FAFSA loan counseling file not transmitting to college - MPN received but counseling missing

check and see if he completed the loan counseling all the way to the end. my son thought he finished it but he actually just started it and didnt submit the final page

The transmission delay is unfortunately pretty common during peak FAFSA season. Sometimes it can take 7-10 business days for counseling records to transmit to the school, even though MPNs often go through faster. Regarding the Parent PLUS loan question - many schools automatically list all potential aid types as "missing" until you either complete them or formally decline them. Your son's school likely needs you to complete a "PLUS Loan Declined" form or indicate somewhere in his portal that you're declining that option. This is to ensure parents are making deliberate choices rather than just overlooking available aid.

I work in a financial aid office, and I can tell you this happens all the time. A few things to check: 1. Make sure your son completed the counseling at studentaid.gov (not a third-party site) 2. Verify he used the same FSA ID credentials that he used for his FAFSA application 3. Double-check that he selected the correct school code during the counseling completion 4. Confirm the counseling was for Direct Loans (not PLUS or Graduate loans) If all those are correct, the school can actually manually override and mark the counseling as complete if they can see it on their end through the COD system. This requires you to speak directly with a financial aid officer though, not just an admissions counselor. As for the PLUS loan showing as "missing" - yes, most schools automatically list it until you formally decline it. Check for a "decline loan" button or contact financial aid to have it removed.

OMG I had the exact same problem last month! Called the school like 10 times and kept getting voicemail. The loan counseling thing was sitting in limbo for WEEKS and nobody could tell me why. Finally I figured out my daughter had accidentally selected the wrong school code when completing it. Had to redo the whole thing. So frustrating!

I had this same issue trying to reach financial aid at my son's university. After days of calling and leaving messages with no response, I discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com) - it helped me actually get through to a real FSA agent who could see in their system that the loan counseling was completed but not transmitted. They manually triggered the transmission to the school. Saved me so much frustration! There's a video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ

The Parent PLUS "missing documents" thing is TOTALLY a trick by financial aid offices to push more loans on families!!! They do this on purpose because the schools get more money when families take out PLUS loans. I work at [different university] and see this predatory practice all the time. Call them out on it and DEMAND they remove it from your son's requirements! This is why student loan debt is out of control!

wait did u check if he did the right type of loan counseling? theres different kinds. entrance counseling for first time borrowers, exit counseling for graduating, plus has its own counseling, etc. maybe he did the wrong one?

One more thing to check - make sure your son's FAFSA is fully processed with a valid SAI (Student Aid Index, formerly EFC) and that there aren't any flags for verification. Sometimes schools won't process loan documents until the FAFSA verification is complete, even though they'll let you submit the MPN and counseling.

Update from the previous information I shared: If you're still having trouble after checking everything, you can request that your son print or screenshot his loan counseling completion certificate from studentaid.gov (it's available immediately after completion). Many schools will accept this as proof if there's a transmission issue. Email it directly to financial aid (not admissions) with his student ID in the subject line.

I'm dealing with a similar situation right now! My daughter's loan counseling has been stuck in transmission limbo for almost 2 weeks. What's really frustrating is that the school's financial aid office keeps telling me "it should come through any day now" but won't give me any concrete timeline or alternative solutions. I've been following this thread and the advice about checking the completion certificate and verifying the school code is super helpful. One thing I discovered is that some schools have a separate "loan processing" department that's different from general financial aid - might be worth asking if your son's school has that. Sometimes these departments communicate better about technical transmission issues. Also, totally agree about the Parent PLUS loan thing being confusing. My daughter's portal had the same "missing documents" message even though we never intended to apply for PLUS loans. It definitely feels like they're trying to nudge you toward taking out more loans, even if that's not the actual intent.

This whole situation sounds so stressful, especially with classes starting soon! I went through something similar with my nephew last year. One thing that really helped was calling the financial aid office first thing in the morning (like right when they open at 8 AM) - we had much better luck getting through to an actual person instead of voicemail. Also, if your son's school uses a student portal, check if there's a "messages" or "communication" section where you can send secure messages directly to financial aid. Sometimes these get responded to faster than phone calls because they can research the issue before responding. The Parent PLUS loan thing showing as "missing" is definitely standard - my nephew's school had the same thing. We just ignored it since we weren't taking out PLUS loans, and it didn't affect his other aid at all. But if it's bothering you, most schools have a simple form you can fill out to formally decline it. Hang in there - these transmission delays are super common but they usually get sorted out before classes start!

I'm a new parent going through this process for the first time and this thread has been incredibly helpful! My daughter just started her loan counseling yesterday and I'm already worried about potential transmission delays. Based on everything I'm reading here, it sounds like I should have her double-check that she's using her own FSA ID (not mine), verify the school code is correct, and make sure she completes it all the way to the final submission page. I'm also going to have her print the completion certificate right away so we have it as backup. One question - for those of you who had success getting through to financial aid offices, did you find it better to call the main university number and ask to be transferred, or try to find a direct number for the financial aid department? I see a lot of different phone numbers on my daughter's school website and I'm not sure which one will actually get me to the right person. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences - this is exactly the kind of real-world advice that the official websites never give you!

I just went through this exact same situation with my son last semester! The loan counseling transmission delay drove me absolutely crazy. After two weeks of waiting and multiple calls, I finally learned that you can actually log back into studentaid.gov and check the "My Aid" section to see the transmission status of completed requirements. It will show you exactly which schools received what documents and when. What ended up working for us was having my son log in and manually "re-send" the counseling completion to his school through the studentaid.gov portal - there's a little button that says "send to additional schools" even for already completed counseling. It went through within 24 hours after that. Also, regarding the Parent PLUS loan showing as missing - you're absolutely right to be confused about this! Most schools have a checkbox somewhere in the student portal (usually under "decline aid" or "loan options") where you can officially decline PLUS loans. Once you do that, it disappears from the missing documents list. It's definitely not intuitive and I wish schools would make this clearer upfront. Hope this helps and that everything gets sorted out before classes start!

I'm going through this exact same situation right now with my daughter! Her MPN went through fine but the loan counseling has been stuck for over a week. Reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea about checking the "My Aid" section on studentaid.gov to see transmission status or that you could manually re-send completed counseling to schools. One thing I wanted to add that might help others: our high school guidance counselor mentioned that during peak periods (like right now), some schools batch process loan documents only on certain days of the week rather than daily. So even if the transmission goes through, the school might not update their records until their next processing day. Might be worth asking about their processing schedule when you call. Also totally relate to the Parent PLUS confusion - it's showing as "required" on my daughter's portal even though we never applied for it. Definitely going to look for that decline option everyone mentioned. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences - this community is a lifesaver!

I'm dealing with a very similar situation with my daughter right now! Her loan counseling has been stuck in transmission for about a week, and like you, we're getting anxious with the semester approaching. One thing I discovered that might help - I called the Federal Student Aid Information Center directly (1-800-433-3243) instead of just the school, and they were able to see on their end that the counseling was completed but confirm whether it had actually transmitted. The agent told me that sometimes there are system glitches during peak season that cause counseling files to get "stuck" even though they show as submitted on the student's end. They were also able to manually trigger a re-transmission while I was on the phone, which saved me from having to wait another 5-7 days. Might be worth trying if you continue having issues with the school's financial aid office. As for the Parent PLUS showing as missing - I had the exact same confusion! Turns out most schools automatically generate that requirement until you actively decline it in their system. It's not very intuitive, but it's standard practice apparently. Hope you get it sorted out soon!