank you so much for this detailed information! I just emailed my financial aid office with all the details you mentioned. Such a relief to know schools are aware of this issue.
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Evelyn Xu
lol i submitted feb 10 and already got my sai score yesterday. fafsa system makes no sense
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Natalie Adams
•how is that even possible?? seriously wondering if they're just randomly picking applications out of a hat to process at this point
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Elijah O'Reilly
UPDATE: The Department of Education just released a statement about the January 13-18 submission issue. They've identified the problem and are implementing a fix this weekend. All affected applications should be processed by next Wednesday. They're also sending automated emails to affected students explaining the situation.
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Jordan Walker
•Thank you so much for the update! I just checked my email and actually got that notification about an hour ago. Such a relief to have an official timeline now.
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Mason Kaczka
my cousin had this same problem last year with a different date range. she ended up having to resubmit her whole application and it messed up her getting into dorming. hope they fix yours faster
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Jordan Walker
•Oh no, that's my worst fear! I really hope I don't have to resubmit. Did she ever find out what caused the problem with her application?
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Mason Kaczka
•something about income verification i think? idk she was super stressed about it for weeks
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Amara Torres
Just wanted to follow up - did you get your SAI score yet? The Department of Education promised all the delayed January applications would be processed by yesterday.
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Jordan Walker
•Yes! It finally came through this morning. My SAI is higher than I expected though, so now I have a whole new set of worries about aid amounts. But at least the application is processed now!
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