FAFSA delays destroying college decision timeline - schools won't wait forever

You are 100% right to be frustrated. The complete mismanagement of the FAFSA "simplification" has been a nightmare for countless families. My daughter is also waiting on 4 different aid packages, and we've been told not to expect anything until mid-April... less than 2 weeks before decisions are due! I called my daughter's top choice yesterday and they said over 40% of their accepted students still don't have financial aid packages. This is completely unprecedented.

lol welcome to dealing with the govt. they mess everything up and we just have to deal with it. same thing happeend with my older kid 2 years ago but for different reasons. ended up taking out private loans cause we couldnt wait around forever.

I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!! We are in EXACTLY the same boat with twins who are both trying to make decisions. One school actually told us "just pick us and trust that the aid package will be good" - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I'm not committing to $80K/year without seeing ACTUAL NUMBERS on paper. The whole point of the "simplified" FAFSA was to make this process easier, not completely break the entire college decision timeline. I've been calling the FSA helpline multiple times every day trying to get answers.

I understand your frustration, but there are steps you can take to navigate this situation. First, contact each financial aid office directly and ask if they'll provide an estimated aid package based on your previous year's tax information. Many schools are doing this as a stopgap. Second, ask about their specific policy regarding deadline extensions - most are being flexible this year. If you're still stuck in FAFSA processing, try calling Federal Student Aid directly at 1-800-433-3243. The hold times are extreme (2-3 hours), but reaching an actual human can resolve many issues immediately. A service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) can help you skip those wait times - they'll call and wait on hold, then connect you when an agent is available. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ

The Department of Education has actually admitted this is their fault and they're working through a backlog of millions of applications. The "simplified" FAFSA turned out to be a complete disaster in implementation. Your frustration is 100% valid - this is not normal and shouldn't be happening. FYI - I'm a college counselor and we're advising all families to: 1. Request estimated aid packages from all schools 2. Ask each school specifically about their commitment deposit deadline policy 3. Document all communications with both schools and FSA 4. Be prepared that some students may need to place deposits at multiple schools (which is normally discouraged

I work in financial aid (not speaking officially for my institution), and I want to clarify some things. First, this delay is unprecedented and NOT normal - even for government processes. The Department of Education attempted a complete overhaul of the SAI calculation system, and the implementation has failed spectacularly. Second, many colleges ARE extending their May 1 deposit deadlines - some officially, others on a case-by-case basis. You should directly contact each financial aid office where your son was accepted. Third, if you need to make your FAFSA processing go faster, you can request an urgent processing review by calling FSA directly and explaining your decision deadline. The system is prioritizing some applications based on decision timelines.

yeah its completley ridiculous!!! my nephew is going through the same thing right now and my sister is losing her mind. they need to fire whoever was in charge of this disaster and go back to the old system that actually WORKED! now my nephew might have to take a gap year because of this mess.

I was in the same boat last week - absolutely desperate after waiting since January. I finally got through to someone at Federal Student Aid after using that Claimyr service someone mentioned above. They connected me to an actual FSA agent who found that there was a small discrepancy in how we reported our retirement accounts that was causing the delay. They fixed it on the spot and our information was sent to schools within 3 days! Now we finally have aid packages coming in. Don't give up - sometimes it just takes reaching the right person who can actually help.