FAFSA submitted 2 months ago still showing 'in review' - is this normal?

Same boat here. Submitted mine January 3rd and still says

Yes! My top choice has an April 1st scholarship deadline that requires my FAFSA to be processed! I'm getting really stressed because I can't even call to check if they're prioritizing my application.

mine jst went thru after 6wks!! check ur email spam folder cuz thats where my notification went when status finally chngd

This is RIDICULOUS!! I'm still waiting too (submitted Feb 2) and my daughter's dream school has already started sending financial aid packages to students. The whole system is BROKEN this year. The \

I understand your frustration, but writing to your congressman probably won't speed things up for this cycle. The implementation issues were expected with such a major overhaul of the system. One thing that might help - check if you have any incomplete information or verification flags. Sometimes there are small issues that aren't clearly communicated but are holding up processing.

Having worked in a financial aid office, I can tell you this year's processing timelines are definitely longer than normal due to the complete redesign of the FAFSA system. However, two months is concerning. A few things to try:\n\n1. Check that ALL sections show complete/submitted in your dashboard\n2. Look for any flags or requests for verification in your messages\n3. Verify your email is correct in your profile\n4. Check with your schools to see if they're missing anything on their end\n\nMany schools are aware of the delays and have extended their financial aid deadlines for this reason.

Thanks for the advice! Everything shows complete on my end, but I'm going to call my schools tomorrow to check if they're missing anything. Do you know if there's a way to request expedited processing?

There's no formal expedite process, but if you explain to your schools about the scholarship deadlines, they can sometimes make preliminary aid offers based on estimated FAFSA data. They might also have institutional forms you can complete temporarily.

I was stuck \

Oh wow, I've never heard of this service. That sounds like exactly what I need since I can't afford to sit on hold for hours. Did they explain what was wrong with your parents' tax info? I'm wondering if we might have a similar issue.

The issue was that my dad's name on his tax return had his middle initial, but on the FAFSA application we entered his full middle name. Such a tiny thing but it was causing a verification flag! The agent was able to override it once I explained. Definitely worth checking for small discrepancies like that.

I'm suspicious of ANY service asking for payment to access a government service that should be FREE. Does anyone know if this is even legitimate??

I actually used Claimyr too after my third failed attempt to reach someone. They don't access your FAFSA account - they just connect you with a real FSA agent. You still talk directly to the government agent yourself, they just handle the hold time.

just as a FYI - my daughters fafsa was stuck for over 2 months last cycle but then fixed itself without us doing anything lol. sometimes the system catches up all at once and processes thousands of applications overnight. ours suddenly went from \

That's good to know! Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and it'll magically be processed lol. How long did it take from submission to processing for your daughter?

it was about 9 weeks total which was WAY longer than her friends. but she still got all her aid so it worked out fine in the end!

For the 2025-2026 FAFSA cycle, Department of Education announced they were implementing a phased processing approach. Applications submitted in January and February are taking longer due to system optimization. If you check the Federal Student Aid operational updates page, you'll see they're currently processing applications from the second week of January, so yours should be coming up soon.\n\nOne suggestion - call your schools' financial aid offices and explain the situation. Most institutions are aware of the FAFSA delays and have contingency plans for scholarship applicants affected by the processing backlog.

Thank you! I'll check that operational updates page right away. Good to know they're getting to mid-January applications now. I appreciate the concrete information - makes me feel a bit better about the wait.

anybody else having trouble with the FSA ID login too??? I keep getting locked out every time i try to check my status 😤

YES!!! happens to me all the time. try using a different browser, that fixed it for me. chrome seems to work better than safari for the studentaid site.

I'm in the exact same situation! Submitted mine on January 18th and still stuck in review. This is so stressful with all the scholarship deadlines approaching. I've been checking my status obsessively every day hoping something will change. It's reassuring to know I'm not alone in this but also concerning that so many of us are experiencing these delays. Really hoping the system catches up soon because I can't afford to miss out on aid opportunities due to processing delays that are completely out of our control.