FAFSA delay causing late financial aid packages - normal to wait until May?

Yes, this is unfortunately very common this year. The FAFSA delays have pushed everything back in the financial aid timeline. Most schools are waiting until they have complete SAI data for all admitted students before finalizing their institutional scholarships. They want to see the full applicant pool before distributing their limited funds. You might want to contact the admissions office (not financial aid) and explain your situation. Many schools are extending their deposit deadlines because of these delays. Don't make a decision without seeing the full package!

we r in the same boat!!! got into 5 schools but only 1 has sent complete pkg. the others just have the federal aid but not the school scholarships yet. driving me CRAZY!!!! how r we supposed to decide??????

Financial aid professional here - this is absolutely normal this year due to the FAFSA rollout delays. Schools typically need the SAI from the FAFSA to determine institutional need-based aid eligibility. This year the Department of Education had significant delays in processing FAFSA applications and sending data to schools. Many institutions are extending their deposit deadlines past May 1st specifically because of these delays. You should: 1. Contact admissions offices at each school and request a deposit deadline extension 2. Ask if they can provide an estimated package based on your FAFSA data if they have it 3. Confirm whether any merit scholarships (which don't depend on FAFSA) have already been awarded This situation is frustrating but widespread - you're definitely not alone.

I called financial aid at my son's top choice school yesterday and they told me they're still waiting on SAI information for about 25% of admitted students. Supposedly the Department of Education is still releasing batches of FAFSA data to schools. The whole process is a mess this year!!

my kid is a junior so we're not in your boat yet BUT my neighbor's son went thru this last yr and they ended up havng to put deposits at 2 diff schools ($500 each!) because they didn't have final aid info by deadline. just fyi you might need to budget for multiple deposits if schools won't extend deadline. its terrible they do this to families!!!!!

This FAFSA cycle has been a total disaster. My daughter's in the same situation - accepted to schools but incomplete financial information. We've been trying to reach Federal Student Aid for weeks about an issue with our SAI calculation that might be causing delays, but it's impossible to get through. I finally found a service called Claimyr that got us connected to a live FSA agent within 25 minutes after weeks of failed attempts. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. The agent was able to tell us exactly what was causing our verification delay and what documents we needed to submit. Might be worth checking if your FAFSA has any issues holding things up on the federal side.

The system is BROKEN. This is BY DESIGN to force families into making uninformed decisions and taking on more debt than necessary. Schools know EXACTLY what they're doing by withholding complete aid packages until the last minute. They're hoping you'll commit based on incomplete information and THEN they'll lowball the aid package when you've already paid your deposit. Wake up people!!!

Quick update on the May 1 deadline - the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) has encouraged colleges to be flexible with deposit deadlines this year specifically because of the FAFSA delays. Many schools have already announced extensions to May 15 or even June 1. Don't be afraid to ask for an extension! Most schools understand the situation and want to give families time to make informed decisions once all financial aid packages are available.

@profile4 the school that sent us full package was small private college in midwest. the bigger state schools r all still "processing" ugh

@profile4 They told me "mid-April" but I don't trust any timeline anymore lol. Just waiting and checking the portal obsessively every day. So annoying!