FAFSA loan disbursement missing - charged for last year's tuition?

check w the finacial aid office directly, sometimes the billing system & financial aid system dont talk to eachother right. happened to my daughter last fall, showed a $9k balance but the ppl and stafford loans were actually processed, just not showing up on the student account page

This is actually a common issue that happens with loan disbursements. There are a few possible explanations: 1. The loans were approved but not yet disbursed (they typically disburse 10 days before the term begins) 2. There could be missing requirements - check if your son has completed entrance counseling and the Master Promissory Note (MPN) for his loans, and verify you completed the Parent PLUS application and MPN 3. Sometimes there's a system synchronization delay between the federal system and your school's billing system I recommend checking the studentaid.gov portal first to confirm the loan status there. It should show if the loans were originated and if they've been disbursed to the school. Then print that page as evidence when contacting the school.

THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME!!!!! The financial aid department at my son's school is a DISASTER! They claimed they never got his loans but the federal site showed everything was processed correctly. Then they put a hold on his registration for spring semester because of the "unpaid balance" that SHOULD HAVE BEEN COVERED BY HIS LOANS! It took WEEKS to get it sorted out and they tried to charge us late fees too!!!!

YES but only after I went IN PERSON and refused to leave until they fixed it. I showed them the studentaid.gov disbursement page on my phone and they suddenly "found" the money. MAGICALLY the loans appeared the next day on his account. They claimed it was a "system error" but I think they just messed up.

This sounds exactly like a processing delay issue. I work in higher education (not financial aid specifically), but I've seen this happen quite often. The federal system and school systems don't always communicate properly. A couple things to try: 1. Ask specifically for the loan servicer representative at your son's financial aid office - regular staff may not have access to see what's happening with the loan processing 2. Check if your son has any holds on his account that might be preventing aid disbursement 3. Verify the correct academic year is showing on both systems (sometimes loans get attached to the wrong academic year) If the loans show as disbursed on studentaid.gov, the money has left the federal system and was sent to the school. Now it's a matter of finding where it got stuck in their process.

On studentaid.gov, when you look at the loan details, it should show the specific academic year the loan was assigned to. Compare that to what you see on the school portal. If they don't match, that's likely the issue. Schools occasionally apply aid to the wrong year, especially if a student attended summer sessions or if there was a gap in enrollment.

Have you tried using Claimyr to get through to someone at Federal Student Aid? I was dealing with a similar disbursement issue and couldn't get anyone on the phone for weeks. Used their service at claimyr.com and they got me through to an agent in like 20 minutes. The agent was able to confirm on their end that the disbursement was sent to my daughter's school and gave me documentation to take to the financial aid office. There's a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. Totally worth it when you're dealing with time-sensitive financial aid issues.

Yes, for real! I was skeptical at first too, but I was also desperate. The FSA agent I spoke with was able to see exactly when my daughter's loans were disbursed to the school and sent me an email confirmation I could forward to the financial aid office. Basically gave me the proof I needed to show the school had actually received the money.

ok so i had this EXACT problem last semester with my ppl loan. turns out there was a small checkbox on my financial aid acceptance form that I missed that was like "authorize direct deposit of excess funds" or something. because I didn't check it, they were holding the whole loan even though I accepted it online. might be worth looking for something small like that in your son's portal. these systems are from like 1995 i swear

Have you checked to see if there are any MPN or entrance counseling issues? Sometimes even if you completed everything, the school's system might not have registered it properly. I recommend taking these steps: 1. Screenshot the disbursement confirmation from studentaid.gov 2. Email the bursar's office (not just financial aid) with this evidence 3. CC the dean of students and the VP of enrollment management This escalation approach often gets faster results than just contacting financial aid. Schools have separate departments for processing FAFSA/loans and for actually applying the funds to student accounts. The disconnection often happens between these two departments.

update us when u figure it out! curious if its the same issue my kid had or something different

UPDATE: You were all right about needing to be persistent! I used that Claimyr service to get through to Federal Student Aid, and they confirmed the loans were definitely disbursed to the school 2 months ago. Then I forwarded that confirmation to both the financial aid office AND the bursar's office, and CC'd the dean of students like someone suggested. Got a call back within 3 hours! Turns out there was a "system flag" on my son's account because they thought he was only half-time enrolled (he's full-time). They fixed it immediately and the loans just posted to his account this morning. The $17,800 balance is now zeroed out! Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!

Glad to hear it's resolved! For future reference, here's why this enrollment status issue affected your loan disbursement: 1. Federal student loans require at least half-time enrollment to disburse 2. Parent PLUS loans are connected to the student's enrollment status 3. When a system incorrectly flags enrollment status, it triggers an automatic hold on all aid This is a common issue that often requires exactly the escalation path you took. Great job advocating for your son!