FAFSA sent to some colleges but can't edit school list - anyone able to contact FSA directly?

I got through to them on Monday! It took almost TWO HOURS on hold but finally got a human. They told me the same thing about mid-April though. Something about the new system limitations until they fix some bugs. The rep said colleges that need FAFSA sooner (for merit scholarships etc) are aware of the issues and many are extending their deadlines. Did you check with the 3 new schools about their policies?

the whole system is messed up this year!! my son had same problem and we cant wait till april bc one school has march 1 deadline. we emailed the financial aid office at the school and they said to just have him submit without our school on the list and they would work with us. maybe try emailing the 3 new schools??

Unfortunately, the restrictions on editing the school list are part of the FAFSA Simplification Act implementation issues this year. The system will allow changes in April because that's when they're scheduled to deploy the next phase of updates. You have three options right now: 1. Contact each of the new schools directly and explain the situation - many have alternative processes in place 2. Try to reach FSA by phone for a manual override (though they're extremely backlogged) 3. Submit a new FAFSA with just the new schools (not ideal but some have done this) I'd recommend option #1 first - most schools are being flexible this year due to the widespread FAFSA issues.

I ran into this exact problem last week and after many failed attempts, I finally got through to an actual FSA agent using Claimyr (claimyr.com). It saved me hours of hold time. They have a video demo of how it works at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ - basically they wait on hold for you and call when an agent is ready. The agent confirmed they can't make changes to the school list until April due to processing phases, but she did document our case and advised that many schools are accepting alternative verification for students caught in this situation. Definitely worth contacting the schools directly like others suggested.

This whole FAFSA revision is a COMPLETE DISASTER!!!! My kids (twins) both had their applications STUCK in verification for 3 weeks and now we're dealing with this school list issue too. Called 23 TIMES over two days and could never get anyone. It's a total joke that the Dept of Education rolled this out when it clearly wasn't ready. My daughter's financial aid advisor at her top choice school told me they're seeing THOUSANDS of families with these exact issues. They should have just kept the old system until they actually had this one working properly!!!!

have u tried calling really early in the morning? like right when they open? that worked for me last week when i needed to fix my daughters application. still had to wait about 20 min but at least got thru

Quick update based on information just released yesterday: The Department of Education announced they will be enabling the school list editing feature sooner than mid-April. No exact date yet, but they're aiming for early March. This is in response to the high volume of similar complaints. In the meantime, still contact your new schools as they may have workarounds in place.

After reading through all this I decided to try contacting one of my daughter's schools directly like others suggested. Just got off the phone with them and they were super helpful! They said this is happening to LOTS of people and they have a form we can fill out to verify our intent to apply for aid even though the FAFSA hasn't officially been sent to them yet. They said as long as we get that form in by their deadline, they'll hold our financial aid package until the FAFSA system allows the update in March/April. Might be worth asking if your new schools have something similar!