FAFSA family size field left blank - will correcting it restart processing or increase our aid?

You absolutely need to correct this. Family size is one of the most critical factors in determining your Student Aid Index (SAI). For a low-income family like yours, each additional household member could potentially increase your aid eligibility significantly. The good news is that making a correction to a processed FAFSA doesn't necessarily restart the entire process from scratch - it just triggers a recalculation of your SAI based on the updated information. This is especially important if your family size is 5 but showing as blank, as the system might be defaulting to a household size of 1 or 2. Log in to studentaid.gov, select "Make FAFSA Corrections" and update that field ASAP.

my dad did the same thing last yr, left family size blank & we got WAY less $ than my brother did the yr before. when we corrected it we got an extra $1800 per semester! definitely fix it!!!!

I've been through this exact situation with my daughter's FAFSA last year. Correcting the family size did NOT reset the entire application process. It simply triggered a recalculation of the SAI (Student Aid Index). Since your FAFSA is already processed, here's what will happen: 1. Log into studentaid.gov and select "Make FAFSA Corrections" 2. Update the household size field 3. Submit the correction 4. You'll receive a confirmation email 5. Within 3-5 business days, you'll get an updated SAI calculation For a low-income family, this correction could potentially increase your Pell Grant eligibility and other need-based aid. The current maximum Pell for 2025-2026 is expected to be around $7,500, and family size directly impacts your eligibility. Don't leave money on the table! One important note: After making the correction, contact your son's financial aid office to alert them about the update so they can pull the new information when processing his aid package.

The system is so broken! This is exactly why people miss out on thousands in aid. When I submitted our FAFSA, I had to correct THREE different fields because the form design is confusing and unclear. Each time I was terrified it would reset everything. And don't even get me started on trying to call Federal Student Aid for help - I spent HOURS on hold over multiple days and never got through to a human being!! The worst part is they KNOW this is a problem and do NOTHING to fix it. Family size is CRITICAL for aid calculations and yet they let people submit with it blank?? How does that make any sense???

After spending 3 days trying to reach someone at Federal Student Aid about a similar issue, I finally found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an agent in about 10 minutes. They have this system that waits on hold for you and calls you when a real person picks up. Saved me hours of frustration! They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ I'd definitely correct that family size field. When I called, the agent told me blank fields actually DO impact calculations and you want to make sure everything is accurate, especially for low-income situations where every dollar counts.

Financial aid counselor here. Definitely correct the family size immediately. Here's why: - For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, if family size is blank, the system defaults to the minimum possible household size for calculation purposes - For a low-income family (below $50,000/year), each additional household member can significantly improve your SAI calculation - Making a correction to a processed FAFSA does NOT restart the entire process - it only triggers a recalculation of your specific SAI - The recalculation typically takes 3-10 business days depending on system volume - If your son's school has already packaged his aid, contact their financial aid office after making the correction so they can pull the updated information In your specific situation with a $38,400 income and a family of 5, having the correct household size could potentially make a difference of thousands of dollars in aid eligibility over the academic year. I've seen students lose out on significant aid because of missing information. Please make this correction as soon as possible.

wait i thought the new FAFSA doesn't even ask for family size anymore? isnt it all based on tax returns now? im confused

Update: I went ahead and made the correction to our family size this morning. The process was actually really simple and only took about 5 minutes. It gave me a confirmation screen saying my correction was submitted successfully and that it would be processed within 5-7 business days. I'll update here once I receive the new SAI calculation. Thanks to everyone for the advice and encouragement to fix this potentially costly mistake!

As someone who works in financial aid processing, I want to emphasize how crucial this correction is for your situation. With a family income of $38,400 and household size of 5, you're likely eligible for maximum Pell Grant funding, but only if your family size is accurately reflected in the calculation. The SAI formula heavily weights household size against income - each additional family member significantly reduces your expected contribution. I've seen cases where a missing family size field resulted in students receiving $2,000-3,000 less per year in aid. The good news is you caught this relatively early and the correction process is straightforward. Just make sure to follow up with your son's school after the recalculation is complete to ensure they receive the updated information for his aid package.

I'm new to this whole FAFSA process and this thread is really eye-opening! My daughter is starting college next year and I just submitted our FAFSA last week. Now I'm paranoid that I might have made similar mistakes. Is there a way to double-check all the information I entered before it gets processed? I don't want to end up in the same situation where we miss out on aid because of a simple oversight. The whole system seems so complicated and unforgiving!

I'm so glad you posted about this! As a parent who went through FAFSA corrections two years ago, I can confirm that fixing the family size field is absolutely worth it and won't restart your entire application. When my youngest was applying for college, I accidentally entered our family size as 3 instead of 4, and correcting it increased our aid by almost $2,000 for the year. The correction process was much simpler than I expected - just log in, make the change, and submit. It took about a week to get the updated SAI, and then I contacted the school's financial aid office to make sure they had the new information. With your income level and actual family size of 5, you're potentially leaving significant money on the table by not correcting this. Don't let fear of the process keep you from getting the aid your family deserves!

Just wanted to follow up on this thread as someone who made a similar correction last month. I had left the family size blank on our FAFSA and corrected it after reading advice similar to what's been shared here. The process was indeed straightforward - took about 6 business days to get my updated SAI, and it resulted in an additional $1,400 in Pell Grant eligibility for my daughter. The key thing I learned is to immediately contact your school's financial aid office after making the correction. They were able to pull the updated information and adjust her aid package within two weeks. Don't wait on this - every day you delay is potentially money left on the table, especially with your low income and large family size. The financial aid officers I spoke with said family size corrections are very common and they're used to processing these updates quickly when students notify them.