FAFSA agent confirmed all applications processed by late March - anyone else hear this?

I herd the same thing from finAid office at my kids school. Said the dept of ed is SUPER behind on processing. But March seems optimistic tbh, they've been saying \

That's what I'm afraid of! More empty promises. I just can't believe how badly they messed up this rollout. My daughter might lose her spot if we can't get that SAI score to her top choice by their deadline.

I spoke with the financial aid office at my son's university last week, and they confirmed they're getting the same information from Federal Student Aid. All applications submitted before February 15th should be processed by the end of March, with newer applications taking an additional 2-3 weeks. \n\nMany institutions are actually extending their financial aid deadlines to accommodate the FAFSA delays this year. I'd recommend contacting your daughter's college financial aid office directly to explain the situation and ask if they have any flexibility with their April 1st deadline. Most schools understand this isn't within students' control.

Thank you! I'll call her school tomorrow. I've been so focused on getting through to FAFSA that I didn't think to just ask the college if they're being flexible. That actually makes me feel a bit better.

Yeah right, I'll believe it when I see it! They've been

same problem!!! trying to add my husband as contributor for 3 weeks. system keeps saying \

I went through this nightmare last week. finally figured out you have to clear cache + use incognito mode when sending contributor invites. worked instantly after that!

Really? That simple? I'll try that tonight. Still ridiculous we have to figure out these technical workarounds ourselves instead of them just fixing their system.

Financial aid advisor here. The March timeline is accurate based on communications from the Department of Education to institutions. They're prioritizing applications in chronological order from when they were submitted.\n\nA few clarifications that might help everyone:\n\n1. The \

Thank you so much for this detailed information! This is really helpful. One quick question - if we do need to make corrections after our FAFSA is processed, how long will those take? I'm worried about additional delays if we need to fix something.

Corrections submitted after initial processing typically take 3-5 business days to process right now, which is much faster than initial applications. However, major corrections that affect your SAI calculation might take longer. \n\nOne important note: if you're selected for verification after your FAFSA is processed, that will extend your timeline by 2-3 weeks. About 25% of applications are randomly selected for verification each year.

my family got selected for verification last year and it was a NIGHTMARE. took forever to gather all the tax documents they wanted and then another month for them to review everything. really hope we don't get picked again this year 😩

I've been trying to call FSA for the past 3 weeks about my daughter's application status and either get disconnected or told the wait time is over 2 hours. I finally tried using Claimyr.com and got through to an agent in under 15 minutes! They have this service where they wait on hold for you and call when an agent picks up. Saved me hours of frustration. There's a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ\n\nThe agent I spoke with confirmed the same timeline - they're aiming to have everything processed by end of March. She also recommended checking the FAFSA status online daily because they don't always send email notifications when it's complete.

Thank you for this tip! I'll definitely check this out if I need to call them again. I got lucky today after calling first thing in the morning, but spent hours on hold last week with no luck.

Is that service legit? Seems weird to have someone else call for you. How much does it cost?

It's definitely legit - they just handle the waiting on hold part, then connect you directly to the agent. I was skeptical too but it worked perfectly. They don't actually talk to the agent for you or anything, just save you from the hold time. Totally worth it after I wasted literal days trying to get through myself.

I work in a college financial aid office, and I want to add that most schools are being VERY flexible with deadlines this cycle because of the FAFSA delays. We've extended all our internal scholarship deadlines by 6 weeks, and we're accepting estimated SAI information for preliminary aid packages.\n\nIf your school has an April 1 deadline, definitely contact them right away. Ask specifically:\n1. Will they accept a pending FAFSA for initial consideration?\n2. Can they use estimated information until your official SAI is received?\n3. Have they extended their aid deadlines due to FAFSA delays?\n\nFor next year's FAFSA, I strongly recommend submitting as soon as the application opens (this December). While this year had unique challenges with the new system, applying early is always beneficial.

Thank you for this insider perspective! I just called my daughter's school and they said exactly what you mentioned - they've extended their scholarship deadline to May 15th for this reason. Such a relief! They said as long as we have our FAFSA submitted (which we do), they'll work with us on the timeline.

my neighbor works at dept of education (not financial aid but still knows people) says the backlog is WAY bigger than their saying publicly & March is the best case scenario. some applications might not be done till april. so frustrating!!!

I KNEW IT! They're not being honest about how bad things really are. This is going to screw up so many students' college decisions. How are kids supposed to make enrollment decisions by May 1st without knowing their financial aid?!?!

Let's try to maintain perspective here. While there have certainly been delays, spreading unverified rumors about processing timelines doesn't help anyone. The Department of Education has been transparent about the challenges with the new system and has committed to the March timeline through official channels.\n\nIf you're concerned about making college decisions without finalized aid offers, here are some helpful steps:\n\n1. Contact each college's financial aid office for their specific approach to the delays\n2. Ask if they can provide an estimated aid package based on your financial information\n3. Request deadline extensions for enrollment deposits if needed\n4. Document all communications with schools and the FSA office\n\nMost institutions want to work with students through this situation and have processes in place to help.

sorry didn't mean to spread rumors! just sharing what i heard. your tips are really helpful tho, thank you!