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THE ENTIRE FINANCIAL AID SYSTEM IS BROKEN!!!! My son's FAFSA was "missing" at two schools but "complete" at three others AT THE SAME TIME!!! How is that even possible?? It's all the SAME FEDERAL SYSTEM!!! Then we find out weeks later that the problem was the schools that couldn't "find" his FAFSA were looking under his SSN with a typo. BUT THEY NEVER TOLD US. We only found out because I physically went to the financial aid office and made them check. Check for typos in how they have your student listed!!!
Final recommendation: Email the financial aid office at the third school, include your daughter's full name, student ID if you have it, and date of birth. Explain that the FAFSA is complete with an SAI showing on studentaid.gov and that other schools have already processed it successfully. Ask if there's anything specific they need from you to complete processing. Sometimes a direct email gets better results than phone calls, and you'll have documentation of your communication efforts if there are any issues with deadlines.
The new FAFSA is a complete disaster. My daughter lost thousands in institutional aid because we couldn't submit on time due to these exact technical issues. The government had THREE YEARS to prepare the new system and yet here we are with these basic functions not working. And good luck getting help - the phone lines are a joke. This will end up hurting the most financially vulnerable students who don't have parents with time to troubleshoot these ridiculous problems.
I totally agree. The 'simplified' FAFSA is anything but. My son almost missed his school's priority deadline because of these glitches. The schools need to be more understanding about these delays that are completely out of our control.
For what it's worth, many institutions are aware of these widespread technical issues and have adjusted their internal deadlines accordingly. If you were unable to submit by a priority deadline due to documented FAFSA technical problems, I strongly encourage contacting the financial aid office directly with documentation of your attempts. Many schools are making case-by-case accommodations this year.
UPDATE: I finally got it working! For anyone else stuck in this loop, here's what worked for me: 1. I followed the advice about entering zeros in ALL asset fields (even ones that didn't apply to me) 2. I removed all commas and dollar signs from every financial field 3. I used an incognito browser window after clearing cache After doing all three, I was FINALLY able to get to the signature page and complete the submission. My son's SAI calculation appeared about 2 hours later. Thank you everyone for your help with this frustrating issue!
Great news! Thanks for updating the thread with what worked. This will help others facing the same issue. If you don't mind sharing, how long did the entire process take from when you first started having the loop problem until final resolution?
UPDATE: IT WORKED!!! After three days of endless frustration, the re-invite method fixed everything! I had my daughter log in and just re-type my email which reset my form. When I accepted the new invitation, most of my previous information was saved. The missing spouse SSN was magically back, and we were able to sign and submit! For anyone else dealing with this issue, try the re-invite method first before starting over. Thank you all for your help and suggestions!
GREAT now i have a new problem - after fixing the SSN issue our SAI calculation is $7,000 higher than it was before!! anyone else have their numbers change after fixing glitches??? this is going to destroy my kids financial aid package
That's concerning. The SAI shouldn't change unless different information was entered. I'd recommend comparing the Student Aid Report before and after if you have a copy. If there's a significant unexplained difference, you might need to submit a correction or speak with a financial aid officer at your child's school to adjust the calculation.
I don't mean to get off topic but my cousin's FAFSA had the exact same issue last year. Her SAI was way off because the system counted her parents' retirement account as an available asset (which it shouldn't). Took forever to get it fixed. Just mentioning in case that's what happened to yours - might be worth checking the asset portion specifically when you get through.
UPDATE: I used Claimyr and got through to a FAFSA agent in about 25 minutes!!! The agent said there was an error in our asset calculation - somehow our small checking account balance of $3,800 got entered as $38,000! They were able to fix it on the spot and said my corrected SAI should update within 3-5 business days. THANK YOU everyone for your help - especially for the Claimyr suggestion. Literally saved my financial aid package!
Yara Haddad
One additional important note: The 2025-2026 FAFSA uses the streamlined formula with the Student Aid Index (SAI) replacing the old EFC. For your bankruptcy situation, this means: 1. The base FAFSA still won't account for your bankruptcy payments 2. The changes mostly affect how parent income and assets are assessed 3. The professional judgment process still works the same way (schools have authority to adjust data elements) Make sure you're ready to file when the FAFSA opens (December 1st) and then IMMEDIATELY begin the professional judgment process with each school. Don't wait until aid offers come out.
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Connor Murphy
•did they seriously change EVERYTHING about fafsa AGAIN??!! why cant they just pick a system and stick with it? every year its different forms and different calculations
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Ava Rodriguez
Thanks everyone for the helpful advice! I'm going to: 1. File FAFSA with just my and my current husband's information 2. Prepare a complete bankruptcy documentation package 3. Contact each school's financial aid office about their professional judgment process 4. Submit all documentation before their deadlines 5. Follow up to confirm receipt and processing And if I have trouble reaching FSA, I'll definitely try that Claimyr service. This is all so much more complicated than I expected, but at least now I have a plan.
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Zainab Khalil
•That's an excellent plan. One final tip: keep detailed notes of every conversation with financial aid offices (date, name of person, what was discussed). This documentation can be extremely helpful if you need to follow up or if there are misunderstandings about what was submitted or promised.
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