FAFSA system issues - No response from Dept of Education, what can we actually do?
I'm at my wits end with this FAFSA disaster. Applied back in December and my application is STILL showing as 'processing' in April! Called the Federal Student Aid number like 20+ times but either get disconnected or sit on hold for 2+ hours before giving up. Emails go unanswered. The school financial aid office says they can't do anything until the Dept of Education processes my application. My fall semester deposit is due in 3 weeks and I have NO IDEA what aid I'm getting! Is literally everyone having these problems? What are we supposed to do when an entire government department just...stops functioning? Has anyone actually gotten through to a real person recently??
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Jamal Brown
Yes, unfortunately this is happening to thousands of students this year. The new FAFSA rollout has been incredibly problematic. I work in higher ed (not financial aid specifically) but our campus is seeing massive delays. Some things that might help: 1. Ask your school if they can offer you a deposit extension based on the FAFSA delays 2. If you're a continuing student, some schools are using last year's SAI temporarily 3. Double-check that your FAFSA doesn't have any flags for verification or errors - sometimes they don't notify you 4. Contact your representative in Congress - they're getting involved as this is affecting so many students I know it's frustrating, but keep documenting all your attempts to contact them.
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Zoe Kyriakidou
•Thanks for the advice. I actually tried calling my representative's office last week but just got voicemail. I'll try again and maybe email too. My school already extended the deposit deadline once (was supposed to be April 1) but now they're saying no more extensions. I'm a first-time applicant so no previous SAI to use. This is just so stressful!
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Mei Zhang
same boat. been waiting since january. called 50+ times. this is ridiculous!!!
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Zoe Kyriakidou
•Have you had ANY luck getting through to a person? I'm about ready to drive to their office in person at this point.
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Liam McConnell
OMG YES! I thought it was just me! My SAI calculation is wrong because they didn't count my parents' divorce properly and I CANNOT get anyone on the phone to fix it. My school is telling me I might lose my housing if I can't confirm enrollment with financial aid by May 1st. I've been calling the FSA number literally every day for two weeks.
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Amara Oluwaseyi
•I dealt with this exact problem after my parents' divorce. Make sure your FAFSA is using the correct parent's information. If they've been divorced for over a year, you should only be using the parent you lived with most during the past 12 months (or the one who provided more financial support if you split time equally). If this is wrong, you'll need to submit a correction, which... yeah, requires actually talking to someone. The divorce situation can significantly change your SAI calculation.
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CosmicCaptain
not sure if this helps but try calling right when they open at 8am eastern time. I got through after only 45 mins on hold that way
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Zoe Kyriakidou
•I tried that twice last week! First time I got disconnected after 30 mins, second time I was on hold for an hour and 15 mins before I had to hang up for class. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow 😩
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Giovanni Rossi
This has been the worst FAFSA cycle in decades. The Department of Education made significant changes to the form this year, which has led to massive processing delays. Here are some factual points that might help you understand what's happening: 1. The new FAFSA uses a Student Aid Index (SAI) instead of the old Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculation 2. There are ongoing technical issues with direct data sharing between the IRS and Department of Education 3. Many applications are getting stuck in verification limbo 4. Processing that typically took 3-5 days is now taking 6-10 weeks for many students If you absolutely need to speak with someone at Federal Student Aid, I'd recommend trying Claimyr (claimyr.com). They have a service that will wait on hold with the FSA phone line and call you when an agent is available. There's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ In the meantime, document everything and keep your school's financial aid office updated on your situation.
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Zoe Kyriakidou
•Thank you for explaining this! I had no idea they completely changed the calculation system this year. That definitely explains some of the chaos. I hadn't heard of that Claimyr service but I'm going to check it out. At this point I'd try anything to get through to an actual person.
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Fatima Al-Maktoum
lol welcome to dealing with the government. this is why i did trade school. no fafsa headache.
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Liam McConnell
•That's not helpful. Some of us need college degrees for our career paths and we shouldn't have to deal with this broken system!
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Dylan Mitchell
Has anyone tried the studentaid.gov chat function? I was able to get some basic questions answered there when I couldn't get through on the phone. Didn't solve everything but at least let me know my application wasn't completely lost.
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Zoe Kyriakidou
•I tried the chat three times! First time I waited 40 minutes and then got disconnected. Second time I actually got through but the agent just said they couldn't help with processing times and told me to call the number (which I already explained wasn't working). Third time I got an automated message saying chat volume was too high and to try again later. So frustrating!
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Jamal Brown
Just a quick update - the Department of Education announced yesterday they're bringing in additional staff to handle the FAFSA backlog. They're also prioritizing applications for students with approaching deposit deadlines. Make sure your school's financial aid office knows your situation is urgent.
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Zoe Kyriakidou
•That's actually helpful news! I'll email my financial aid office again today and specifically mention the approaching deadline. Thanks for sharing that update.
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Mei Zhang
tried that claimyr thing someone mentioned. took 3.5 hours but they DID get me through to a real person finally. they fixed a 'processing error' on my account that was causing the delay. my sai finally showed up this morning!
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Zoe Kyriakidou
•That's awesome! I'm definitely going to try that service then. Did they tell you what the specific error was? I'm wondering if I might have the same issue.
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Mei Zhang
•something about the irs income verification not matching? agent said lots of people having that problem. they had to manually override something. good luck!
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Amara Oluwaseyi
This doesn't solve your immediate issue, but for anyone else reading this - if you have to make corrections to your FAFSA, make sure you're extremely careful. Many students are finding that correcting one thing is causing their entire application to get pushed to the back of the line for processing. Only make absolutely necessary corrections right now!
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Mei Wong
I'm so sorry you're going through this - it sounds absolutely exhausting! I'm a new member here but dealing with similar FAFSA nightmares. One thing that helped me was creating a detailed log of every call attempt (date, time, how long on hold, outcome) and sending that to both my school's financial aid office and my congressman's office. It shows the severity of the situation and some schools are being more flexible when they see documented proof of the system failures. Also, if your school has a student ombudsman or dean of students office, they might be able to advocate for you with enrollment services about the deposit deadline. Sometimes they have more pull than regular financial aid staff. Hang in there - this isn't your fault and you're definitely not alone in this mess!
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