One more thing to consider - if you truly cannot get the other parent to cooperate, some schools will allow your daughter to only list information from your household on the FAFSA, but they'll then require the CSS Profile (a different financial aid form) which will collect more detailed information. Not all schools accept this approach though. The CSS Profile costs money to submit to each school, but they do offer fee waivers for eligible students. It's more detailed than the FAFSA but might be an option if you absolutely cannot get your ex to participate.

I'm going through this exact same situation right now! My ex hasn't been involved in our son's life for over 3 years but FAFSA still wants his information. What I learned from calling the financial aid office at my son's college is that you can submit a "special circumstances" form explaining the situation. They told me to gather any documentation I have showing lack of support - like child support records, court documents, even screenshots of unanswered messages trying to contact him. Each school handles these cases individually, so definitely reach out to the financial aid offices directly. It's frustrating but there are options if your ex won't cooperate!

Just wanted to update everyone - I called the financial aid office this morning and you were all right! They have a specific form called "Scholarship Distribution Request" that lets us specify exactly how we want the aid applied. They said as long as we submit it before the term payment deadline (Aug 10), they'll apply all aid to tuition first. The woman I spoke with said this is a very common request for tax purposes and they're happy to accommodate it. Thank you all so much for the helpful advice!

This is such a relief to hear that you got it sorted out! I'm dealing with a similar situation for my son's upcoming freshman year and was stressing about the tax implications. It's reassuring to know that schools are generally willing to work with families on this. I'm going to call his financial aid office tomorrow to ask about their process. Did they mention if there's a specific deadline each semester to submit the form, or is it just before the payment deadline? Also wondering if this is something we'll need to do every semester or if it's a one-time preference they'll keep on file.

wait i thought signatures weren't required anymore with the new FAFSA?? my college advisor told us the new form just uses the FSA ID login as the signature?? now im confused...

One thing that helped me avoid signature issues this year - I set up email notifications on my phone specifically for anything from "[email protected]" so I wouldn't miss or accidentally delete confirmation emails. Also, after I submitted, I bookmarked the FAFSA status page and checked it every few days until it showed "Processed Successfully" - took about a week. The new system really is much clearer about who needs to sign what. There's even a progress bar that shows when all required signatures are collected. Just don't rush through that final signature page like I almost did!

Some good news to add - I've heard from several college financial aid officers that they're creating internal systems to flag applications with these common FAFSA delays. Many schools are extending their priority deadlines or creating grace periods specifically because of the widespread signature and processing issues. The most important thing is to document everything - save that email about the missing signature as proof of when you initially submitted.

As someone who went through this exact same situation last month, I can confirm what others have said - the missing signature error is super common this year but your application will still process! Mine took 6 days to process despite the error, then I was able to log back in and add the missing signature. The whole thing was resolved within 9 days total. The key is to stay on top of it and check your status daily once it starts processing. Also, definitely reach out to your daughter's schools proactively - most of them are being really understanding about these FAFSA delays this year. You're doing everything right by staying informed and asking questions!

UPDATE: Mystery solved! My daughter just got home and logged in. Turns out she DID create her FSA ID and start the application, but she never actually submitted it. There was no confirmation number and several sections were still showing as incomplete. She thought saving her progress was the same as submitting! Now we're working through the remaining sections together. Thank you all so much for your help - this would have been so much more frustrating without your guidance!

So glad you got this figured out! This exact same thing happened to my nephew last year - he spent hours filling out forms but never hit that final submit button. The new FAFSA system really doesn't make it clear enough what "saving progress" vs "submitting" means. For anyone else reading this thread dealing with similar issues, definitely look for that confirmation number - it's the only way to know for sure your application actually went through. The system should really have better messaging about this!