the FAFSA launch – I’m probably not fully grasping all the moving parts on this but speaking from my experience in systems development from a few decades ago:
Why is there a soft-launch happening IN THE MIDDLE of the college app season?
Why was this soft-launch scheduled to roll out 2 months AFTER the normal annual opening date (usually FAFSA opens in October).
Why wasn’t all the development / testing completed months ago to allow for an early soft opening, like a soft-launch in mid-August and then full launch in October?
I’m so confused by the system development practices here. And it seems like it was actually planned this way, because we heard about the December roll out last year, so it’s not like this all happened due to some horribly unexpected hiccup. Nope. This was someone’s best planning idea, and that is a real head-scratcher to me.
Sorry for bringing the topic around again to the dreaded FAFSA lol, but does anyone known how fast the IRS direct connect thing takes? Consented to it and signed D24’s FAFSA and within about twenty minutes received the SAI email and estimated aid (yay for pell grant). Was just wondering if the SAI they sent was accurate seeing as they never asked for any financial on the actual FAFSA form besides assets and checking account, savings, etc. How long does it take for them to retrieve data from the IRS anyway?
I’m finally catching up. I’m glad to hear of all the apps getting in on time. Hopefully most kids are done. My daughter was done in November and is just doing scholarships now. She didn’t make it as far as I had hoped over the break though. There is still tomorrow I guess.
I haven’t tried the FAFSA yet. Maybe Monday.
It’s immediate…happens while you are completing the form.
oh wow I guess I’m used to the whole 3-5 business days thing lol. Thanks!
These are REALLY good. We are on our fourth bottle.
So do you want my address by direct message, or how else?
In exchange you can pick any of the still-in-their-original-packaging $5-8 multitools my kids gave me for like six straight years. Apparently the Dad section at the K-8 school’s Present Fair is a little thin . . . .
Its tough and it does happen. Safety (and targets) don’t accept because they figure the kid is too strong and will go somewhere else. They get rejected from their reaches because “its holistic.”
It is almost like the parents are in the donut hole financially and the kids are in the donut hole for acceptances 
Yup, it happens without you being aware. When you click on the consent to allow tax information to transfer, it happens immediately (and if you didn’t file, it confirms that immediately). At that point, if there are follow up income questions based on the information transferred (such as, amount of taxable grants/scholarships reported on tax return) are generated. These are personalized based on your tax information, so you may not get the SS questions your friend gets.
It’s the incompetence of the federal government
How long did you all’s SSA verification status take? I signed up on Wednesday and it’s been sitting at pending since. It’s supposed to take “up to 3 days”. It can’t pull in IRS data until this happens.
I had my ID so the IRS stuff came through, but we are still waiting for daughters ID to be approved. I think she requested it Tuesday or Wednesday.
@MAmomto4 , I think it was the last Your College Bound Kid (YCBK) podcast that addressed the Letters of Continued Interest. This isn’t exactly that, but the update portion sounds the same. If you don’t have new accolades/awards, and they said that many won’t, given that it has only been a couple of months since they applied, they talked about writing about how a certain lab in a class has only reinforced kid’s interest in their major, and things along those lines. It’s in Episode 393, which I can’t find on their website, but it is on my podcast app. If you can’t find it and are interested, DM me and I can figure out how to send it to you.
Thank you! I see it on my podcasts app and will check it out. That sounds very helpful!
It is crazy - test optional in an era of lots of grade inflation has also added so much uncertainty for top kids, where other much less academically talented kids can look almost similar when they decide to go test optional. I used to think it was crazy for kids to apply to lots of colleges, but colleges themselves have made this process so unpredictable - i think top kids should throw in tons of applications if they want to - let them maximize their choices too as college are doing for themselves.
My kid got their last app submitted as well. It’s the only big reach (and only common app school) on their list so they went a little riskier on the essays.
On the FAFSA, I guess we got lucky and I got them done for both kids quickly on 1/2. Neither have been completely processed yet I’m not sure how long that will take. The estimates are about $5k higher than last year despite $5k lower income. Definitely feeling the donut hole here, especially with many scholarships also wanting to see a lot of financial need. I’m also missing that two kid in college FAFSA consideration!
This is my first time going through college applications with my own kid - so these observations are based on my limited experience.
As ED and EA decisions have come in there has been an uptick in anxiety and anger - interestingly mostly from parents, not the students. At holiday parties lots of parents were complaining about “top students” being unfairly treated by the test optional system that allows “lower quality” students to compete with their kids. I am very uncomfortable with these labels, and we see them everywhere including on CC.
Then I had an experience that I thought might be useful to post here. I have been helping kids from my son’s school with their college essays through this cycle. I got a text from a friend who said her nephew - a high stats kid (GPA and 1540 SAT) with impressive ECs - had not only been rejected (not deferred) from his ED, but had also been rejected from 2 EA schools that should have been safeties. The parents were in absolute panic and she wanted me to take a look at the application to make sure everything was ok.
Well - everything was not OK. The tone of the common app essay and supplementals was consistently arrogant and condescending. The main thrust seemed to be that the student was brilliant and the biggest challenge they faced was being surrounded by intellectually inferior minds. The main reason to apply to the highly selective institutions was to escape the mundane and be surrounded by other superior minds. I was floored! This essay was apparently shown to a counselor, an English teacher, and some peers. How was this not flagged?
I feel really bad because the tone of the UC PIQs was even worse. I will not be surprised if the kid gets rejected from all the UCs based on the PIQs, and it is too late to help. I recommended applying to several RDs with a completely revamped essay.
A few thoughts came to mind - even super safeties will not overlook a very bad essay. If the kid had just submitted a generic essay, he would probably have gotten into the safeties. This point has been made several times on CC.
Second - parents need to stop thinking of kids as “top students” and “lower students.” The stats might be tops, but that does not automatically make the student a “top applicant.” Test optional does not put the lower stats applicant on the same academic footing as the high-stats kid. Other parts of the test-optional application will be held to a higher standard and will be expected to compensate for the missing scores. In the end, the school will choose the candidate that they feel is the best fit for their school.
Third - yes there is definitely a randomness to the process, and at the very selective schools it is definitely a lottery. Yes, the process can feel very unfair. But if you are getting very surprising results from matches/safeties then it is time to get an objective person to look over the application.
I know that this is a very anxious time for many parents and students and it is very hard not to take the results personally. But as parents we can be good role models for our kids and teach them how to look at rejections as opportunities for growth and redirection. We can teach them to be motivated by rejections and be proactive instead of angry and bitter at the world.
I hope this is not an inappropriate post. Please delete it if it does not belong here.
All true. Last comment is - there’s tons of time left and tons of safeties out there. And no, they are not ‘beneath’ these students. Too many feel like their efforts were wasted - and they weren’t. But you have to be open - just like when they go for jobs or other things.
I agree, and hopefully this student gains some perspective and humility during this process that could serve him well in the future.