This is definitely one of the recognized issues with the new FAFSA system. The good news is that you can verify the official status by looking at the

Thank you, this is incredibly helpful! I just checked and the processed date is indeed after our last correction (we had to fix a small issue with our W-2 reporting). I feel much better now knowing that the system is working as it should, even if the communication is confusing.

This exact thing happened to me with my son's applications! It was driving me CRAZY. Turns out the problem wasn't his birthdate at all - it was because his high school had submitted his name to the FAFSA system with his middle name included, but we were applying with just his first and last name. Once we added his middle name exactly as the high school had it, the system accepted everything. Maybe check with your daughter's high school counselor to see how they submitted her info to the FAFSA system?

Any luck resolving this? One other thing to check - make sure the parent info (your name, SSN, etc.) is entered EXACTLY the same on both the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 forms. Sometimes these validation errors happen because of parent data mismatches, not student information.

the whole fafsa system is such garbage this year!!! they remove questions without telling anyone, the website crashes constantly, and when you finally submit everything they take FOREVER to calculate your SAI. i submitted in JANUARY and still don't have a final SAI number. how are we supposed to make college decisions like this???

Just wanted to update and thank everyone for the helpful responses! I contacted my daughter's financial aid office directly and they confirmed that the scholarship question was indeed removed from the new FAFSA. They also said that since her scholarship was non-taxable and paid directly to the school, there's nothing additional we need to report. Such a relief! They mentioned they're getting tons of calls about "missing questions" from people familiar with the old FAFSA format.

OMG yes they need to invite u again every year and make sure ur using the EXACT same email address as last year!!! We made that mistake where my daughter invited me with my gmail instead of my work email that I used before and it created this WHOLE mess where I had two different contributor profiles and the system got all confused and we had to start over 😫

Just to clarify one more thing - when your student sends the contributor invitation this year, you'll have 14 days to complete your section before the invitation expires. They can always resend it if needed, but it's good to be aware of that timeline.

Since time is critical, I'd recommend pursuing multiple solutions simultaneously:\n\n1. Follow up on getting the provisional/conditional aid letter from financial aid\n2. Prepare the alternative documentation (bank statements, affidavit of support)\n3. Contact the Spanish consulate to confirm exactly what alternatives they'll accept\n4. Have your son check his SAI status daily and call FSA if there's any change\n\nThe good news is that once your FAFSA does process, things move quickly. Our SAI finally came through about 10 days before my daughter's visa appointment, and her school produced the final aid package within 48 hours after that. It was stressful right up to the end, but it worked out.\n\nOne more tip: when your son goes to his appointment, have him bring documentation of the FAFSA delays (news articles, official notices) to show this is a nationwide issue affecting many students. Sometimes this context helps the consular officers understand it's not just poor planning on his part.

Thank you for the thorough plan of action! I'm definitely going to pursue all these paths at once. The idea of bringing news articles about the FAFSA delays is brilliant - I hadn't thought of documenting that this is a nationwide problem. I'm feeling more hopeful now that we have some concrete steps to take!