FAFSA shows 'In Review' since Jan 4 - how to confirm it's sent to university?

in review is totaly normal these days! my twins fafsa been in review for THREE WEEKS before it finally went thru. new system is a MESS lol

The 'In Review' status is expected with the new FAFSA rollout. The Department of Education announced processing times of 4-6 weeks for applications submitted in January. Regarding your second question, you can verify which schools received your FAFSA by: 1. Log into studentaid.gov with your SON'S account (not your parent contributor account) 2. Go to the 'My FAFSA' section 3. View the submitted FAFSA 4. Check the 'School Selection' section which lists all schools that will receive his information If his current university isn't listed, you can submit a correction to add it.

OMG the new FAFSA is a NIGHTMARE!!! We submitted ours on December 30th and it was stuck "In Review" for almost 6 weeks!! I called FSA like 10 times and nobody could tell me anything useful. They just kept saying "it's processing" and "be patient" but my son's school had SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINES that were passing by!!! So frustrating!!!

The delays are definitely worse this year with the new FAFSA rollout. I work in a financial aid office, and we're telling families to expect 4-6 week processing times currently. To directly answer your questions: 1. Yes, "In Review" for several weeks is unfortunately normal right now. You don't need to take action unless it's been more than 6 weeks. 2. To check which schools are receiving the FAFSA, your son needs to log into studentaid.gov (not the parent portal). Under "My FAFSA," he can view the submitted form and see the schools listed. One important note: If your son's university isn't listed, you'll need to add it by submitting a correction. However, this resets the clock on processing time, so verify first. Also, many universities have extended their financial aid deadlines because of these FAFSA delays, so you may want to check with the financial aid office directly.

If you really need to talk to someone at Federal Student Aid about your status, I found this service called Claimyr that helped me get through to an actual person after weeks of trying. You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ and their website is claimyr.com. My FAFSA was stuck in review too and I was able to get someone to look at my specific application and explain what was happening. Saved me so much frustration.

A couple things to add that might help: 1. The "In Review" status doesn't actually mean much in the new system. Your application might be completely processed and waiting to be sent to schools even while showing this status. 2. For university verification, remember that under the new FAFSA system, schools don't receive the actual FAFSA but instead get your son's calculated Student Aid Index (SAI) and eligibility information. 3. Many schools are waiting longer than usual to send financial aid packages because of the FAFSA delays, so even if they received your information, you might not hear anything for a while. If you're concerned about meeting specific university deadlines, I recommend emailing the financial aid office at your son's school directly. They can usually look up whether they've received his FAFSA information in their system.

btw has anyone else notice that the SAI calculation seems WAY off this year?? my daughters came back 5k higher than last years EFC even tho our income is the same...

UPDATE: We checked my son's studentaid.gov account and found that we DID select his university! The FAFSA is still showing "In Review" but at least we know it will go to the right place. We also emailed his financial aid office and they said many students are in the same situation and that they're being flexible with deadlines. Thanks everyone for your help!

I'm dealing with the exact same issue! My daughter's FAFSA has been "In Review" since January 8th and I was starting to panic. Reading through all these responses is really reassuring - sounds like 4-6 weeks is just the new normal with this system overhaul. I had no idea we needed to check her student account instead of the parent portal to see which schools were selected. That's such a confusing design choice! Going to have her log in tonight to double-check everything is correct. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and the step-by-step instructions. It's frustrating that we're all dealing with these delays, but at least we're not alone in this mess!

I'm new to this community but wanted to share my experience since I'm in the exact same boat! My son's FAFSA has been "In Review" since January 12th and I was starting to panic about scholarship deadlines. After reading all these responses, I feel so much better knowing this is normal with the new system rollout. The advice about checking the student account instead of the parent portal was incredibly helpful - I had no idea! We checked last night and confirmed his school was properly selected. I also called his university's financial aid office today and they said they're extending all FAFSA-related deadlines because of the widespread delays. It's frustrating that the Department of Education didn't better communicate these processing times upfront, but at least we know what to expect now. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences - this thread has been a lifesaver!

I'm new to this community but wanted to jump in here because we're experiencing the exact same frustrating situation! My daughter submitted her FAFSA on January 6th and it's still showing "In Review" - I was getting really anxious about whether we had made some kind of error. This thread has been incredibly reassuring! I had no idea that 4-6 weeks was the new normal, and I definitely didn't know about checking the student account versus the parent portal. That seems like such a basic thing they should have explained better in the new system. We're going to have her log in tonight to verify her school selections, and I'm planning to reach out to her university's financial aid office tomorrow just to give them a heads up that we've submitted but are still waiting on processing. It's comforting to know so many schools are being flexible with deadlines given these widespread delays. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences and practical advice - it's so helpful to have this community support during what feels like a really chaotic rollout of the new FAFSA system!