FAFSA delays causing aid package limbo - where do we go from here?

The new FAFSA rollout has been a complete disaster from start to finish. I work in a college financial aid office (won't say which one), and we're just as frustrated as families are. We literally cannot process aid packages without complete SAI data from the Department of Education, and they're still fixing errors in the calculation system. Many institutions are creating preliminary packages based on last year's methodology and then planning to adjust later, but that creates even more confusion. I'd suggest contacting each financial aid office directly to ask about their specific timeline and whether they're doing provisional aid packages. The differences between schools will be significant right now.

My nephew got his complete aid package from State University last week! They used the new SAI score and everything, so some schools are definitely getting it done. Maybe call them again? squeaky wheel gets the grease and all that

the wapo article was good but didnt explain WHY they rolled out such a broken system. like they knew it was broken and still launched it?? makes no sense. my kids SAI score came in way higher than expected and now were scrambling to figure out how to pay for everything. this whole thing is bs.

I recommend taking a proactive approach by documenting all your contact attempts with each school's financial aid office. Request written timelines when possible, and if you're getting vague answers, ask to speak with a senior financial aid officer rather than front-line staff. For families in urgent situations (like approaching deposit deadlines with no aid info), I've seen success with scheduled callback services like Claimyr (claimyr.com) to actually reach Federal Student Aid agents directly. They have a good video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ showing how it works. Sometimes getting information directly from FSA about your application status can help you push schools for faster processing. Also, check if any of your schools are offering deadline extensions for deposits given the FAFSA delays. Many institutions have extended their May 1st deadlines this year.

I CANT BELIVE WE ARE EXPECTED TO MAKE COLLEGE DECISIONS WITH NO FINANCAL INFORMATION!!! My son has to decide by next week and we still don't have ANY aid packages. Not a single one! How is this legal?? We filled out the FAFSA in JANUARY and still nothing! This is completely UNACCEPTABLE!!

We're in the same situation with my twins who are both heading to college this fall. It's incredibly stressful trying to make these huge financial decisions without complete information. We've gotten provisional aid packages from two schools that specifically state "This is an ESTIMATE based on prior year methodology" which isn't very reassuring. One thing that's helped us is creating our own spreadsheet with different financial scenarios. We've plugged in our SAI (which we did finally receive) and then used each college's net price calculator to estimate the potential aid. It's not perfect, but it gives us at least some framework for comparing options. This whole situation has been especially hard on families trying to compare multiple offers. I've heard some schools aren't including detailed breakdowns of grants vs. loans in their provisional packages, which makes real comparison impossible.

This is my third kid going through the college process and by far the worst experience. The new "simplified" FAFSA is anything but simple. My daughter's application got flagged for verification (which never happened with my older kids) and now we're stuck in this endless loop of submitting documents that never seem to satisfy what they're asking for. The timing couldn't be worse either - she was planning to start at community college this summer but now might have to delay because she can't register without financial aid being processed. The system is broken at every level.

Quick update for everyone in this thread - the Department of Education just announced they've fixed several more calculation errors in the SAI formula and will be reprocessing affected applications "in the coming weeks." So even if you've already received an SAI, it might change. And schools are being advised not to finalize aid packages until all these corrections are complete. I know this is incredibly frustrating for families trying to make decisions. My best advice is to stay in regular contact with your financial aid offices, ask about contingency plans they might have for deposit deadlines, and document all communications.