As a financial aid advisor, I want to emphasize how important it is to be accurate with investment reporting. I see so many families get tripped up during verification because they misunderstood what to include. The golden rule is simple: if you can liquidate it today and it's not in a qualified retirement account, report it. This includes employer stock grants, RSUs that have vested, ESPP purchases, and any other securities held in taxable accounts. One often-missed detail: if you have any cryptocurrency holdings (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) in platforms like Coinbase or Kraken, those are considered investments too and must be reported at current market value. Same goes for precious metals, collectibles with significant value, or alternative investments. Also, when reporting net worth, remember to subtract any margin debt or loans against your investments. If you borrowed $5,000 against your portfolio, and your investments are worth $25,000, you'd report $20,000 net worth. The verification process has gotten much stricter in recent years, so accuracy up front saves major headaches later!

This is such a timely thread! I'm dealing with the exact same confusion right now. My husband has stock from two different employers - some from his current company through their employee stock purchase plan, and some from his previous company that he received as part of a retention bonus. Both are just sitting in regular brokerage accounts since we haven't figured out our long-term plan for them yet. Reading through everyone's responses, it's crystal clear now that we need to report both sets of employer stock since they're not in retirement accounts. I was getting hung up on the fact that one was a "bonus" and the other was "purchased through payroll deduction" but I see now that the source doesn't matter - it's all about the account type. One follow-up question though: if we sell some of these stocks before submitting the FAFSA (we were already thinking about diversifying anyway), would that help or hurt our aid eligibility? I'm wondering if having cash instead of stocks changes how it's treated on the FAFSA, or if it's basically the same either way since both would be reported as assets.

I'm so glad you found this thread and that there's some progress being made! As someone who's been through the appeals process before (though not for FAFSA), I'd recommend keeping detailed records of every conversation you have with your financial aid office - dates, names, what was discussed, etc. It really helps if you need to follow up or escalate later. Also, don't be afraid to ask for a timeline on your appeal - they should be able to give you at least a rough estimate of when you'll hear back. Wishing you the best of luck with your appointment tomorrow!

I'm really glad to see this thread and all the helpful advice! As someone new to this community, I wanted to share that I'm dealing with a very similar situation. My SAI also increased dramatically this year even though I'm on SSDI and my financial situation hasn't changed at all. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been incredibly valuable - especially learning about the Professional Judgment appeals and the issues with question 38 on the FAFSA. I had no idea that disability income might be getting miscategorized in the new system. Thank you to everyone who shared their knowledge and resources. I'm going to start the appeal process at my school right away and double-check how I reported my disability income. It's both frustrating and reassuring to know I'm not alone in this situation!

This thread has been an absolute lifesaver! I'm new to the FAFSA process and was struggling with the exact same asset categorization questions. I have about $16k with my financial advisor in non-retirement accounts and a credit union account that they call "member shares" - I was so confused about where these should go. After reading through all the helpful explanations here, I now understand that the advisor-managed money goes under investments (since it's meant for growth, not retirement) and the credit union "shares" go under cash/savings regardless of their confusing terminology. The tip about using the question mark help icons on the FAFSA form is genius - I completely missed those! And I love the suggestion to cross-reference with tax forms (1099-INT vs 1099-DIV) to confirm categorizations. It's so reassuring to know that this confusion is totally normal and that there's such a supportive community here to help navigate these intimidating forms. Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and making this process feel much more manageable!

As someone completely new to this community and the FAFSA process, I can't thank everyone enough for this incredibly detailed discussion! I was literally about to give up on filling out the asset section because I was so confused about where everything should go. I have a similar situation - about $22k managed by my financial advisor in regular brokerage accounts (not retirement) and a credit union account that shows up as "share draft savings" on my statements. Reading through all these real-world examples and explanations has finally made it click - the advisor money goes under investments since it's for growth, and the credit union account goes under cash/savings despite their confusing "share" terminology. I had no idea about those question mark help icons on the FAFSA form - I'm going to go back and check those out! The tip about cross-referencing with 1099 forms is brilliant too. It's such a relief to find a community where people actually explain things in plain English rather than government-speak. Thank you all for being so welcoming and helpful to us newcomers!

I'm new to this community but currently dealing with this exact asset screen loop problem! My daughter and I have been stuck on this for three days now and it's been so frustrating. We kept thinking we were making some kind of mistake, but after reading through all these experiences, it's such a relief to know this is a widespread technical bug. The whole dollar amounts solution seems to be the most consistently successful fix based on everyone's stories here. We're going to try that approach tomorrow morning - just enter $750 instead of $750.23 for her checking account. I'm also going to make sure we clear our browser cache completely and verify that all our family verification steps are actually complete like others suggested. Thank you so much to everyone who shared their solutions and experiences - this community support makes navigating these technical nightmares so much more manageable. I'll definitely report back on whether the whole dollar fix works for us too!

I'm new to this community and just wanted to thank everyone for this incredibly detailed thread! My family hasn't started our FAFSA yet, but reading through all these experiences has been so educational. It's shocking that such a simple thing like entering cents can cause a major system loop, but I'm grateful that this community has figured out the workarounds. I'm definitely saving all these tips - use whole dollar amounts, clear cache/cookies, verify all family members are complete, screenshot everything, and have the FSA phone number ready. The advice about contacting schools directly about technical delays is also really valuable. It's amazing how supportive everyone has been in sharing their real solutions rather than just venting frustrations. This thread should honestly be pinned as a resource for anyone dealing with FAFSA technical issues this year!

As a first-time FAFSA parent, this thread has been incredibly eye-opening about what to expect! My son will be starting college this fall, and we're just beginning the FAFSA process. Based on everything I've read here, it sounds like the key things to watch out for are: 1. Making sure all personal information matches EXACTLY between what my son enters and what's on my FSA ID 2. Being prepared for potential technical glitches that might require calling FSA directly 3. Having a backup plan like Claimyr to actually get through to customer service 4. Contacting the college financial aid office early if we run into issues It's honestly shocking how many problems people are having with what should be a straightforward process. The old system might have had its issues, but at least it was stable! I really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences and solutions here - it's going to save me a lot of stress knowing what to look out for and having a game plan if we hit similar roadblocks. Hopefully the Department of Education gets these technical issues sorted out soon, but in the meantime, threads like this are a lifesaver for confused parents like me!

I just wanted to follow up and say THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to this thread! I was dealing with the exact same issue as the original poster - couldn't access my parent contributor section and kept getting that frustrating "unable to process your request" error. After reading through all the advice here, I used Claimyr to get through to FSA (took about 25 minutes) and sure enough, they found a verification flag on my account from when I did FAFSAs for my older daughter who graduated two years ago. The agent removed the flag instantly and told me to wait a couple hours before trying again. I'm happy to report that I was able to complete my section later that evening! This thread should honestly be pinned or turned into a guide for other parents. The systematic approach people laid out here (checking contributor status, verifying exact info matches, calling FSA about previous FAFSA flags) is so much better than the vague troubleshooting tips on the official website. The new FAFSA system is clearly a mess, but at least we have this community to help each other navigate it!