FAFSA accepted at one college but another rejected for missing SAI score - what's going on?

This is actually pretty common! The SAI (Student Aid Index) rating comes from the federal processor, not directly from you. When you fixed the signature issue, your FAFSA was reprocessed and an SAI was generated, but it takes different amounts of time for each school to receive and process the updated information. Schools don't all pull FAFSA data at the same time - some do it daily, others weekly.

lol colleges r never on the same page!! my son had 5 schools and they ALL asked for diff things. one wanted his birth cert?? for some reason?? just call that 3rd school directly and ask what they need exactly

You should check your student aid account at studentaid.gov to see if your SAI score is actually showing up there. If it shows up there, then the problem is just that the third school hasn't received or processed it yet. If it's NOT showing up there, then there might still be an issue with your FAFSA that needs to be fixed. The fact that one school processed it suggests the SAI exists, but it's worth checking directly on the federal site.

my daughter had this exact thing happen!! Different schools were at different stages of processing for WEEKS. The one that said "missing SAI" eventually figured it out without us doing anything. But they were the last to finish processing her aid package and by then she'd already committed to another school lol. The whole system is a mess tbh

yeah it fixed itself after like 10 days. they never even told us it was fixed, we just logged in one day and suddenly her aid package was there 🙄

I'm dealing with EXACTLY this issue right now! One thing I've learned - the schools don't actually SEE the exact same information when they look at your FAFSA. They all access the federal database but what they pull and how they format it differs by institution. Also, each school processes FAFSA data on different schedules. I've been trying to reach the financial aid office by phone for DAYS with no luck. Constantly put on hold then disconnected. So frustrating when deadlines are approaching!

THE ENTIRE FINANCIAL AID SYSTEM IS BROKEN!!!! My son's FAFSA was "missing" at two schools but "complete" at three others AT THE SAME TIME!!! How is that even possible?? It's all the SAME FEDERAL SYSTEM!!! Then we find out weeks later that the problem was the schools that couldn't "find" his FAFSA were looking under his SSN with a typo. BUT THEY NEVER TOLD US. We only found out because I physically went to the financial aid office and made them check. Check for typos in how they have your student listed!!!

Final recommendation: Email the financial aid office at the third school, include your daughter's full name, student ID if you have it, and date of birth. Explain that the FAFSA is complete with an SAI showing on studentaid.gov and that other schools have already processed it successfully. Ask if there's anything specific they need from you to complete processing. Sometimes a direct email gets better results than phone calls, and you'll have documentation of your communication efforts if there are any issues with deadlines.