How to track/access FAFSA financial aid package for Mass Maritime - first time parent desperate for info

I went through this with my daughter last year (different school though). Most likely the financial aid package will be posted on your son's student portal at Mass Maritime. Did he set up his portal account after being accepted? Usually they send instructions for that by email. Check his spam folder too - sometimes those important emails get filtered out.

Mass Maritime should be sending the financial aid offer to your son's school email account AND it will eventually show up in his student portal under the financial aid section. They typically send award letters after the SAI score is processed. Have you checked if your FAFSA was fully processed? Go to studentaid.gov and see if there are any flags or if it shows 'processed' status.

Former financial aid counselor here. Maritime academies sometimes have a different timeline than other schools because they have both federal and state maritime-specific scholarships to process. You should be looking in THREE places: 1. Your son's student portal (check specifically for a financial aid tab) 2. His school-issued email account (not his personal email) 3. Physical mail - some maritime programs still send paper award letters If none of those have info, it's definitely time to connect with someone at the financial aid office. Phone calls during this season can be nearly impossible to get through.

my kid goes to maritime and they are THE WORST with communication!! took us almost 5 weeks to get the aid package last year lol. check the portal under "financial services" tab not the financial aid tab (its confusing i know). also try emailing instead of calling, they responded to emails in like 2-3 days for us

We're going through the exact same thing with SUNY Maritime right now!!! The stress is UNREAL. Have you tried logging into your Parent PLUS loan account? Sometimes the aid info shows up there first before the school even notifies you. Just another place to check while you're waiting.

If you need to actually speak with someone at Mass Maritime's financial aid office, you might want to try using Claimyr. I was having the same impossible time reaching my daughter's financial aid office (40+ calls, no callbacks). Found this service that holds your place in phone queues and calls you when a real human picks up. Saved me hours of frustration. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ Finally got through and found out there was a verification issue holding up our aid package that no one had bothered to email us about! Worth trying when you're desperate.

Does your FAFSA show Mass Maritime as one of the schools the form was sent to? Sometimes if you add schools later or there's a school code error, they never actually receive your FAFSA data. Double check on studentaid.gov that Mass Maritime is listed in your school selections with the correct code.

One more thing to consider - Mass Maritime might be waiting on CSS Profile data if they require that in addition to FAFSA. Not all students need to complete it, but some schools use it for institutional aid. Did they ever ask you to submit the CSS Profile through College Board?

Good news for you - I just checked and Mass Maritime does NOT require the CSS Profile, so that's not holding things up. Their website says financial aid packages should be released 2-3 weeks after FAFSA processing, so you're right at that window. If you can get through to the office, ask specifically if they need any verification documents. That's the most common holdup in aid packages - when they need additional tax documents or income verification.

UPDATE: I just checked Mass Maritime's financial aid website and they specifically state that all financial aid offers for Fall 2025 are being delayed by approximately 7-10 days due to FAFSA changes and processing issues. They're sending them out in batches based on application date. This is happening at many schools this year with the "new FAFSA" rollout causing nationwide delays. They should have communicated this better!