FAFSA shows complete but college says they haven't received it - stuck in financial aid limbo!

Check if your FAFSA submission actually included that college on your school list. I submitted in Dec and thought I was good, then realized I forgot to add 2 schools to my list! Go back into your FAFSA and verify State Univ is actually listed there with the right school code.

I work in a financial aid office, and this happens more than you'd think! First, make sure you're looking at the correct aid year (2025-2026) in your FAFSA. Next, check if you received a Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation - without that, your FAFSA isn't fully processed. Then call the school again and ask if they can look up your student by SSN in their system to see if maybe the FAFSA arrived but isn't matching correctly. Sometimes there's a name or birthdate discrepancy that prevents the records from linking properly.

had the same exact problem last year!!! turns out the SAI site was showing everything was fine BUT there was some weird verification flag on my account that nobody told me about. you need to look at the actual processed date on your FAFSA and make sure it matches when you submitted it

You need to use the FAFSA correction feature to resend your information. Log into studentaid.gov, click on "Make FAFSA Corrections," confirm all the information is correct, and then resubmit. This forces the system to retransmit your FAFSA to all the schools on your list. I've seen this fix the issue in about 75% of cases where the FAFSA was submitted but the school claims they never received it. The other 25% usually involves some technical issue with how the school processes incoming FAFSA data.

Usually 3-5 business days for the resubmitted FAFSA to reach the schools. Make sure to follow up with the financial aid office afterward to confirm they received it. If they still don't have it after a week, you'll need to ask for a "FAFSA record request" from Federal Student Aid.

did u apply for a css profile too? some schools want both and get confusion if u only do fasfa. my cousin had this happen and the school was waiting for both documents but didnt tell him until he went in person to the financial aid office!!

THE WHOLE FINANCIAL AID SYSTEM IS A JOKE!! Every year something goes wrong with fafsa and nobody ever has answers!!! I had to drive 2 HOURS to my son's college last year just to sit down with a REAL PERSON who could actually help cause nobody answered phones or emails. so sick of this broken system!!!

Quick update question - after you submit the correction, ask the school's financial aid office to check for your FAFSA using the ISIR system (that's the institutional record of your FAFSA data). Sometimes schools can see ISIRs before they fully import into their main system. Also, don't forget to mention your change in financial circumstances right away. While they won't process it until they have your FAFSA, you can at least get the Professional Judgment request forms started. Ask specifically for their "Special Circumstances" or "Income Adjustment" form based on job loss.

one more thing to try if the correction doesn't work - have your daughter check her school portal account too. Sometimes the financial aid office actually HAS the FAFSA but it's not showing up right in their system. My son's university actually had his FAFSA but it was sitting in some verification queue and nobody bothered to tell us!

Just checking back - did the FAFSA correction trick work? Were you able to get this resolved?

So glad to hear the correction worked! That FAFSA transmission glitch seems to happen way more often than it should. For anyone else reading this thread with similar issues, definitely try the correction/resubmission method first - it's usually the quickest fix. And Admin_Masters, make sure to follow up on that special circumstances request regularly. Job loss appeals can take a few weeks to process, but they're usually pretty understanding about those situations. Good luck with everything!