Some schools have already changed their date. More will. Some won’t (assuming they can get packages out before May 1).
Schools can not change the commitment date in a unified manner.
A number of schools are saying (non-publicly) that the best case is they get FA packages out May 15.
Yes, but without financial aid details more kids won’t take their ED spots, and others will take longer to decline their EA spots in hopes of better aid…all of which will result in skewed yield models and fewer RD acceptances. I would assume schools will push more kids to waitlists until the finances shake out. That might be April the way this is going. So, more wait list kids in April and May and more wait list movement in May than usual as a result. Make sense?
We submitted Jan 3 and never got SAI either
Right after she submitted it.
However, most schools that use the ED model also use CSS. CSS schools are giving kids financial aid packages - which may be deemed estimates but in the end will likely not change.
Now, one issue would be schools that did not require tax returns as part of the CSS process, and if the family made errors on the CSS form, that could impact the FA estimates once the FAFSA is processed.
We had a 12/15 deadline for deposit.
And EA and RD aren’t due until 5/1. Notwithstanding the mentality of CC to withdraw or decline offers, most kids just let the 5/1 day go by without committing as their method of communication.
It popped up on the submission confirmation screen. It did clearly say it was just an estimated SAI. I’m not sure if they’ve sent any emails about SAI, I’ll have to ask my kid if he’s gotten any since the submission.
That is all anyone has received is the estimated SAI seconds after submission. Some people have reported receiving some strange emails indicating an issue after the original estimate but that doesn’t sound common.
My daughter did receive an email.
Here is what it said (probably the same thing as the pop up) :
We received your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form.
Submission date: ****
Date Release Number (DRN): **** (blanked out for privacy)
Note: Keep your DRN private. Read about the Data Release Number for more information.
**Estimated Student Aid Index (SAI) = ****** (blanked out for privacy)
The SAI is not a measure of how much student aid you’ll receive or how much you’ll pay for college. Schools use your SAI to determine your federal student aid eligibility.
Based on the eligibility criteria, you ********* (blanked out)
Track the Status of Your Form
Check the status of your form beginning in late January by logging in to your StudentAid.gov account and selecting your FAFSA submission from the My Activity section of your account Dashboard. Look for an email at the end of January to learn when your FAFSA information has been sent to your selected schools.
Watch for School Communications
We use the information collected on your FAFSA form to calculate your Student Aid Index (SAI). The SAI lets schools determine the aid you’re eligible to receive. The schools you selected on your form will receive your FAFSA information starting in late January, and you’ll begin receiving personalized aid information from the schools you’ve been accepted to several weeks later. Once received, you can contact their financial aid offices directly to ask questions about their student aid packages.
## Track and Manage Your FAFSA® Form
You can check the status of your form in the “My Activity” section of your StudentAid.gov account. We will let you know if we need anything more from you.
This SAI calculator has been updated for the inflation adjustment:
https://www.collegemoneymethod.com/2024-25-student-aid-index-sai-calculator/
Here is the final SAI guide, released the other day:
I am too lazy to go through the whole calculator again. Wonder how much difference it will make in the SAI they original gave us.
Well…now the colleges need to get ready to receive this info…and FSA has to get ready to transmit it.
Why will it take an additional month?
I am not an expert, perhaps @kelsmom can chime in.
This is what I hear:
When ISIRs start getting transmitted to schools in Mid March, those will be uncorrected. We know just from CC threads that tons of people have corrections to do.
Once schools have the ISIR data, their software vendors will need a couple of weeks to get the college software ready to go (i have heard no one say this step can be done sooner, in parallel with what is happening at FSA). Then the new software has to be tested so it works with and doesn’t have unintended consequences on other software systems within the school.
Then schools can start packaging offers. Which takes time, and is dependent on how well staffed they are relative to FA volume. Not to mention the many emails/calls they will be getting from people who want professional judgment, need guidance, NCP forms, etc etc. Some of these schools’ FA departments literally get thousands of messages/calls per week.
At some point corrected info from students will start flowing in as well. Which means the school may have packaged an offer for a student who made FAFSA changes. The school has no idea who will be making changes, they will just get the updated data and then have to change the FA package, if it had already been completed.
And that doesn’t include those asking for professional judgement or who have been selected for verification🤦🏻♀️
Oregon state univ just announced they will push back enrollment deadline to June 1 due to Fafsa delays. I think that may be the first large university to say that. ? Likely many more to come.
We had same email but it said SAI couldn’t be calculated because she didn’t sign the form…but she did.
That is good information.
There was chatter a few weeks ago that families would be able to correct the FAFSA before it gets sent to colleges so maybe that is off the table now?
And what about the seemingly thousands of families who have their FAFSA form locked with either 1. no follow-up email with estimated SAI; 2. email that says “we can’t compute,” but FAFSA was signed; 3. FAFSA was unable to be signed, but somehow it was submitted; 4. The family checked the “free lunch received” box even though their income would not qualify.
Then, of course, you have the seemingly thousands of families who inadvertently included retirement accounts and 529s of multiple children as assets, plus a dozen other mistakes that FAFSA wouldn’t know but the family may or may not know.
So, it appears there are two groups that need to edit their forms:
First, families who had an issue with submission (signatures and the like), and two, those who made mistakes while filling out the form but it was successfully submitted.
And how verification fits into the puzzle is another question. Historically, the majority of students chosen for verification were those who did not transfer their tax returns with the DRT tool; where does it leave the 2024 students?
Presumably, there will be fewer students chosen as the tax returns are linked, and one can imagine who has the time to deal with verifications with such a late rollout.
It’s correct that the initial batch of FAFSA information schools receive will include all of the ones that need corrections (like missing signatures). Once the initial batch comes in, most schools will need to take some samples and run them through their packaging software in a test environment. Adjustments will be made before they package in real time. Although the timeline is going to be very compressed, I imagine that schools will want to wait a bit for the corrections that students need to make right away are processed - that should be able to happen in the typical couple days. Once schools feel comfortable, they’ll package aid for first time students. If they can make it work, they might do a couple automated packaging runs at different times. After they are done with automated packaging, each change has to be reviewed manually. I assume that they’ll wait and do returning students later.
If first years are delayed this long, what’ll the delay look like for returning kids?
Alot of schools seem to be posting that they will let returning students know aid by June 15, which is crazy late! School starts 60 day later many places.
You think? My kids graduated from college in 2007 and 2010. We never got their aid package as returning students until late summer.