[Side-thread: More than 20 schools on FAFSA] So the concern this year is that there will be a delay in sending data to schools until late-January, which could get pushed even later. Presumably we have to wait until that happens before doing the step of âerase from FAFSA list some schools that got their data, and add some more schoolsâ. A lot of FinAid deadlines are Feb 1 (or earlier), though some are Feb 15 (or later), so the timing should hopefully work, but itâs cutting it close.
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Here is my guessâŠand itâs a guess. If the FAFSA is not really up and running, colleges will need to adjust their deadlines.
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We ran into this when created ID for my son. I took the address off the initial page and continued with the form. At the end you can edit it and add the address back in. Worked!
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@esmom06 Fantastic!
My update - After I created the FAFSA ID with just mobile phone # and no mailing address, I was able to log into the account and add the missing mailing address info at that point.
The âMy Activityâ section looked like it was in an eternal loop of loading.
It took overnight before my studentâs FAFSA form showed up in âMy Activityâ section to complete.
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The form probably was not avaliable at that point. It only shows up in My Activity if the form is avaliable that the buttons are noy greyed out.
The website is open again, buttons are clickable to access/ start a form.
Trying to set up daughterâs account and would not go past contact information page, so let out mailing address and was able to proceed but NOW wonât let me verify at the end and set up account. So annoying!!!
@thumper1, @BrownRiceS24D27D29 and @Mashinations, you donât have to wait until the schools receive your FAFSA to make updates. You just have to wait until your FAFSA has been processed: Federal Student Aid. Your first and second sets of schools will receive your FAFSA at the same time later this month.
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So once you have the SAR, you can delete and add additional schools?
Ha! I got bad advice at some point last year then!! 
The suggestion had been that schools go in and âpull downâ from FAFSA when they want the information. If you didnât have them listed as a school to get it they wouldnât have access to your information. So wait until they had pulled it down and then you could replace them on the listing. Again - that was the guidance I was given⊠which apparently led to some unnecessary stress and communication with a few schools. Happy to be more educated now!
That depends. If your need is calculated at 15,000 and you get a scholarship for $10,000 you still have unmet need of $5,000. A school âcouldâ award a $5,000 need based grant ⊠but not all schools meet need, do it depends. This same school might not award the student with unmet need of $15,000 any need based aid (happens a lot), in which case the $10,000 scholarship is $10,000 more than the student would have received otherwise.
And yes, Pell is an entitlement, so it will be awarded regardless of merit scholarships ⊠but be aware that some schools may reduce merit scholarships by the amount of Pell. This isnât common, but it happens for institutional full tuition and/or full ride scholarships. The school is actually allowed by federal regulations to award a full ride + Pell (thatâs the only federal aid that can be awarded in excess of cost of attendance), but schools often have a policy of including Pell as part of the funds making up the full ride.
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I used to pull in the FAFSAs from the processor. I didnât receive every FAFSA that a particular student submitted. I only received a FAFSA for a student if my school code was on it. So is transaction 2 (but not transaction 1) had my school code, I didnât get transaction 1, and if the student had my school code on transaction 1 but not transaction 2, I would not get transaction 2. If a student listed my school on transaction 1, then updated some school codes on transaction 2 but didnât remove my school code, I would get both transactions. I did a review to determine why there was a second transaction. If the system showed that nothing changed other than school codes (and I couldnât see the other school codes), I just let transaction 2 ride as the one I would use.
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Wait, so the schools can see what other schools you apply to?
NO, they canât.
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No. I could NOT see the other schools. I could just tell that only school codes had changed (not the codes themselves). If you think schools will care that you are applying to other schools (they assume you will, by the way), just be sure to remove all of your first schools before adding new ones.
I was able to submit the FAFSA this morning. I had created an account for myself and another for my student and was able to toggle and fill out all the necessary info. Got a confirmation email with the Estimated Student Aid Index (SAI). I have the following observations/questions:
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It says âEstimatedâ SAI. So, when we get the final, it could change but I hope it doesnât have a very huge deviation.
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Do you think that this SAI is calculated âafterâ they have pulled the income tax records from the IRS?
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What is the range of the SAI? It says the minimum is -1500 (with a negative sign).
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I also read somewhere that lower the number better it is? Is the following formula true:
Cost of attendance (COA) minus Student Aid Index (SAI) = âPotentialâ need-based financial aid
And then each collegeâs financial aid office will decide how much of this âPotentialâ need-based financial aid to award to each student. -
While Googling, I found the following SAI chart:
2024 - 2025 Student Aid Index Chart (EFC/SAI Chart)
Do you think it is accurate? -
I also used the Federal Student Aid Estimator at Federal Student Aid to see what my SAI is. This estimated value is 28000 points higher that what was emailed to me after completing the FAFSA. This is a huge variance! Anyone else tried comparing the numbers?
I started the FAFSA form yesterday while the system was up, I believe I did my sonâs too. However when I try to access his form there is nothing there. SO I though I needed to start on his and it says there is one in process. On my end it says it is submitted and in review. I think we are good to go??
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I logged into his and it says an application has been started and to view his activity, but that screen shows nothing in process.
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