FAFSA website FAQs section - hidden answers I found for 2025-2026 applications
Just spent 2 hours digging through the studentaid.gov website and found this super helpful FAQ section that's weirdly buried in their site navigation. It has answers to like 30+ questions about completing the FAFSA that I hadn't seen before! The section covers everything from parent contribution questions to how they calculate the SAI score. Some really useful stuff I found: - Clarification on which parent should complete the form for divorced families (it's the one you lived with most during the past 12 months) - How to report income if your parents own a small business - What counts as "other financial information" on the application - How they treat retirement accounts and home equity Figured I'd share since I wasted so much time trying to find answers to these questions elsewhere. Has anyone else found other hidden resources on the site?
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AstroAdventurer
link plz??
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Carmen Lopez
•Sorry! Should have included it: studentaid.gov/help-center/answers. It's under the Help Center tab, then you have to click on "Applying for Aid" and it's in there.
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Andre Dupont
THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!! I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure out the parent contribution part. My parents are divorced but my dad still claims me on his taxes even though I live with my mom most of the year. The FAFSA site kept giving me contradicting information and I almost put my dad down as the contributing parent which would have TOTALLY messed up my SAI calculation because he makes wayyy more money than my mom.
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Zoe Papanikolaou
•Be careful about this. It's not just about who you lived with most - if your parents have joint custody and the higher-earning parent provided more financial support, you might need to report that parent's info instead. The FAFSA rules changed for 2025-2026 applications. I recommend double-checking with your school's financial aid office before submitting.
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Andre Dupont
•Wait what?? That's literally the opposite of what OP just said! Now I'm confused again ughhhhh
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Jamal Wilson
I found that FAQ section last month! It actually saved me from making a huge mistake on reporting my grandparent's 529 plan. Turns out for the 2025-2026 FAFSA, grandparent-owned 529s don't impact your aid eligibility anymore. Would have unnecessarily reported it otherwise.
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Mei Lin
•Wait seriously? I already submitted my FAFSA and included my grandma's 529 plan that she set up for me. Will this mess up my SAI score? Should I go back and correct my application?
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Liam Fitzgerald
The FAFSA website has improved a lot from previous years, but they still do a terrible job organizing their information. For anyone struggling with specific questions, I highly recommend using Claimyr to get through to an actual FSA agent by phone. I spent days trying to figure out how to report my parents' farm income correctly and couldn't find a clear answer anywhere in those FAQs. Finally used claimyr.com to connect with an agent who explained exactly how to handle it for my situation. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent I spoke with actually walked me through each section where I needed to report different types of farm assets and income. Saved me from potentially losing thousands in aid eligibility.
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AstroAdventurer
•does this actually work? the regular fafsa phone number always says the wait is like 2+ hours when i call
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Liam Fitzgerald
•Yes, it worked for me. Instead of waiting on hold for hours, they call you back when an agent is available. The FSA rep I spoke with was surprisingly helpful - answered all my questions about farm income reporting and even helped me understand how it would affect my SAI calculation.
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GalacticGuru
i found their FAQ about verification process like 2 weeks too late lol. spent ages gathering unnecessary documents because I misunderstood what they needed. turns out they just wanted my parents 2023 tax transcript NOT the full tax return with all schedules and whatnot. wasted so much time scanning everything
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Carmen Lopez
•Ugh that's frustrating! Yeah their verification section explains it pretty clearly but it's impossible to find unless you know exactly where to look. Did you end up getting everything submitted correctly?
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GalacticGuru
•yea eventually. had to get my dad to request the transcript from irs tho which took like another week
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Zoe Papanikolaou
The information about parent contributions in divorce situations has been updated for the 2025-2026 FAFSA. The current rule is that you should report information for the parent who provided more financial support during the past 12 months, regardless of who you lived with most. If equal support was provided, then it's based on who you lived with most. This is an important distinction because reporting the wrong parent can significantly impact your SAI calculation. The FAQ section is helpful but always verify with the most current guidance since FAFSA rules change frequently. Also worth noting that the 2025-2026 FAFSA no longer uses the term EFC (Expected Family Contribution) and has replaced it with SAI (Student Aid Index), which changes how some calculations are performed.
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Andre Dupont
•This is completely different from what the original post said! Now I'm even more confused about which parent to list. My dad makes like 3x what my mom does, but I live with my mom about 9 months of the year. My dad does pay for most of my expenses though (car, phone, insurance, etc). So I should list my dad then?
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Zoe Papanikolaou
•Based on what you've described, if your father provides more financial support even though you live with your mother most of the time, then yes, you would report your father's information on the FAFSA. This is precisely why these nuances matter so much - it can dramatically affect your SAI calculation and therefore your aid eligibility.
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Mei Lin
Has anyone found any clear information about how they calculate the SAI with parental assets? I know they have some kind of protection allowance, but the numbers I'm seeing online are from previous years. Our family has some savings for emergencies and my mom is worried it will prevent me from getting any aid at all.
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Liam Fitzgerald
•Yes, there's a protection allowance for parents' assets in the SAI formula. For 2025-2026, parents' assets are assessed on a sliding scale starting at 12% above the protection amount. The protection amount varies based on the parents' age and whether they're married or single. Roughly, if your parents are in their 40s-50s, the protection amount is around $10,500 for single parents and $21,000 for married parents (these numbers adjust annually). Assets above that amount only count partially against your aid eligibility. Definitely don't empty savings accounts - the formula is designed to protect reasonable emergency savings.
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Mei Lin
•Thank you so much! That's super helpful and makes me feel better. I was worried we'd be penalized for having any savings at all.
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Carmen Lopez
Update: I just found another really useful section on the site that explains the differences between the SAI and old EFC calculations. For those confused about the changes, there's a whole comparison chart at studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/topic/fafsa/article/sai-vs-efc that breaks it down. Apparently some types of income are treated completely differently now!
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Jamal Wilson
•Thanks for sharing this! The changes to how they treat different income sources is a big deal. For example, untaxed combat pay is now excluded from the calculation, which helps military families.
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