my son got zell miller last year and we had high SAI too... don't worry about it AT ALL for zell/hope. but make sure he keeps his grades up in his senior year!!!!! my sons friend lost zell eligibility because of senioritis lol. they check final transcripts

Your son's SAI of 74917 is definitely high, but here's the silver lining - it won't impact his Georgia state scholarships at all! With his 3.9 GPA and 1380 SAT, he's well above the requirements for Zell Miller (which only needs 3.7 GPA and 1200 SAT). That scholarship will cover full tuition at any Georgia public university, which is huge savings. For the schools you mentioned - UGA, GA Tech, and Kennesaw State - they all handle merit scholarships pretty fairly regardless of SAI. The key is making sure you've submitted everything by their priority deadlines. GA Tech and UGA both have additional merit opportunities beyond Zell Miller, especially if he applies to their honors programs. One tip: don't overlook the smaller GA public universities if cost is a major factor. Schools like Georgia Southern, Valdosta State, or Columbus State often offer generous additional merit scholarships to attract high-stat students like your son, sometimes even covering room and board on top of Zell Miller. Worth considering as financial safeties!

UPDATE: I finally got through to a real person at FSA this morning using that Claimyr service someone recommended. Only took about 20 minutes to connect! The agent confirmed it's a known system issue affecting lots of people. She made the income correction on her end and said it should be reprocessed within 3-5 days. She also added a note to our file explaining the delay was caused by their system error. Such a relief! Thanks everyone for your help and advice.

Wow, what a relief that you got it sorted out! This whole thread is going to be so helpful for other parents dealing with the same nightmare. I'm bookmarking this in case I run into similar issues with my younger son's FAFSA next year. The new system really has been a complete disaster - it's crazy that families have to jump through all these hoops just to get basic corrections made. Thanks for updating us with the solution that actually worked!

Update: we finally got this resolved! For anyone else facing this issue, the agent told us that when a student submits their portion, if they click the browser back button or navigate away before the final confirmation page fully loads, it can create a "phantom application" that shows as signed for the student but never properly links to the parent. The fix was having my student log back in, click on "View Submitted Applications," find her submitted FAFSA, then click "Make Correction" and go back through each section (not changing anything) until she reached the signing page again. After re-signing, the application finally appeared in my portal.

This is such a frustrating but common issue with the new FAFSA system! I work in college financial aid and we've been seeing this exact problem constantly. Here's what I've found works best: First, have your daughter log into her FSA ID and go to "My Activity" to see if there's a completed 2024-25 FAFSA listed there. If yes, she should click on it and look for a "Share with Contributors" button or link - sometimes this step gets skipped in the process. If that option isn't available, try having her go to the "Make a Correction" option and simply re-submit without changing anything. This often triggers the contributor invitation to properly send. Also, double-check that your FSA ID email matches EXACTLY what she entered as your email on the application - even spacing or capitalization differences can break the link. The system is definitely buggy this year, but most families can get it working with these steps!

my daughter just put like 3 random schools on her fafsa at first cause she wasn't sure where she was applying yet lol. then we added the real ones later after she decided. worked fine!

Thanks everyone for the super helpful advice! I submitted our FAFSA last night with the 8 schools she's already applied to. The process was much smoother than I expected! Now I feel prepared to add those other 2 schools once she submits those applications. Such a relief to know we're not missing out on aid by doing it this way!

One important thing nobody has mentioned yet - if your daughter is applying to multiple schools, you'll need to complete the Professional Judgment process at EACH school separately. They don't share this information with each other. Also, the timing can be tricky. Some schools want you to wait until you receive the initial aid package before requesting a review, while others prefer you start the process immediately after FAFSA submission. I recommend calling each financial aid office after submitting your FAFSA to ask about their specific process and timeline. Don't get discouraged if one school is more difficult than others - each institution has different policies and available funding. Some might adjust your aid significantly while others might make minimal changes even with the same documentation.

One thing that helped me when I went through this process was creating a spreadsheet to track each school's requirements and deadlines for Professional Judgment appeals. Some schools had online portals for uploading documents, others wanted everything mailed or faxed (yes, faxed in 2024!). Also, when you're gathering documentation, include a brief cover letter explaining the timeline of your job change. I found that being very specific about dates (like "employed at Company A until January 31, 2024, started at Company B on February 5, 2024") helped the financial aid officers understand the situation quickly. Your income drop from $74K to $52K is substantial enough that most schools should make a meaningful adjustment. Don't let anyone tell you it's "not enough of a change" - that's over a 29% reduction in income!