FAFSA delay affecting on-campus housing decisions - worried about Fall 2025 wait list

omg yes!!! same exact boat with my son at State University. housing deadline was LAST WEEK and fasfa still "processing". we just paid the $750 housing deposit anyway and hoping we can figure it out when aid finally comes thru. this is so stressful!!!

I work in higher ed housing and this is unfortunately a nationwide problem this year. The FAFSA delay has impacted millions of students. If your student really wants/needs on-campus housing, I recommend: 1. Contact the housing office directly, explain the situation with FAFSA delays, and ask if they have any flexibility with deposits or deadlines 2. See if they offer payment plans for the housing deposit 3. Ask if there are any housing grants available specifically for students waiting on financial aid Many schools are creating special exceptions because they understand this situation affects so many families. Document all communications in writing!

This whole FAFSA delay is RIDICULOUS!! My daughter got accepted to her dream school but we have NO IDEA if we can even afford it!!! The financial aid office keeps giving us different answers every time we call. First they said April, then early May, now "mid-May" - what does that even mean?? Meanwhile we're supposed to make housing decisions BLIND?! The incompetence is astounding.

I'm in a similar situation with my twins. What I ended up doing was calling the housing office directly and explaining our FAFSA situation. They actually put a special note on our application and extended our deadline by 3 weeks. Have you tried reaching out to housing directly? Sometimes they have emergency procedures for situations like this since it's affecting so many students this year.

my cousin works in a university financial aid office and she says this is the worst fasfa season she's seen in 15 years. apparently the new system is a complete disaster behind the scenes too. they're telling students mid-may but honestly she thinks some aid packages might not be ready until june. absolute nightmare for everyone involved!

I successfully dealt with this exact situation last week. After spending days trying to reach someone at the Federal Student Aid office about expediting our FAFSA processing for housing decisions, I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to a real person. They got me connected to an actual FSA agent in about 15 minutes who was able to check our application status and give me a more specific timeline than "mid-May." With that info, I was able to go back to housing with concrete details and they agreed to hold a spot while we waited. You can see how it works in their demo video: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ It was honestly a lifesaver in this situation because I was getting nowhere with the regular phone line.

One additional suggestion - check if your school has a housing priority system for first-year students. Many institutions guarantee housing for freshmen even with these delays. If your daughter is a first-year student, make sure to emphasize this in all communications with housing. Also, some schools have emergency housing funds specifically for students caught in financial aid delays - worth asking financial aid about this option too.

we just bit the bullet and paid the off-campus deposit for our son. better safe than sorry imo. the apartment complex has a 2 week decision window so if by some miracle the fasfa comes through early and he gets on campus housing we can back out. check if any off campus places have flexible deposits!

After making some calls this morning based on advice here, I just wanted to update that our housing office is now offering a special "FAFSA delay" extension form! They said many families are in this exact situation, so they created a process where you can fill out a form explaining you're waiting on financial aid, and they'll extend your housing deadline until 2 weeks after your SAI score is processed. Might be worth asking if your daughter's school has something similar!