FAFSA to school transmission time - normal to wait 3+ weeks?
I completed my FAFSA about 3 weeks ago and got my SAI score email a week later, but none of my selected schools have received my information yet. My school's financial aid office says they haven't gotten anything from FSA and their deadline for priority scholarships is coming up next Friday! Is this normal? The processing status on studentaid.gov shows "Processed Successfully" but there's no indication of when it was actually sent to my schools. Do I need to do something else to make sure they get it? I don't want to miss out on aid just because of a transmission delay!
17 comments
Join the conversation
Paloma Clark
mine took like 10 days to get to my schools this year
0 coins
Evelyn Kelly
•That's what I thought was normal! Did you have to do anything special or did it just show up automatically?
0 coins
Heather Tyson
Financial aid advisor here. The standard transmission time from FSA to schools is typically 3-7 business days after your FAFSA is fully processed. Three weeks is definitely longer than normal. A few things to check: 1. Log into studentaid.gov and verify all your school codes are correctly listed on your FAFSA 2. Check that your FAFSA is actually complete (not just submitted) - look for "Processed Successfully" status 3. Call your schools' financial aid offices directly to confirm they're checking the correct student record (sometimes they have trouble matching your FAFSA to your application) If all that checks out, you should contact Federal Student Aid directly at 1-800-433-3243 to ask why there's a delay in transmission. They can see exactly when/if your data was sent to each school.
0 coins
Evelyn Kelly
•Thank you! I double-checked and all my school codes are listed correctly, and I do see "Processed Successfully" status. I'll try calling the financial aid offices again to make sure they're looking at the right record. If that doesn't work, I'll call the FSA number.
0 coins
Raul Neal
This happened to me too! FSA said it was processed but none of my 4 schools got it. Turns out the system was flagging my app for "verification" but never notified me!! I wasted 5 WEEKS waiting before I found out. Call FSA directly ASAP!!
0 coins
Evelyn Kelly
•Oh no, that's exactly what I'm worried about! I don't see any verification notices in my account though. Did you receive any kind of notification about verification?
0 coins
Raul Neal
•NOPE! That was the crazy part - nothing in my account said anything about verification. Only found out when I finally got through to a real person at FSA. The system had it marked internally but never updated my online status or sent a notification. So frustrating!!
0 coins
Jenna Sloan
I went through the exact same thing last month. Tried calling FSA for days but kept getting disconnected or waiting for hours. I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through - they connected me to an FSA agent in about 20 minutes. The video demo shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ Turns out there was a discrepancy between my name on the FAFSA and my school applications (I used my middle initial on one but not the other). The agent fixed it right on the call and my info was transmitted to schools within 48 hours.
0 coins
Paloma Clark
•is that service free? sounds sketchy tbh
0 coins
Evelyn Kelly
•That's exactly what I'm dealing with! Tried calling twice and got disconnected after 40+ minutes both times. I'll check out that service if I can't get through tomorrow. Did you have to provide any special info to the agent to get them to check the transmission status?
0 coins
Christian Burns
this happened 2 me 2. u need 2 check if you put in the right school codes. i accidentally put in wrong code for 1 school (off by 1 number) and had 2 submit a correction. took another 2 weeks 2 process the correction. check ur codes!!!!!
0 coins
Sasha Reese
The FAFSA transmission system is a JOKE this year with all the 2024-2025 changes! My FAFSA was processed but they sent it to 2 schools I didn't even apply to because I accidentally selected the wrong codes when adding schools. Then I had to submit a correction and wait ANOTHER 3 weeks for processing. Meanwhile I missed priority deadlines at my actual schools! Call FSA directly and DEMAND they expedite the transmission. They CAN do it but won't unless you specifically ask!
0 coins
Heather Tyson
•While it's true FSA can sometimes help with transmission issues, they generally can't "expedite" transmissions as a standard practice. What they can do is troubleshoot why a transmission hasn't occurred. Common reasons include school code errors, name/DOB mismatches between FAFSA and school records, or verification flags. If there's a legitimate technical issue, they can often resolve it during your call.
0 coins
Muhammad Hobbs
Do they send by email or mail? I'm waiting too. My brother got his in like 5 days but I'm over two weeks now. This is so confusing.
0 coins
Heather Tyson
•They don't send your FAFSA results by email or mail to the schools. It's all electronic transmission through a secure federal database system called ISIR. Schools download these records electronically, usually daily or multiple times per week. As a student, you won't see this transfer happen - you'll only know when your school confirms they've received it or when it appears in your school's financial aid portal.
0 coins
Evelyn Kelly
UPDATE: I finally got through to an FSA agent this morning! Turns out there was a problem with my school codes. Even though they SHOWED correctly in my account, there was some kind of transmission error. The agent resent my FAFSA to all my schools while I was on the phone, and she said they should receive it within 3-5 business days. She also sent me an email confirmation of our call that I can forward to my financial aid office for the priority deadline extension. Thanks everyone for your help!
0 coins
Heather Tyson
•Great! This is a common issue this year with the new system. Be sure to follow up with your schools in about 5 business days to confirm they received everything. If you're still having issues, don't hesitate to contact FSA again. Glad you got it resolved!
0 coins