FAFSA information showing up at Montclair State (NJ) - is this happening for anyone else?

I haven't heard anything from any of my son's schools yet and we submitted over a month ago! This FAFSA delay is driving me INSANE. Did you get an email directly from Montclair or was it through the studentaid.gov portal? I keep checking but nothing is updated. This whole system is terrible - why does it take so long for the info to get processed???

This is actually normal timing. FAFSA information typically takes 2-4 weeks to be processed by the Department of Education, then schools retrieve the data in batches. Some schools pull FAFSA data daily, others weekly. Each school has their own timeline for creating aid packages after receiving your FAFSA data - usually 3-6 weeks. Since your SAI is 8,452, your daughter should qualify for some need-based aid, but the amount will vary by school. Montclair State typically sends aid packages by late March for fall admission. You should see other schools receiving the data within the next week or so.

my daughters friSAFAm MIT got their fafsa stuff 2 days ago but rutgers still shows nothing. seems totally random to me. some schools just check for new applications more often i guess

I'm in the same situation with Rowan University (also NJ). Got notification yesterday that they received FAFSA info, but waiting on the other 3 schools my daughter applied to. From what I remember with my older son, after the school gets your FAFSA data, it can take anywhere from 2-8 weeks to get an actual aid package, depending on how efficient their financial aid office is. Montclair was pretty quick with my son a few years ago - about 3 weeks from FAFSA receipt to aid offer.

If you're worried about the timing of your FAFSA information being sent to schools, I'd recommend using Claimyr to connect with a Federal Student Aid agent. I was in a similar situation last year where some schools received my information while others didn't. Used the service at claimyr.com and got through to an agent in minutes instead of waiting for hours. They were able to track exactly where my FAFSA information was in the system and manually push it to schools that hadn't received it yet. You can see how it works in their video demo: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ

An SAI of 8,452 is actually quite good! My daughter's came back at 14,229 and she still qualified for decent aid at most NJ state schools. After Montclair received our FAFSA last year, we got their aid package about 3 weeks later. They offered her a $5,500 Pell Grant, $3,500 in subsidized loans, and a $2,000 academic scholarship. Just make sure you check your daughter's student portal frequently because sometimes they request additional verification documents without sending an email notification. About 30% of FAFSA applicants get selected for verification, and you don't want that to delay your aid package.

jsyk SAI ISNT EFC!! the calulaotion is different now so u cant compare to past years

This whole process is SO FRUSTRATING. We submitted in December and only ONE of my son's five schools has received the FAFSA data! Meanwhile our state grant deadline is approaching fast and they won't process his state grant until ALL his FAFSA info is complete. WHY IS THIS SYSTEM SO BROKEN???

Update: Rutgers just notified us they received the FAFSA data too! So it looks like things are definitely moving now. Thanks everyone for the helpful advice! I'm feeling much more confident about the timeline now.

Congratulations on getting the notifications from both Montclair and Rutgers! That's great news that things are moving along. I'm still waiting to hear from any of my daughter's schools - we submitted about 2.5 weeks ago. It's reassuring to see that the system is actually working, even if it feels slow. Did you notice any pattern in which schools got your info first, or does it really seem random like others mentioned?