FAFSA still showing 'In Progress' 3 weeks after submission - should I worry about SAI delay?

this is happening to EVERYONE rn, the new system is a total mess. my daughter submitted jan 12 and just got her SAI yesterday!!! DOE totally botched the rollout

The Department of Education has acknowledged significant delays with the 2024-2025 FAFSA rollout. Some applications are taking 3-4 weeks to process right now, which is much longer than normal years. A couple things to verify: 1. Log into studentaid.gov and check if there are any notifications or requests for additional information 2. Confirm all contributor sections (if applicable) were completed 3. Check if the confirmation email shows the application was successfully SUBMITTED, not just STARTED If all looks good, unfortunately it's just a waiting game right now. You can contact your schools' financial aid offices to let them know you've submitted and are waiting for processing - most schools are aware of the delays and are adjusting their procedures accordingly.

My kid's FAFSA just took 5 WEEKS to process!!! This new system is absolute garbage. Call your school financial aid offices ASAP and let them know you submitted. Most are making accommodations because of how bad the rollout has been. The priority deadlines don't matter if they know you submitted already.

I work in a college financial aid office, and I can tell you this is unfortunately very common this year. The FAFSA Simplification Act changes led to a complete overhaul of the system, and processing times are much longer than previous years. Here's what you should do: 1. Contact each college's financial aid office to inform them you've submitted but are waiting for processing 2. Take screenshots of your submission confirmation as evidence 3. Watch for any emails from FSA about additional information needed If you need to speak directly with Federal Student Aid, be prepared for extremely long hold times. Many of our students have had success using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to avoid those waits - they have a service that holds your place in line and calls you back when an agent is available. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. Several students told me it saved them hours of waiting on hold.

The delays are ridiculous this year! My twins both submitted their FAFSAs on January 11th, and we just received their SAI scores yesterday. That's over 5 weeks! The strange thing is they submitted within minutes of each other, but one application was processed a week before the other. No explanation for the difference. During the wait, I called FSA three times. The first two times I couldn't get through, but on the third try, I finally spoke with someone who confirmed there was nothing wrong with the applications - just severe processing backlogs. They mentioned they're prioritizing applications for students with earlier college deadlines, but I'm not sure how accurately they're doing that. Definitely contact your son's schools - most are being very understanding about these delays.

Has anyone figured out if there's actually a PATTERN to how they're processing these? Like are they going in order of submission date? Or by college deadline? Or just random??? I'm so frustrated. My daughter submitted January 18 and nothing yet. Her friend submitted February 2 and already got her SAI back. MAKES NO SENSE.

Just to update everyone on this thread - the Department of Education announced yesterday that they're adding additional processing capacity to address the backlog. They're now stating that applications should be processed within 2-3 weeks from submission, and they're working through the oldest submissions first. If your FAFSA has been pending for more than 3 weeks, it might be worth trying to contact them directly. The official phone number is 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243).

dont waste ur time calling the regular number, i was on hold for LITERALLY 2.5 hours yesterday and then got disconnected. the whole system is broken this year. my daughter lost a scholarship already because they needed the SAI by feb 15 and we still dont have it. so mad right now!!!!!

quick update - my daughters SAI finally came thru and it was COMPLETELY wrong!!! now we have to submit a correction and wait AGAIN. this is such a nightmare

For those still waiting, here's what many financial aid offices are advising students to do: 1. Screenshot your confirmation page showing the date you submitted the FAFSA 2. Email this screenshot to each college's financial aid office 3. Ask for a provisional financial aid offer based on your submission date Many schools are making accommodations and extending deadlines due to these unprecedented delays. Don't assume you'll lose opportunities - proactive communication with your schools is key.