FAFSA citizenship verification emergency - expired passport rejected, need quick alternatives

That's total BS! The same thing happened to my son last year. Different schools have different requirements for citizenship verification. Have her call the financial aid office (keep calling til someone answers!!!) and specifically ask what OTHER forms of documentation they'll accept. Most will take a birth certificate + photo ID as an alternative.

Financial aid professional here. For FAFSA citizenship verification, you have several options that are typically faster than waiting for a new passport: 1. Original or certified copy of U.S. birth certificate 2. Certificate of Citizenship (N-560 or N-561) 3. Certificate of Naturalization (N-550 or N-551) 4. U.S. Citizen ID card (I-197 or I-179) 5. Consular Report of Birth Abroad (FS-240, FS-545, or DS-1350) I recommend contacting the financial aid office again and specifically asking which of these alternative documents they'll accept. Different schools have different policies, but they should be able to work with at least one of these options.

dude just expedite the passport renewal. costs extra but u can get it in like 2-3 weeks. thats what i did for study abroad when i realized mine was expired like a month before the trip lol

Just sharing my experience - my daughter used her expired passport AND birth certificate together last year, and it was accepted. The financial aid office initially gave us the same runaround about needing a current passport, but when we asked to speak with a supervisor and mentioned that the Department of Education guidelines allow alternative documentation, they suddenly became more flexible. Don't take no for an answer!

I've been dealing with the FAFSA nightmare for 3 kids now, and I can tell you that trying to call most financial aid offices is an exercise in frustration. You'll sit on hold forever, get disconnected, or end up in voicemail jail. I recently discovered a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that has been a game-changer. They can get you connected to actual humans at financial aid offices without the endless waiting. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. Seriously saved me hours of frustration when dealing with my youngest's verification issues.

OMG PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!!! This EXACT thing happened to me. Do NOT wait for the new passport! Go to your local Social Security office with her birth certificate and request a Social Security printout that shows citizenship status. It takes 5 minutes to get, it's free, and my school accepted it for FAFSA verification! This saved my financial aid package last semester!!

why didnt she just make sure her passport was current before applying? i mean its pretty obvious they need proof of citizenship for thousands in federal money lol. not trying to be mean but like... basic common sense?

Also - IMPORTANT! Make sure your daughter tells the financial aid office that she's actively working on getting the documentation and ask them to put a note in her file. This can sometimes prevent them from canceling her aid package while waiting for documents. Get everything in writing! Email is your friend here.

Update on my previous comment - I just checked with my daughter and she said that her school specifically accepted: 1) Birth certificate + Driver's license, OR 2) Expired passport + Birth certificate. They wouldn't take just the expired passport alone. Maybe that's the issue you're running into?

One more thing - I recommend having your daughter check her SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation on her FAFSA account. If there's a flag on the citizenship verification, you might see an alert there. And make sure to check both her student.aid.gov account AND her school portal, as sometimes the messages don't sync properly between systems.

just my 2 cents but the birth certificate + photo ID combo worked for my citizenship verification last fall. took like 3 days to process vs the weeks they said a passport would take