I'm new to this community but dealing with a very similar situation! My parents are getting divorced and I'm starting to realize this could actually help with my financial aid situation. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been incredibly eye-opening - I had no idea that divorce could potentially increase aid eligibility. A few questions for those who have been through this process: 1. When you contacted the financial aid office, did you call or email first? I'm wondering which approach gets a faster response. 2. For those whose aid increased significantly - was this mostly federal aid (like Pell Grant increases) or institutional aid from the school? 3. Did any of you have to provide tax returns from the non-custodial parent even after the divorce adjustment was approved? I'm feeling really overwhelmed trying to navigate college costs on top of everything else happening with my family situation, but this thread is giving me hope that there might be a path forward that doesn't involve massive student loans. Thank you all for sharing your experiences so openly - it really helps to know others have been through this successfully!

Welcome to the community! I'm also navigating this exact situation as a newcomer here. My parents' divorce was just finalized last month, and I had no idea it could potentially help with my college financial aid until I found this thread. From what I'm learning here, it sounds like the key steps are: 1) Contact your daughter's school directly (not FAFSA), 2) Ask for their "Special Circumstances" or "Professional Judgment" form, 3) Gather documentation about the divorce/separation and income changes, and 4) Be persistent in following up. The fact that your household income is dropping by 60% after the divorce could make a huge difference in your daughter's aid eligibility. Several people here have shared success stories with significant aid increases - one person mentioned over $7,000 additional aid, another saw their loan needs drop from $15k to $8k. I'm planning to call my school's financial aid office tomorrow morning after reading everyone's advice here. It's encouraging to know that financial aid officers see these situations regularly and are usually understanding about family changes beyond our control. Don't lose hope - it sounds like there are real solutions available even though the process might take a few weeks to complete.

I'm dealing with this same exact issue right now! My son's FAFSA had our household size of 5 people, but after the IRS data retrieval it went completely blank. I've been trying to fix it for weeks and getting nowhere with customer service. Thank you everyone for the detailed instructions on where to find this hidden field. It's ridiculous that such a critical piece of information that affects thousands of dollars in aid eligibility is buried so deep in the application and keeps getting wiped out by their own system! I'm also really concerned about our timeline - we have college deadlines coming up fast and I'm worried this correction will delay everything. Has anyone had success contacting their school's financial aid office directly about this widespread glitch? I'm thinking of reaching out proactively to explain the situation before our corrected FAFSA gets processed. This whole "simplified" FAFSA rollout has been an absolute disaster. Between the late launch, constant crashes, and now data getting randomly deleted, I feel like we're all beta testing their broken system while our kids' financial aid hangs in the balance.

Ugh, this is happening to us too! Just discovered our household size went from 4 to blank after the IRS transfer. I'm a single mom with three kids and this could seriously affect how much aid my oldest gets for college. Thank you everyone for the detailed instructions - I'm going to try the Parent Information > Household Details > Family Members path that @Keisha Robinson mentioned. Really hoping I can get this fixed before it delays our financial aid package. It's so frustrating that a "simplified" form is causing so many headaches. Between work and managing everything else, the last thing I need is to spend hours hunting for a missing field that their own system deleted! Taking screenshots of everything once I fix it - definitely don't want to go through this nightmare twice.

Thank you everyone for the helpful responses! I'll go ahead and enter the family size manually. Seems like I also need to pay attention to the "number in college" field too. Really appreciate all the information - definitely cleared up my confusion!

Just wanted to add that you should double-check your family size calculation before submitting! I made the mistake of only counting people living at home full-time and missed including my older brother who's in grad school but still gets support from my parents. Had to submit a correction later which delayed my aid processing. The FAFSA definition of "household size" is different from what most people think - it's really about financial support, not just physical residence. Take your time with this section!

This is really helpful information! I'm in a similar situation with my son starting his junior year. I had no idea about the June timeline for Parent PLUS applications - I was getting worried that I was missing something. The suggestion about getting a signed statement of intent is brilliant too. I'm definitely going to call his school's financial aid office tomorrow to see if they have similar policies. It's frustrating that the timing doesn't align better with when we need to make these financial commitments, but at least now I know what to expect. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!

As someone who went through this process last year, I can confirm that the June timeline for Parent PLUS applications is accurate. One thing I'd add is to make sure you have all your documents ready ahead of time - tax returns, bank statements, etc. When June rolls around, you'll want to submit that application as quickly as possible since processing can take several weeks. Also, if you're planning to borrow the maximum amount (cost of attendance minus other aid), double-check with the school's financial aid office about exactly how they calculate that figure. Some schools include things like transportation and personal expenses in their cost of attendance, which can affect your loan eligibility.

Wow, this thread is incredibly helpful! I'm also a parent dealing with the FAFSA delays and trying to figure out loan options. One thing I want to add - if you're considering Parent PLUS loans for PSLF, you might want to talk to a financial advisor first to run the numbers. With the higher interest rates on Parent PLUS loans (around 8.05% as someone mentioned) and the fact that ICR payments can sometimes be higher than standard repayment, you need to make sure the math actually works out in your favor over 10 years. Sometimes it's better to help your child pay their Direct loans at the lower rates, especially if they might also pursue forgiveness in their own careers. The key is running scenarios for your specific situation before committing to any loan type!

Thank you everyone for such detailed responses! This is exactly the kind of information I was hoping to find. I'm feeling much more confident about moving forward with Parent PLUS loans knowing they CAN qualify for PSLF, even if the process is more complex. A few follow-up questions: 1. Should I consolidate the Parent PLUS loans immediately after they're disbursed, or wait until after my daughter graduates? 2. Has anyone here actually completed the full 10 years and received forgiveness, and if so, how smooth was the final forgiveness process? 3. Given the FAFSA delays, are schools being more flexible with financial aid deadlines this year? I'm going to call Federal Student Aid this week (thanks for the tip about Claimyr if I can't get through!) and also look into those nonprofit credit counseling services mentioned. This community has been incredibly helpful - I wish I'd found this discussion sooner!