Why does my junior have an SAI number on FAFSA but my freshman doesn't?

thats totally normal, first time applicants take longer to process. my oldest had same thing happen last yr

This is actually a common situation and completely normal. For returning students (your junior), the FAFSA system already has most of their information in the database, so SAI calculations happen much faster - often immediately. For first-time applicants like your freshman daughter, there's additional verification that happens behind the scenes before they generate an SAI number. The system has to verify her identity and information with other government databases for the first time. She should receive her SAI within 3-5 business days typically, though during peak periods (December-February) it can take up to 7-10 days. If you don't see an SAI after 10 days, then I'd recommend contacting Federal Student Aid directly.

My daughter and son both applied last month and the same thing happened! Daughter got her SAI right away but my son is still waiting. Financial aid office told us it's because she already had a FSA ID from last year and he had to create a new one. It's normal!!! Don't worry.

NOBODY at FSA ever explains this properly!!!!! I spent SIX HOURS on hold trying to figure this out last year when the same thing happened with my twins. One got an SAI immediately, the other didn't get one for TWO WEEKS! And guess what? The financial aid office at their university gave the one with the SAI number first pick of scholarships while the other one lost out on $3,000 in grants because their "application wasn't complete" even though I SUBMITTED THEM AT THE EXACT SAME TIME!!!! The whole system is designed to PUNISH families who don't know the secret handshakes of financial aid. I'm still furious about it a year later.

I work at a university financial aid office, and I can confirm this is completely normal. First-time FAFSA filers go through additional verification steps that returning students don't need to complete again. A few important points: 1) The submission date is what matters for financial aid deadlines, not when the SAI appears 2) Your freshman's SAI should appear within 3-10 business days in most cases 3) Both students will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) by email once processing is complete 4) If your freshman created her FSA ID recently (within 1-3 days of filling out the FAFSA), this can cause additional delays while the Social Security Administration verifies her information If you're concerned about meeting priority deadlines, take a screenshot showing the submission confirmation page and email it to your daughter's financial aid office along with her student ID number.

same thing happened with my kids! my older one got her sai number right away but my younger one took almost 2 weeks to show up. i think its because they're first time applicants, they do more checking or something. nothing to worry about, just part of the process.

I had the exact same experience with my kids last month! For first-time applicants, there's additional verification that happens in the FSA system. This is completely normal, but if you're concerned about your daughter meeting priority deadlines, I'd recommend trying to reach someone at Federal Student Aid. I was getting super frustrated with the wait times when I called the FSA helpline (kept getting disconnected after 45+ minutes), but I found this service called Claimyr that got me through to an agent in about 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The FSA agent confirmed that my daughter's application was received on time and noted it in the system, which gave me peace of mind. Their website is claimyr.com if you want to avoid the hold times.

my daughter didn't get her sai for like 3 weeks and then suddenlty it showed up. just be patient it'll come thru

One additional point that might be helpful - make sure you're checking both the studentaid.gov dashboard AND your email regularly. Sometimes the SAI will be included in the Student Aid Report (SAR) email before it appears on the dashboard. Also, be sure to check spam folders as these official emails sometimes get filtered there. If more than 10 business days pass without an SAI for your freshman, log back into studentaid.gov and verify that there are no items in the "Action Required" section. Occasionally there might be identity verification steps or requests for additional documentation that aren't clearly communicated.