I'm dealing with a similar situation right now with my son - his father has been completely absent since he was 5 and we have no way to contact him safely. What I learned from our financial aid advisor is that you absolutely need to complete your portion first as the custodial parent, then each school will handle the missing parent information differently. Some schools have been really understanding and just needed a brief letter explaining the situation, while others wanted more formal documentation. The most important thing is getting that FAFSA submitted with YOUR information - don't let the missing father's info delay the whole application. You can always provide additional context to schools after submission, but you can't get financial aid if you miss the deadline entirely.

I work in financial aid and see this situation regularly. You're absolutely correct - complete your portion as the custodial parent immediately. The FAFSA system is designed so that divorced/separated parents only provide information from the parent the student lives with most. Your daughter's counselor may have confused this with the much rarer dependency override process, which happens AFTER FAFSA submission and has very strict criteria. The protective order actually strengthens your case for professional judgment reviews at individual schools, but first you need that FAFSA completed with YOUR financial information. Don't let this delay her application - schools are much more understanding about these situations than people think, especially with proper documentation.

One more thing to keep in mind - since your daughter is graduating early in December, make sure to coordinate with her high school counselor about sending her final transcript to the college. Sometimes there can be delays with mid-year graduates getting their transcripts processed, and the college will need that official final transcript before they can finalize her financial aid package. Also, if she's planning to work part-time while in college, look into whether her school participates in Federal Work-Study - it's often easier to find on-campus jobs through work-study, and since she's starting spring semester, there might actually be more openings available than typical since some fall work-study students graduate or leave mid-year!

Just wanted to chime in as another parent who went through this exact situation! My daughter also graduated early (December 2022) and started college in Spring 2023. One thing that really helped us was creating a checklist with all the deadlines - not just FAFSA, but also housing deposits, orientation dates, course registration, etc. Spring admits often have compressed timelines for everything. Also, don't forget to ask about summer financial aid eligibility when you submit that 2024-25 FAFSA - many students don't realize they can use their aid for summer courses too, which can help her get ahead or catch up to the traditional fall cohort. The summer semester aid is often underutilized so there may be good opportunities there!

Just wanted to add one more tip that helped us tremendously - create a FAFSA renewal checklist and start gathering documents in November. We learned the hard way that banks sometimes change their statement formats or online portals between years, so what worked for retrieving account information last year might not work this year. Also, if you had any major life changes during 2023 (job loss, divorce, medical expenses, etc.) that aren't fully reflected in your tax return, start documenting those now. You'll want to be ready to submit a Professional Judgment appeal right after you receive your initial aid offer rather than waiting months like we did. One last thing - screenshot or save copies of every page when you submit your renewal FAFSA. The system still has occasional glitches where submitted information gets lost, and having your own records makes resolving issues much faster. Good luck!

As someone who just completed my second FAFSA renewal (daughter is now a junior), I wanted to add that it's worth setting up a dedicated email folder for all FAFSA/financial aid correspondence. Schools send SO many emails throughout the process, and it's easy to miss important deadlines or requests for additional documentation if they get buried in your inbox. Also, don't panic if your daughter's aid package looks different from freshman year - sometimes schools redistribute aid types (like converting some grant money to work-study or loans) even when the total amount stays similar. The key is looking at the bottom line of what you'll actually pay out of pocket, not just comparing individual line items. One more tip: if your daughter is considering study abroad for junior or senior year, start asking about how that affects financial aid eligibility NOW. Some programs don't qualify for federal aid, and you'll want to factor that into your financial planning early.

Hey Rhett! I totally understand your anxiety - I just went through this exact same situation about a month ago. I submitted my FAFSA and then spent days obsessively checking my studentaid.gov account wondering when my SAI would appear. It's such a stressful waiting period! From what I learned, your SAI will definitely be visible to you once processing is complete. You'll find it in your Student Aid Report (SAR) which you can access by logging into studentaid.gov and going to your dashboard. Look for a section that says "View SAR" or "Student Aid Report" next to your submitted FAFSA. The timing can really vary - mine took about 6 business days to show up, but I've heard anywhere from 3-10 business days is normal. With divorced parents involved, there's a slightly higher chance you might get selected for verification, but that just means providing some additional documentation to confirm your info. Try not to stress too much about what the actual number will be! I was convinced mine would be terrible because of my family's situation, but it ended up being more reasonable than I expected. Plus, each school uses your SAI differently when putting together aid packages, so the SAI itself isn't the final word on what aid you'll receive. Hang in there - you should see it soon!

Hey Rhett! I just wanted to chime in as someone who's also dealing with the FAFSA waiting game right now. I submitted mine about 4 days ago and have been refreshing my studentaid.gov dashboard probably way too often! Reading through this thread has been incredibly helpful and reassuring. From everything everyone has shared, it sounds like you're still well within the normal timeframe - especially with the divorced parents situation which can sometimes take a bit longer to process. I love how everyone has emphasized that the SAI is just the starting point, not the final determination of your aid. That's really helped calm my nerves too! One thing I noticed that might help - when I log into my account, there's a little notification area that shows processing status updates. Mine still says "processing" but at least I know the system is working on it. Have you seen anything like that on yours? Anyway, just wanted to add some solidarity to this thread - the waiting is definitely anxiety-inducing but it sounds like we're all in good company! Thanks to everyone who's shared their experiences and timelines.

As someone who's been through this process recently, I wanted to add a few practical tips that helped me: 1. Clear your browser cache before starting - the studentaid.gov site can be finicky with saved login info 2. Have your tax information handy even if you think you won't need it - sometimes the system asks for verification 3. The entrance counseling takes about 20-30 minutes and you can pause/resume it if needed 4. After you accept your loans, it usually takes 1-2 weeks for your school to receive the funds Also wanted to echo what others said about only borrowing what you need. I started with just the subsidized portion my first semester and found I could cover most expenses that way. You can always accept more later if needed, but you can't "un-borrow" once it's disbursed! Good luck with your first year of college! 🎓

Hey Keisha! As another first-gen college student, I totally understand how overwhelming this all feels at first. You've gotten some great advice here already! One thing that really helped me was creating a simple checklist: ☐ Log into studentaid.gov with FSA ID ☐ Navigate to "My Aid" section ☐ Review loan breakdown (subsidized vs unsubsidized) ☐ Accept only what you need (start with subsidized if possible) ☐ Complete Master Promissory Note (MPN) - one time only ☐ Complete Entrance Counseling - required but you can take breaks The entrance counseling might seem long and boring, but it actually has useful info about budgeting and repayment that I wish I'd paid more attention to! And don't stress if the website is slow - studentaid.gov can be glitchy, especially during busy periods. You're asking all the right questions and being thoughtful about this decision. That puts you ahead of a lot of students who just click "accept all" without thinking it through. Wishing you the best with your first year! 📚