FAFSA error - sons' information mixed up - how to delete and restart?
I'm freaking out because I made a huge mistake on my 2025-2026 FAFSA application. I have two sons in college (Jake is a junior and Tyler is a freshman), and somehow I entered all of Tyler's financial information under Jake's section and vice versa. Their SAI calculations will be completely wrong! Is there a way to delete the entire application and start over? Or do I need to submit some kind of correction form? The submit button is already greyed out since I completed it yesterday. I tried calling the FSA hotline but got disconnected after waiting 45 minutes.
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Jason Brewer
Don't panic! You don't need to completely delete the application. You can submit corrections to your existing FAFSA. Log into studentaid.gov, go to your submitted FAFSA, and select "Make FAFSA Corrections." You can then update the information for both sons. Just make sure you carefully review each section before submitting the correction.
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Nina Fitzgerald
•Thank you! I logged in but the "Make FAFSA Corrections" option is greyed out too. Could it be because it's still processing?
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Kiara Fisherman
This happened 2 me last yr with my twins!! Soooo frustrating. Had to wait like 3 days before the correction option became available. Something about processing time.
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Nina Fitzgerald
•Oh that's a relief to hear! I'll wait a few days then. Did your twins' aid amounts change much after you fixed it?
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Kiara Fisherman
•Yea their SAI scores changed by like $1000 each which made a difference for work study eligibility for one of them. The other one still got the same Pell Grant amount tho
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Liam Cortez
The mistake you made is actually pretty common with multiple students. The system often locks for 3-5 days after submission before allowing corrections. If you're really worried, you could try reaching out to each school's financial aid office directly - they can sometimes put a hold on processing until your correction goes through.
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Nina Fitzgerald
•That's a great idea about contacting the schools directly. Jake is at UMass and Tyler is at Bentley, so I'll email both financial aid offices tomorrow morning to give them a heads up.
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Savannah Vin
If you're still having trouble after a few days, try using Claimyr to get through to an actual FAFSA agent. I was stuck in a similar situation where my correction option never unlocked, and I was going crazy trying to get someone on the phone. Claimyr connected me with an agent in about 10 minutes instead of waiting for hours or getting disconnected. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a demo video at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. The agent was able to manually unlock my correction access.
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Nina Fitzgerald
•I've never heard of that service before. Did they actually help resolve your issue? I'm getting desperate at this point.
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Savannah Vin
•Yes, they did! The FAFSA agent I spoke with was able to manually override the system lock since it was just a mix-up between dependent students. Just be sure to have both your sons' information ready when you call.
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Mason Stone
wait why does it even matter if you mixed them up? dont they both live with you? isnt the parent contribution the same either way?
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Liam Cortez
•No, it definitely matters. Each student gets their own Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation based on their individual earnings, assets, and academic information. Even siblings at the same income level can receive very different aid packages based on their year in school, program of study, and personal income/savings.
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Mason Stone
•oh i didnt know that. i thought it was just based on the parents income for dependent students.
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Makayla Shoemaker
THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS TOTALLY BROKEN AND DESIGNED TO MAKE US FAIL!!! I had a similar issue last year and literally had to wait 15 DAYS before I could fix it!! Meanwhile deadlines were approaching and my daughter almost lost her housing allocation. The financial aid system is RIGGED against working families and they make it IMPOSSIBLE to fix even simple errors!!!!
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Christian Bierman
•I understand your frustration, but there are legitimate reasons for the processing delays. The system has to verify identity and prevent fraud, which is why there's a waiting period before corrections. It's not perfect, but it's not deliberately designed to make people fail.
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Makayla Shoemaker
•That's what they WANT you to believe! Ask yourself why a multi-BILLION dollar government system can't let you fix a simple error immediately but can certainly track every penny of your income instantly!!
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Nina Fitzgerald
Update: The correction option just became available this morning! I was able to go in and fix both profiles. Thanks everyone for your help and reassurance. Now I'm just nervously waiting to see how this affects their aid packages.
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Jason Brewer
•Great news! Glad it worked out. Since you caught and corrected it quickly, it shouldn't cause any delays in their aid processing. For future reference, when the SAIs are calculated, make sure to review them against last year's amounts (if applicable) to spot any potential issues.
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Nina Fitzgerald
•That's helpful advice. Jake's SAI from last year was around $8,500, so I'll check if the new one is dramatically different.
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Liam Cortez
One thing to keep in mind - after you submit corrections, there's typically another 3-5 day processing period before the schools receive the updated information. Since you mentioned Jake and Tyler are at different schools, I'd recommend following up with both financial aid offices early next week to confirm they received the corrected data. This is especially important if either school has priority deadlines approaching for institutional aid.
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Kiara Fisherman
Did u have to redo all the tax info when making corrections or just the boys' personal stuff?? When I had to fix mine it made me reenter EVERYTHING and it took like 2 hours ugh
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Nina Fitzgerald
•Luckily I didn't have to redo the tax information! The system kept all our parental income data intact. I just had to correct the personal information and academic details for each son. Took about 30 minutes total.
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