How to view my submitted FAFSA answers after confirmation? School received it but need to check entries
Just got confirmation that my FAFSA was successfully delivered to my daughter's school (received notification in person today!) but now I'm second-guessing some of the information I submitted. I completed and signed the form last night, but I can't remember exactly what I put for a few income questions. Is there a way to see what I actually entered on the submitted FAFSA form? I looked all over studentaid.gov but can't find a way to view my completed application. Anyone know how to access this? I'm worried I might have made an error but don't want to start over if I don't have to.
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PrinceJoe
Congrats on getting your FAFSA submitted! Yes, you can view your completed FAFSA. Log into studentaid.gov with your FSA ID, then look for 'My FAFSA' or 'View Processed FAFSA'. There should be an option to view your Student Aid Report (SAR) which shows all the information you entered. If you need to make corrections, there's a 'Make FAFSA Corrections' option too. Just be careful not to submit a whole new FAFSA - that can cause processing delays.
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Ella Harper
•Thank you so much! I looked under 'My FAFSA' but didn't see anything about viewing it. Maybe it takes time to process before the SAR becomes available? It's only been about 20 hours since I submitted it.
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Brooklyn Knight
i had same issue last month!! the SAR doesnt show up right away, took like 3-4 days for mine. check your email too sometimes they send it there if u selected that option
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Ella Harper
•Oh that makes sense! I'll keep checking my email then. Do you remember if they sent it automatically or did you have to request it?
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Owen Devar
The SAR (Student Aid Report) usually processes within 3-5 business days after submission. Once it's available, you can access it by: 1. Logging into studentaid.gov 2. Going to your dashboard 3. Selecting "View your Student Aid Report (SAR)" If you need to make corrections after reviewing, select "Make FAFSA Corrections" instead of starting a new application. This preserves your original submission date, which is important for some school/state deadlines. Also worth noting: the SAR will show your calculated SAI (Student Aid Index, formerly EFC) which determines your aid eligibility. If you think you made significant errors, contact your school's financial aid office - they can help guide you through the correction process.
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Ella Harper
•This is really helpful, thank you! I'll wait a few days for the SAR to become available. I'm mostly concerned about making sure I entered our retirement accounts correctly - I wasn't sure if certain accounts should be included in the assets section.
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Daniel Rivera
dont worry too much about small mistakes!! schools do verification anyway if something looks off. my son put wrong numbers for our savings and they just sent a form to fix it later. the important part is you got it in!!
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Sophie Footman
THIS EXACT THING HAPPENED TO ME! I checked every day for almost a WEEK and nothing showed up in my account!!! Called FSA and was on hold for 2.5 HOURS only to get disconnected! The entire system is ridiculous - they expect us to fill out these complicated forms but then don't let us see what we submitted?? I finally had to call my daughter's school financial aid office and they could see it in their system but couldn't send me a copy. The whole process is designed to drive parents insane.
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Connor Rupert
•I had the same issue trying to reach FSA about viewing my submitted application, but found a solution through Claimyr (claimyr.com). Their service got me through to a live FSA agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. The agent walked me through accessing my SAR and explained exactly which parts of my application might need corrections. They have a video demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ - definitely worth checking out if you need to talk to someone at FSA directly about your application.
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Molly Hansen
my SAR just randomly showed up in my email one day lol. but check ur spam folder!!! mine went there for some reason. also if u log in and go to the dashboard there should be a notification thing on the right side that shows messages and one should be about ur SAR being ready
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Ella Harper
UPDATE: My SAR came through this morning! It took about 3 days but it's now available in my studentaid.gov account. For anyone else looking - it's under the dashboard, and there's a section called "You can now..." with a link to view the SAR. It shows everything I entered plus my daughter's calculated SAI. Thankfully, it looks like I entered everything correctly. Thanks everyone for your help!
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Owen Devar
•Great news! Smart of you to double-check everything. The SAI (Student Aid Index) is so important for determining your aid package. Now that you've confirmed everything is correct, your daughter's school will use this information to create her financial aid offer. If you have any questions about specific aid programs once you receive the offer, your school's financial aid office is usually the best resource for explaining the details.
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Nia Thompson
That's awesome that you got it sorted out! For future reference, you can also set up email notifications in your FSA account settings to get alerts when documents like the SAR are ready. Really saves you from having to check the portal every day. Glad everything looked correct on your submission - that peace of mind is so worth it when dealing with financial aid!
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Ava Johnson
•That's a great tip about setting up email notifications! I wish I had known about that before - would have saved me from refreshing the page constantly. I'll definitely set that up for next year when we have to renew the FAFSA. Thanks for the helpful advice!
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Romeo Quest
So glad you were able to access your SAR and everything checked out! Just wanted to add for other parents who might be reading this - if you're ever unsure about how to report specific financial information (like retirement accounts, small business assets, etc.), the FAFSA has a really helpful "Help and Hints" section for each question. You can also use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool if you've already filed your taxes, which automatically pulls in your income information and reduces errors. The whole process definitely feels overwhelming at first, but it gets easier once you know where to find everything!
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Harold Oh
•Thanks for mentioning the IRS Data Retrieval Tool! I completely forgot about that option when I was filling out the FAFSA. I ended up manually entering all our tax information, which is probably why I was so worried about making mistakes. For anyone else reading this - definitely use the IRS tool if you've already filed your taxes. It would have saved me a lot of anxiety about whether I transcribed the numbers correctly from our tax forms!
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Edwards Hugo
This is such a common worry for parents! I went through the exact same panic last year after submitting my son's FAFSA. The waiting period for the SAR to appear is nerve-wracking, but it sounds like you handled everything correctly. One thing that helped me was keeping a screenshot or notes of key information while filling it out next time - just in case I needed to reference it later. Also, don't hesitate to reach out to your daughter's financial aid office if you have any questions about the SAR once you receive it. They're usually very helpful and can explain how your information translates into potential aid packages. You've got this!
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Clay blendedgen
•That's such great advice about taking screenshots or notes while filling out the FAFSA! I definitely learned that lesson the hard way this year. I kept second-guessing myself about what I had entered, especially for the more complex financial questions. Next year I'll definitely keep better records as I go through each section. It's reassuring to hear that so many other parents go through this same worry - makes me feel less alone in the process! The financial aid office tip is really valuable too, I'll remember that when we get the aid package.
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Ava Kim
As a newcomer to this community, I'm so glad I found this thread! I just submitted my first FAFSA yesterday for my oldest child and was already starting to panic about whether I filled everything out correctly. Reading through everyone's experiences here is incredibly reassuring - it sounds like the 3-5 day wait for the SAR is totally normal and I shouldn't be refreshing the portal every hour like I have been! I'm definitely going to set up those email notifications that were mentioned and keep better notes next time. It's amazing how supportive this community is - thank you all for sharing your experiences and tips!
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Ellie Simpson
•Welcome to the community! You're definitely not alone in that refresh-the-portal anxiety - I think we've all been there! It's such a relief to know that the waiting period is completely normal. One thing I learned from this thread is to check your spam folder too, since some people mentioned their SAR notifications ended up there. The email notification setup is a game-changer for sure. Best of luck with your first FAFSA experience, and don't hesitate to ask questions here - everyone has been so helpful and understanding about the whole process!
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