Schools haven't received my son's processed FAFSA - how to fix transmission issues?

This actually happens more than you'd think with the new FAFSA system! Before you resubmit anything, go back into his FAFSA and check the "School Selection" section. Even if the school codes look correct, sometimes there's a glitch where they appear selected but aren't actually marked for transmission. Try removing both schools and then adding them again, then submit a correction. That usually triggers the system to send the data. Give it 3-5 business days after doing this.

omg we had the exct same issue last month!!! the schools kept saying they didnt have anything but fasfa said it was done. so frustrating!!!

I spent THREE HOURS on hold with Federal Student Aid trying to fix this exact problem last week!!! The system is completely broken this year. When I finally got through, they told me they're having "transmission issues" with certain school codes and that I wasn't the only one. But of course they couldn't tell me WHEN it would be fixed! 🤬 Their suggestion was to keep checking with the schools every few days. TOTALLY USELESS!!!!

Before you do anything drastic, contact each school's financial aid office directly and ask if they can manually look up your son's FAFSA using his Social Security number and birthdate. Sometimes the FAFSA is actually in their system but hasn't been fully processed on their end or linked to his application file properly. I work in a university financial aid office (not at either of your son's schools), and this happens more than students realize. The person who answers the phone might just be checking the surface-level dashboard rather than doing a deep search.

My nephew had this same thing happen and what worked was printing out the FAFSA confirmation page that shows its processed and literally emailing it to the financial aid departments. They were able to pull his info once they had his FAFSA ID number from the confirmation page. Worth a try!

Ran into this last year with my daughter's application. For us it turned out that even though we had her CORRECT social security number on file, there was some kind of mismatch with how the schools had her SS# in their system (maybe a typo when she applied?). The FAFSA was trying to match to a student record that didn't quite match. Definitely call the schools again and ask them to verify ALL her personal info matches what's on the FAFSA.

One important clarification - you mentioned the FAFSA shows as "processed" but did you actually receive the official SAI notification email? There's a difference between the initial processing (which just means they accepted the submission) and full processing (which means they've calculated the SAI and are ready to transmit to schools). The email typically comes 3-5 days after the status changes to processed. If you haven't received that email yet, the transmission to schools hasn't started.

I tried using that Claimyr service someone mentioned above when dealing with a similar FAFSA transmission issue. Got through to a human at FSA in about 12 minutes after being on hold for 2+ hours the day before. The agent told me there was a known issue with school code transmissions for applications submitted during the first two weeks of January. They had to manually release my daughter's FAFSA to her schools. Might be worth checking if your son's application falls into that timeframe.

one more thing!!!! make sure you check your junk mail folders for emails from the schools!!! my daughters college actually DID get her fafsa but the email telling us they got it went to spam lol 🤦‍♀️

I'd love to know what ends up working for you. This seems to be a widespread issue this year with the new FAFSA system rollout. Please update us when you get it resolved!