FAFSA 'completed' status but just discovered Pell Grant & loan options - is this normal?

Yes, those are definitely from your FAFSA! The system is working exactly as designed (even if it's confusing). Your FAFSA information gets sent directly to the schools you listed on your application, and then each school creates a financial aid package based on your SAI calculation. You don't actually get a separate notification from FAFSA itself - the schools reach out with their offers instead. The Pell Grant is federal money that doesn't need to be repaid. The subsidized loans don't accrue interest while in school, and the unsubsidized loans start accruing interest right away. All of these options come from your FAFSA information.

yeah the same thing happened to my son last yr. the FASFA site is just where u enter all the info but the college is who tells u what u get. its weird they dont explain that better!

They REALLY need to fix the communication on this whole process! I spent THREE WEEKS calling trying to figure out why we hadn't heard anything after our "completed" status. Turns out the college had already processed everything and awarded aid TWO WEEKS earlier! Nobody bothered to tell us! What a joke this system is. They expect 17-18 year olds to understand this garbage process?!? And even as parents with college degrees we were confused!

This is completely normal! The FAFSA is just the application process that calculates your Student Aid Index (SAI). Once that calculation is complete, your information is sent to all the schools you listed on your FAFSA. Each college then: 1. Creates a financial aid package based on your SAI 2. Determines Pell Grant eligibility (federal formula) 3. Calculates loan eligibility (federal Direct loans) 4. Adds any institutional aid they might offer The notification process varies by school - some send emails, some update their portals, some send physical letters. But yes, those awards you're seeing are the direct result of your FAFSA application. For the specific SAI calculation, you can usually see that on your Student Aid Report (SAR) by logging into studentaid.gov - look for the SAR option in your account.

Each school will offer a different package! The federal Pell Grant amount will be the same everywhere if she qualifies, but each school has different costs and may offer different institutional scholarships or grants. The loan amounts might also vary slightly based on year in school and cost of attendance at each institution. Definitely compare all offers side by side before making decisions!

After dealing with this same frustrating situation last year, I finally figured out you can actually call Federal Student Aid directly to get clarity on how your FAFSA was processed. Most people don't know this but I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me skip the hold times and actually connect with a real person at FSA. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. The agent I spoke with explained exactly how my daughter's SAI was calculated and confirmed which schools had received her information. Totally worth it for peace of mind since the financial aid office at her school wasn't being helpful at all.

the pell Grant is FREE MONEY do not confuse it with loans!!!! take the pell but be careful with loans. my nephew thought pell was a loan and almost didnt take it! big mistake

my son got confused 2 and almost declined his Pell lol. kids these days dont know free money when they see it!

To answer your follow-up question - you can definitely see your SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation on studentaid.gov. Log in with your parent account, go to "My Documents" and look for your Student Aid Report (SAR). This will show the complete calculation and how they determined eligibility. If you're confused about any specific part, the financial aid office at your daughter's school can usually explain why she qualified for specific amounts. They deal with these questions all day long!

I'm so glad you found this thread! I'm going through the exact same process with my son right now and was equally confused about the lack of communication from FAFSA directly. Reading through everyone's responses here has been incredibly helpful. One thing I learned from our school's financial aid office is that you can also request a "cost of attendance breakdown" from each school, which shows exactly how they calculated your total need and how the aid package fits into that. This really helped us understand why the loan amounts were what they were. Don't feel bad about being confused - this process is NOT intuitive at all, and even the school counselors admit the system could be way clearer!