FAFSA data not showing up at colleges despite having SAI number - normal delay?

This is happening to EVERYONE right now! My son got his SAI in February but his top choice still shows no FAFSA data received. I called Federal Student Aid directly and they said there's a massive backlog with transmitting data to schools. The rep told me it's taking 4-6 weeks AFTER getting your SAI for the data to reach schools. It's completely ridiculous but apparently "normal" for this year's disaster of a rollout.

my kid has same problem.. got SAI number in january schools still dont have it. financial aid office keeps saying check back next week. super annoying!!

I work in a college financial aid office, and I can confirm this is a widespread issue. The Department of Education is experiencing significant delays in transmitting FAFSA data to institutions this year. Here's what you need to know: 1. Having an SAI number means your FAFSA was successfully processed by Federal Student Aid, but it doesn't mean the data was sent to schools yet. 2. Schools cannot begin creating financial aid packages until they receive your official FAFSA data - we can't work with just the SAI number that students provide. 3. There is nothing wrong with your twins' applications - this is happening to most students this cycle. 4. Most schools are aware of this issue and are making contingency plans for housing and registration deadlines. What you should do: Have your twins contact their schools' financial aid offices to ask if they have contingency plans for students whose FAFSA data hasn't arrived yet. Many schools are creating temporary solutions to ensure students don't miss important deadlines due to these federal delays.

Unfortunately, there's no way for students or parents to expedite the transmission process - it's entirely in the Department of Education's hands. However, if you're concerned about specific upcoming deadlines, have your students document their communication with financial aid offices. Keep emails showing they've been proactive about addressing the situation. One thing I should mention: if your students selected more than 10 schools on their FAFSA, make sure the schools they care most about were in the first group. Schools outside the initial 10 won't receive data until someone manually updates the FAFSA to include them in a new group of 10.

my daughter had the SAME problem OMG!!! but then she got accepted to her top choice + they needed her to commit with a deposit by may 1st but she didn't have her financial aid package yet because of the FAFSA mess!!!! i was FREAKING OUT!!! we ended up having to call the federal student aid hotline like 20 times before we finally got through to somebody who could help. that whole phone system is a NIGHTMARE

yes but it took FOREVER to get through to someone!! after being on hold for like 2+ hours they finally told us they could manually "push" her FAFSA data to the school (didn't even know that was possible!!) and it showed up at her school 3 days later. we were lucky because the May 1 deadline was coming up so fast

After dealing with the same issue for my son, I finally found a service called Claimyr that helped me get through to a Federal Student Aid agent without the endless hold times. You can check it out at claimyr.com - they basically hold your place in line and call you when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration! They have a demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The FSA agent confirmed there's a data transmission backlog but was able to manually send my son's information to his school after I explained that scholarship deadlines were approaching. Definitely worth trying if you're still waiting.

Yes, I actually used it last week. It worked exactly as advertised - I entered my number on their site, went about my day, and got a call back when they had an agent on the line. Much better than sitting on hold for hours! The FSA agent I spoke with was super helpful once I actually got connected to her.

This whole FAFSA season is COMPLETELY broken!!! I'm so angry about how the Department of Education has handled this rollout. My daughter got her SAI in JANUARY and her school JUST received her information THIS WEEK. That's a THREE MONTH delay!!! And nobody would give us straight answers about why it was taking so long. Schools are blaming Federal Student Aid, FSA is blaming the new system, meanwhile our kids are left hanging without knowing if they can afford college!!! The most frustrating part is that my daughter missed out on some institutional scholarships because her FAFSA data wasn't available by the priority deadline. ABSOLUTE INCOMPETENCE!!!

Has anyone actually had this resolved yet? My son's FAFSA data FINALLY showed up at his school yesterday - almost 7 weeks after getting his SAI. No rhyme or reason to it, just suddenly appeared. The financial aid office is now scrambling to put together aid packages before the May 1 decision deadline.

Nope, did absolutely nothing special. It just showed up out of nowhere. The financial aid officer told my son they received a huge batch of FAFSA data all at once yesterday, so it looks like the Department of Education is slowly working through the backlog. Hang in there!