FAFSA says 'Couldn't calculate SAI' with no next steps showing - stuck for weeks

OMG YES!! my son has the EXACT same problem!! we submited on october 10 and still shows that message. we called FSA like 5 times and each time they just say \

Did they at least give you an estimate of how long it might take? I've been trying to call them for days and can't even get through to a human!

Mine finally processed after 26 days with this error. I think they're just overwhelmed with the new system and applications are taking forever to process. Just keep checking every few days.

26 days?! That's ridiculous! Did you have to do anything special to get it to finally process?

This is a known issue with the new FAFSA system for 2025-2026. The SAI calculation process is getting stuck on applications even when there aren't actual errors. Based on my experience working with several families in this situation, here's what you need to do:\n\n1. First, check that all parent/contributor information is complete - this is the most common hidden issue\n2. Verify that your daughter properly completed the household size section\n3. Make sure there are no mismatches between reported income and tax return data\n4. Check that all schools are properly added to her profile\n\nIf you've done all this and still see no specific error message, you need to request a manual review by a FSA agent. This can only be done by phone, unfortunately.

Thank you for this detailed response! We've verified all those things and everything looks correct. The schools are definitely listed correctly. I've been trying to get through on the phone for days with no luck - just endless hold times and then disconnects.

I had a similar issue and discovered it was because my daughter's birthdate was entered incorrectly (she put the wrong year). The system didn't flag this as an error specifically, just showed the \

That's interesting - I'll have her double-check all her personal information again. It seems crazy they wouldn't just tell you specifically what's wrong!

try using claimyr.com to get through to a fafsa agent on the phone. I was in the same boat last week and was about to give up after being hung up on 3 times. someone recommended the service and I got through to an actual human in about 20 mins who fixed the issue. they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ saved me from missing my kid's college financial aid deadline.

Thank you! I've never heard of this service before but at this point I'm desperate enough to try anything. Did the agent you got through to actually fix the problem or did they just tell you what was wrong?

they found the actual problem - turned out there was a data mismatch between what we entered for income and what the IRS had. the agent was able to override something on their end and our SAI showed up the next day. definitely worth it compared to the hours of frustration trying to get through normally.

the whole new fafsa system is GARBAGE!! im a college counselor and like 30% of my students have this exact problem. the dept of ed keeps saying they've fixed these issues but THEY HAVENT. some of my students waited 5+ weeks with no resolution. CALL YOUR FINANCIAL AID OFFICES at the schools directly! many are offering extensions for aid deadlines because of these fafsa problems.

That's a great suggestion about contacting the schools directly. I'll have my daughter email her top choices tomorrow to explain the situation. It's reassuring (but also disturbing) to hear this is so widespread.

Update: we had this same issue for weeks, and then suddenly yesterday my son's SAI appeared without us doing anything! No explanation, no notification, it just showed up and now everything seems fine. The system seems completely random. My advice is just keep waiting and checking daily.

Thanks for sharing! That gives me some hope. Did you ever figure out what the supposed error was, or did it just magically resolve itself?

It honestly just fixed itself! We never found out what was wrong - if anything actually was wrong. My theory is they're just severely backlogged and the system shows that error message during processing instead of

After dealing with this exact issue, I discovered a workaround. Log out completely, clear your browser cache and cookies, then log back in using a different browser (if you used Chrome before, try Firefox or Edge). For some reason, this forced a refresh on our application view and suddenly the specific errors appeared in the Next Steps section. They were minor issues that took 5 minutes to fix, and our SAI appeared 3 days later.

Oh wow, I'll definitely try this! It sounds like it might be a technical glitch rather than an actual problem with our application. I'll report back if this works for us!