One college sent financial aid package but 14 others silent - FAFSA progress timeline?

This is completely normal timing. Different schools process their financial aid packages on different schedules, and some schools are notoriously slow. I work in college admissions and can tell you that most schools are still finalizing their packages now. A few things to know: 1. Many schools don't start sending financial aid offers until early April, especially for regular decision applicants 2. If your FAFSA shows "processed" on studentaid.gov, that means schools have your data 3. Schools with larger financial aid offices tend to process faster I wouldn't worry until April 15th. After that, it's reasonable to contact schools individually. Your son will have time to compare offers before the May 1 decision deadline.

congrats on gettin ur first offer!! even if it wasnt much money lol. my daughter is waitin on 8 schools and we also only heard from 1 so far. the financial aid guy at her school told me some colleges hold everything until april 1 on purpose so dont panic!! just keep checkin those portals every few days 👍

I'm in the exact same situation with my twins! One got a package from their safety school (which was disappointingly low) and nothing from their top choices yet. I've been refreshing portals obsessively. WHAT I DID DISCOVER is that for 3 of the schools, aid packages were actually sitting in their student portals but NO emails were sent! So definitely check all the portals manually - don't just wait for emails. Also check spam folders because my daughter found two "Your financial aid is ready" emails there.

JUSTT FYI - $7800 for a $43k school is actually VERY NORMAL these days. Financial aid isn't what it used to be. My son got into 5 private schools last year and the highest package was only $12k for a $50k tuition. Don't expect much better from the other schools unless your family EFC is super low or your kid is a recruited athlete/merit scholar. State schools give almost nothing to out-of-state students.

Hi there! College financial aid advisor here. Late March is still early in the financial aid cycle for many schools. The timeline varies widely depending on the institution, but here's what's typically happening: - Some schools prioritize sending aid packages with acceptance letters - Others process aid in batches based on application date - Many schools are still calculating institutional aid awards - Some intentionally wait until April to finalize packages What you should do: Check each school's portal weekly, and if you haven't heard by April 10th, I'd recommend contacting the financial aid offices directly. Make sure you've completed any school-specific financial aid forms beyond FAFSA (like CSS Profile if required). When you do get all your packages, create a spreadsheet comparing the offers - separate grants from loans, and calculate your actual out-of-pocket cost after all free money is applied.

I've been trying to call the Federal Student Aid helpline for DAYS about a similar issue (some schools received our FAFSA, others claim they never got it). Kept getting disconnected or waiting 2+ hours only to be cut off. Finally I found this service called Claimyr that got me through to a FAFSA agent in under 20 minutes! They basically hold your place in the phone queue and call you when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration. Their site is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent confirmed that all our selected schools had received the FAFSA data, but some schools just haven't processed it in their systems yet. Might be worth checking on your end too if you're concerned about the other 14 schools.

UPDATE: I started calling some of the financial aid offices directly today. Three more schools confirmed they're still processing aid packages and expect to send them out "the first week of April." One school found a "flag" on our FAFSA that was holding things up (something about income verification they never notified us about). So if anyone else is in the same situation - might be worth making some calls! Will update again when we get more responses.

my daughter had same problem. we were missing packaes from 6 schools she got into. financial aid office told us it was because we didnt fill out the CSS PROFILE for those schools!!!! FAFSA isnt enough for many private colleges. you have to do CSS too and its not free like FAFSA. cost us $25 per school to submit it late. check if your missing schools required CSS!!!

If that first package is any indication of what's coming, you might want to start looking at Plan B options now. We were in the same boat last year - excited about all the acceptances until we saw the actual cost after "aid." In the end, my daughter turned down her dream school for the state university because the difference was over $30k per year. Sometimes the package from one school does represent what you'll see from similar-tier schools. Just trying to help you prepare mentally! Start researching community college transfer programs as a backup.