FAFSA showing wrong schools after making corrections - SAI received but schools missing from submission summary
Anyone else experiencing issues with missing schools after submitting FAFSA corrections? Here's my situation: I submitted my initial FAFSA back in January with just 2 schools. Then on 5/2/24, I completed corrections and added 3 more schools. I received my SAI calculation by email a few days later (which is honestly way higher than we expected - ugh). But when I check my submission summary today, only the original 2 schools from January are showing up! The 3 new schools I added aren't appearing anywhere. The form status still says "in review" - could that be why? I'm seriously frustrated because I waited over 3 months just to add these schools, and now they're not even showing up. Two of these schools specifically require the FAFSA submission for merit scholarships and work-study consideration, which is all we're hoping to qualify for with our high SAI. Has anyone dealt with this schools-disappearing problem after corrections? Did the schools eventually show up once the corrections were fully processed?
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Diego Fisher
This happened to me back in March! The schools I added during corrections didn't show up in my submission summary for about 9 days while my form was stuck "in review." Once the corrections were fully processed, the schools finally appeared. It's definitely related to the corrections still being processed. If your SAI was calculated though, that's actually a good sign - it means your application is moving through the system. I'd give it another week, then if they still don't show up, you might need to contact FSA directly.
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Evelyn Kim
•Thanks for sharing your experience! 9 days sounds better than waiting another month. Did you have to do anything special to make them appear, or did they just show up automatically once the review was complete?
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Henrietta Beasley
same thing happened to my daughter!!! we added 5 more schools in april and they NEVER showed up on the screen but she got emails from all of them saying they received her fafsa info!!! so maybe check with the schools directly? the whole system is garbage this year honestly
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Evelyn Kim
•Oh that's interesting! I haven't received any emails from the schools yet, but maybe I should contact them directly to see if they received my information. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Lincoln Ramiro
Financial aid administrator here. This is a known issue with the 2024-2025 FAFSA processing system. When corrections are submitted, there can be a disconnect between what you see on your screen and what's actually happening in the system. Here's what's likely happening: 1. Your corrections are still processing (hence the "in review" status) 2. The SAI calculation was completed separately from the school transmission process 3. The schools were likely added to your record but aren't displaying correctly in the user interface Three options for you: - Wait 10-14 days for the corrections to fully process - Contact each school's financial aid office directly to confirm if they've received your FAFSA - Contact FSA directly to verify which schools are actually listed on your FAFSA Regarding your high SAI - remember that many schools use institutional methodology alongside federal methodology, so don't lose hope about merit and work-study options!
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Evelyn Kim
•Thank you so much for this detailed explanation! This makes a lot of sense. I'll wait until the end of next week, and if nothing changes, I'll contact the schools directly. It's reassuring to know this is a known issue and not just something wrong with my specific application.
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Faith Kingston
tried calling the fed student aid # for days and couldnt get through. kept getting disconnected or wait times over 2 hours. finally used this service called claimyr.com and got a callback in 20 mins. they confirmed my schools were in the system even tho they werent showing on my summary page. check out their demo video if ur interested https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ saved me tons of stress!!!
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Emma Johnson
•is this legit? i heard u have to pay for this?
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Faith Kingston
•yeah it costs money but was worth it for me. i wasted hours trying to get through on my own and kept getting disconnected. they just got me in the phone queue faster
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Liam Brown
I'm actually dealing with an even weirder situation where some corrections went through but others didn't. I added 4 schools, but only 2 showed up after processing. Then randomly a week later, the other 2 appeared! The whole system seems incredibly buggy and inconsistent this year. I HATE that they switched to this new system when clearly it wasn't ready. So many of us are depending on financial aid packages to make college decisions, and we're all stuck in this weird limbo waiting for the system to work correctly. Also, about your high SAI - don't give up hope. My daughter's SAI was much higher than expected but she still got decent merit packages from several schools that "required" the FAFSA for consideration.
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Evelyn Kim
•It's reassuring to hear I'm not the only one experiencing these weird glitches! And thanks for the encouragement about the merit packages - that gives me hope! Did your daughter have to do anything special to make sure the schools considered her for merit aid despite the high SAI?
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Liam Brown
•Nothing special - just made sure to complete any supplemental financial aid forms the schools required (some had their own institutional forms). The FAFSA was just a checkbox for eligibility at some schools, not actually used for merit calculations. Good luck!!
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Olivia Garcia
IT'S ABSOLUTELY MIND-BOGGLING how they managed to completely DESTROY a system that worked fine for DECADES!!!!! My daughter is a freshman this year and I spent HOURS trying to figure out this new disaster of a system. Schools missing, randomly appearing, SAI calculations changing without explanation... I've been filing FAFSAs for my older kids since 2015 and NEVER had these issues until this year's "improved" system. I think your best bet is to call each school directly and make sure they received your information. Don't trust anything you see (or don't see) on the FAFSA portal at this point. It's all a mirage!!!
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Henrietta Beasley
•PREACH!!! 👏👏👏 its like they purposely made it worse!!!
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Evelyn Kim
•I'm definitely going to contact the schools directly. It's frustrating that we can't trust what we're seeing in the portal. Thanks for the advice!
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Emma Johnson
idk but we added schools on 4/22 and they showed up right away? maybe try deleting cookies or using different browser? just a thought
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Evelyn Kim
•I hadn't thought about trying a different browser. I'll give that a shot, thanks!
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Diego Fisher
Update for everyone following this thread - I just checked with a colleague who works in financial aid processing, and they confirmed there was a system-wide issue affecting school list updates during the first week of May. The good news is that despite the visual glitch in the FAFSA portal, the schools ARE receiving your information correctly in most cases. The Department of Education is aware of the issue and working on fixing the display problem. But as others have suggested, contacting the schools directly to verify receipt is the safest approach right now.
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Evelyn Kim
•Thank you so much for checking and providing this update! This is extremely helpful and gives me a lot of peace of mind. I'll still follow up with the schools but it's good to know this is a system-wide issue that's being addressed.
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Olivia Garcia
•OF COURSE there was a system issue the EXACT week I made my corrections too! 🤦♂️ Thanks for confirming what we all suspected - the entire system is fundamentally broken. Appreciate the inside info though!
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