FAFSA sent to colleges but NJ state aid shows "NOT RECEIVED" - should I worry?

This is actually pretty normal! States and schools often work on different timelines for processing FAFSA data. Federal Student Aid first processes your FAFSA and calculates your SAI, then sends the information to your listed schools. The state systems typically get the data afterward, sometimes with a 2-3 week lag. If you just confirmed processing on 4/2, I'd give NJ HESAA until at least 4/23 before worrying.

dealing with the same thing in NY!!! fafsa processed 3/29 but NY TAP still says no data. called hesaa last week and they put me on hold for 45 MINUTES then hung up lol

ALWAYS WORRY with FAFSA this year!!! Nothing is working right. My daughter's FAFSA was "processed" in February but 2 of her 5 schools still don't have it AND our state financial aid office (Colorado) keeps sending emails saying they don't have it either. Called FSA 17 TIMES with no answer. This whole system is broken and I'm terrified we've lost out on thousands in aid because of it. Call your state office every day until you get confirmation!

I had this exact issue with NJ HESAA for my daughter. FAFSA was processed March 11, schools had it by March 18, but NJ HESAA didn't show it until April 5. I wouldn't worry yet - states are definitely on a different timeline than schools. If you haven't yet, make sure you also filled out any additional state forms NJ might require separately from FAFSA. For us it was the additional questions through the NJFAMS portal.

I work with college financial aid (not in NJ though) and can confirm there's often a lag between FAFSA processing and state agency receipt. Most state agencies are completely overwhelmed right now with the delayed FAFSA cycle. If your FAFSA was processed before NJ's priority deadline, you should be fine - they'll use the federal processing date as the submission date, not when their system receives it. I'd recommend taking a screenshot of your processed FAFSA confirmation just to be safe.

If you're still worried, I'd suggest trying to reach someone at Federal Student Aid to confirm your FAFSA was properly transmitted to NJ. I was in a similar situation with Pennsylvania and spent weeks trying to get through the regular FSA phone lines with no success. A friend recommended Claimyr (claimyr.com) which got me connected to an agent in about 10 minutes instead of endless holds. They have a video demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. The agent confirmed my FAFSA had indeed been sent to PA and explained the lag time for state processing. Worth it for peace of mind.

Update: Just checked NJFAMS again this morning and it now shows "FAFSA RECEIVED"! Looks like it was just a processing delay. Thanks everyone for the reassurance - you saved me a lot of stress!

That's such a relief to hear your update! I'm dealing with a similar situation with my state aid portal showing delays. For anyone else still waiting - I found it helpful to set up email notifications through my state's financial aid portal so I get alerts as soon as my FAFSA data arrives. Also worth double-checking that you listed your state correctly on the FAFSA if you haven't received confirmation after 3-4 weeks. The processing delays this year have been unprecedented but it sounds like most are eventually getting resolved!