I work in a college financial aid office, and I can confirm what others have said. The FAFSA website ONLY shows that you've applied and your student's SAI (Student Aid Index). It will never show the actual aid awards - those come from each individual school. What you should see in the FAFSA portal: - Confirmation that the FAFSA was processed - Your student's SAI calculation - Which schools received the FAFSA data What you'll only see in the school's portal: - Actual grant amounts (Pell, SEOG, state grants) - Loan offers (Direct loans, PLUS loans) - Institutional scholarships - Work-study eligibility BTW - make sure your daughter checks if she needs to complete entrance counseling and a Master Promissory Note (MPN) if she's accepting federal loans. These are required before loan funds can disburse and are also completed on studentaid.gov.

As a parent who just went through this process with my own kid, I totally understand the panic! The whole system is so confusing when you're doing it for the first time. Just to echo what everyone else said - you're completely fine as long as the school portal shows everything correctly. One thing I learned the hard way is to screenshot or print out that acceptance page from the school portal, especially if there are any deadlines for accepting specific aid components. Some schools have different deadlines for different types of aid, and having that documentation saved me when I had questions later. Also make sure to save any confirmation emails from when she accepted the aid package! The FAFSA site really should explain this better somewhere prominent. Would save so many parents from unnecessary stress!

One more important tip: double-check that your income numbers match your tax return exactly. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool is the best way to ensure accuracy. Even small discrepancies between what you manually enter and what the IRS has on file can trigger verification, which is a headache you don't want. If you're entering manually, have your actual tax returns in front of you, not just your W-2s.

As someone who just went through this process for the first time this year, I can confirm what others have said - the joint tax return section is definitely confusing! One thing that helped me was printing out the FAFSA worksheet beforehand and filling it out on paper first. That way I could double-check everything before entering it online. Also, make sure you have your Social Security cards handy for both parents - the system sometimes asks for those numbers during the parent section and it's frustrating to have to stop and hunt them down. Good luck with your son's application!

I'm dealing with this exact same issue! My son's FAFSA has been stuck with the signature error for 3 weeks now. I called the FSA hotline and they told me it's a "known system issue" affecting thousands of applications. The rep said they're working on a batch fix, but couldn't give me a timeline. In the meantime, she suggested I contact each school directly with our confirmation number and explain the situation. Most schools are apparently creating exception lists for students affected by this bug. It's so stressful when you've done everything right and the system just fails you!

This signature glitch is such a nightmare! I'm a parent who went through something similar last month. Here's what finally worked for me: I cleared my browser cache completely, logged out of my FSA ID, then logged back in using a different browser (switched from Chrome to Firefox). Sometimes the signature button becomes ungreyed when you access it from a fresh browser session. If that doesn't work, definitely try the contributor removal/re-adding suggestion someone mentioned above - that actually fixed it for my neighbor. Also, when you do call FSA, ask specifically for the "FAFSA Technical Support" department rather than general customer service. They seem to understand the signature issues better and can escalate faster. Hang in there - this system is a mess this year but most people are eventually getting it resolved!

After you create the new application, you might still need to contact FSA support if the system is stuck in its ways. The new SAI calculation really tries to maintain parent consistency year over year, which is great for intact families but creates these exact issues for divorced parents. When you speak with an agent, specifically ask for a "parent contributor reset" or "parent association update" for the 2025-2026 FAFSA form. That's the technical term they'll understand immediately. Also, after this is resolved, your son should qualify for his full financial aid package as normal. This parent switching won't impact his SAI calculation negatively as long as accurate information is provided.

I went through this exact same situation last year when my ex-husband stopped cooperating with the FAFSA process. What worked for me was having my daughter start completely fresh with a new application and being very specific about custody arrangements in the dependency questions. The key is making sure your son answers that he lives with YOU more than 50% of the time (if that's accurate). The system should then prompt for your information instead of trying to link to your ex-husband's previous participation. If you do need to call FSA, I found that calling right when they open at 8 AM Eastern gave me the shortest wait time. Have your son's FSA ID ready and explain that you need to switch the parent contributor due to changed circumstances. They were actually pretty understanding once I got through to someone. Good luck - I know how stressful this whole process can be, especially when you're trying to help your child and running into these technical roadblocks!

One thing I learned the hard way: don't just look at the bottom line number on financial aid offers. Some schools front-load grants in the first year then switch to more loans in later years. Others include work-study in the package which isn't guaranteed money. And watch out for Parent PLUS loans being included as if they're aid - they're just loans with higher interest rates that YOU have to pay back, not reduced costs.

Your SAI of 598 is excellent news! As someone who just went through this process with my own kid, I can tell you that score puts your daughter in a really good position. We had a similar family income and our SAI was around 750, and my son still received substantial aid at most schools he applied to. A few practical tips from our experience: - Don't be surprised if private schools sometimes offer better net prices than state schools due to their larger endowments - Keep all your financial documents organized - schools often request verification - Consider having your daughter apply to a financial safety school where her stats are well above average (they might offer merit aid on top of need-based aid) - Start looking at outside scholarship opportunities now while you're waiting for school decisions The waiting is the hardest part, but with that SAI, you should have some good options come spring!