FAFSA correction nightmare - wrong SSN/birthday won't update but shows "under review"

This exact thing happened to me with my son's FAFSA! What a nightmare. For the SSN/birthday errors, you can't fix those online - you have to call FSA directly. They need to verify your husband's identity before making those changes for security reasons. For the financial corrections, I'd recommend printing a copy of the SAR (Student Aid Report) before and after you make changes to compare what actually got updated. If they're showing "under review" there's a good chance the financial changes went through but they're waiting on the identity verification stuff.

under review usualy takes 3-5 days then checkc back... my daughters fafsa was stuck like that for a week but then it fixed itself lol... maybe just wait it out??

The FAFSA system is TRASH this year!!! They rolled out all these "improvements" and made everything worse. I spent THREE WEEKS trying to get my husband's info corrected. They know there's a bug with the SSN/birthday fields but aren't fixing it!! It's like they want us to fail. When you call they just tell you "we're aware of the issues" but don't actually HELP. I ended up having to submit a paper correction form which takes FOREVER to process. Good luck getting any money this year!

Try using Claimyr to get through to a FAFSA agent quickly. I was in the same boat - couldn't fix my parent's info no matter what I tried. I was going to be on hold for 3+ hours, but used Claimyr (claimyr.com) and got through in about 15 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent was able to verify my dad's identity and manually update his SSN in the system. They also confirmed which financial corrections were actually processed (only 2 of the 4 I tried to make went through).

FAFSA verification specialist here. This is a known issue with the new system. For SSN/birthday corrections: 1. If you can log in, try clicking on "Get Help" within your FAFSA portal and requesting a manual review of your application. Be specific about which fields are incorrect. 2. If that doesn't work, call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243. They can authorize a correction to SSN/DOB after identity verification. 3. For the financial corrections, download your SAR report before and after making changes to verify what was actually processed. The confirmation screen has a known bug showing incorrect fields. 4. The "under review" status means your application is being manually reviewed - likely because of the inconsistency between the SSN/DOB and the existing federal records. The financial corrections may have gone through even though the confirmation screen showed different fields. The system processes them separately from what it displays.

When my wife's information was wrong in my son's FAFSA last year, we spent DAYS trying to get it corrected. Let me save you some time and tell you exactly what needs to happen: 1. The system literally won't let you correct SSN/DOB online. It's a security feature, not a bug. 2. You need to confirm which financial corrections actually processed by checking your SAI (Student Aid Index) number before and after. If it changed, then at least some financial data was updated. 3. For the SSN/DOB issue, you absolutely MUST call FSA directly. There's no getting around it. When I finally got through, it took about 5 minutes to fix once I had an actual person. 4. "Under review" isn't necessarily bad - it means a human is looking at your application, which is what you need for the SSN/DOB issue. The good news is once they fix the SSN/DOB issues, all the signing problems will resolve themselves, and your husband will be able to properly sign.

My cousins son had this same thing and was denied aid bcuz the ssn never got fixed!! be careful!

I made it through to a FAFSA agent yesterday using Claimyr and asked specifically about this issue - they said it's happening to a lot of people. The agent told me they can fix the SSN/birthday over the phone but you'll need: 1. The FSA ID of the student 2. The incorrect FSA ID of the parent (your husband) 3. Documentation proving the correct information The agent also confirmed the financial corrections often DO process correctly even when the confirmation page shows different fields. They suggested asking the agent to review all the financial data during the same call to confirm everything is correct.

Just an update for anyone finding this thread later - I had the same issue in January and finally got it resolved. The key is getting a case number when you call FSA. Don't hang up without getting one! Then if you get disconnected or need to call back, you can reference that case number and won't have to start over explaining everything. Also, the "under review" status is actually good in this situation - it means a human is looking at it rather than just the automated system.