Yes, that’s my understanding. I had to include IRA contribution but not 401K. One of my kids is at a school that also uses CSS Profile, and that will require all of the info, though.
We also have SAI being identical for both kids which I don’t believe will stay that way. Each kid (S21 and D23) has different amounts in their own savings accounts, and we have a big enough difference in their 529s that they should have different SAIs. And each of them is about 10%-20% below what I expect it to actually be based on the formula guide. (In their case, it’s higher than the EFC last year, not lower…but that is because last year the FAFSA considered 2 in college and this year does not).
At this point, it’s not stressing me out because I know my part was done correctly, I have the submission off my plate, and I’m expecting the calculations to be fixed by the time the schools actually receive the info. In both cases for me, my kids are already enrolled in their colleges, so I think I feel as if I have generally a decent sense of how their aid packages will look based on history and on the SAI that I calculated with the formula guide. I don’t have the added stress of wondering how 10-20 different schools might deal with all of this. I am lucky to only have to think about 2 schools - the ones they are enrolled in. I know for folks in the current admission cycle, it might be more stressful!
I am having the same issue - just gets stuck at step 3 of 7 (address). We’re in Maryland. I’ve tried multiple devices as well. I’m assuming their site is crashing. I guess I’ll keep trying.
As a follow up, we finally set up an account. The sole difference was originally we used wife’s name and SSN. That didn’t work. We then tried mine. Weirdly, it worked using my name and SSN. So odd. Still not verified but the account exists.
I came here to see if I could find some answers after multiple attempts at the chat and phone number (and getting disconnected). We completed the FAFSA yesterday, and my daughter got the email saying she needed to sign it. When she logged in today, there is nothing under “My Activity” (for her). When I log in as the parent, it shows up as submitted. We tried to access an existing application for her, and it says there isn’t one. Then we tried to submit a new one, and it says there is one already in process. I’m glad I found this forum.
IF YOU ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY GETTING PAST PAGE 3 of the FAFSA to create a parental account, leave the address section blank, just add your mobile number. You’ll then get through and be able to add your address later. Hope this helps.
This happened to us, too. We couldn’t figure out how to “sign” it under my daughter’s account so when I did my portion I signed and submitted it thinking I was just submitting my portion and hers would be separate. Now it shows as submitted without her signature and we can’t revise it since it is now in process and she can’t sign it until they have processed it. I wonder how long that will take!
Same thing happend to me, I signed mine as parent then went back to sign S24 but it already said submitted.
When I did the same thing for S22 I got all sorts of notifications to sign his and I was able to go in and do it.
Of course, the signing is only a clicking of a button so who knows what is going on.
Since it won’t submit without signatures, my guess is somehow the system noted a signature, maybe all our clicking around trying to do the signature somehow went through once I did the parent portion.
Great mystery
It’s possible that the student portion was complete and the signature portion was submitted before the parent did their part. Once the parent signed, it was complete & so was submitted. It’s also possible that the student will still need to sign & it will catch up at some point, at which time there will be a communication asking for a signature. Just keep checking to make sure that the student receives a notification stating that the FAFSA has been accepted … and if that isn’t received soon, go back into the FAFSA to see if it prompts the student to do anything.
Had the same issue 2 days in a row. Read in another thread, leaving address and phone blank and proceeding to the next page solves it. Then user can come back and add the address.
Haven’t tried it myself, will see how it works when the system is up in a few hours.
I’m wondering that too. I’m hoping it only takes a couple of days before it’s processed. We’ve tried so many times to call or use the chat, but that isn’t working either.
Thanks! That’s what we’ll try. We completed the form together, but we were logged in as me (the parent). She got the email to go in and sign, but it said she had to wait until it’s been processed.
@kelsmom can comment…but back in MY day of helping kids fill the FAFSA out, both one parent and the kid signatures needed to be there with that FSA number or the FAFSA was not going to get processed.
Has that changed with this new protocol? When we did the FAFSA back in the day, it was completed…both parent and student info was on the form. No email from the kid or parent to the other party telling them to do their part. If this is a “simplification” it sure sounds like it has complicated the issue.
Very frustrating last night. Had son ready to do his part. Phone number verified. Email verification a no go. FAFSA took hours to send the code and then the code was invalid. Happened a few times. We gave up and decided to try another day. Phone service hung up on us a few times due to call volume and chat had no chatters available.
This is our first-time filling FAFSA but both student and parent signed their forms before submitting. We did it very early PST on January 3rd and had no issues with login or crashes.
S24 filled out his part, accepted the IRS link (even though he did not file any tax returns), invited one parent, and signed the form, submitted.
Parent logged in, accepted the invite, and filled in their part. Signed the form, submitted.
S24 got an email within a few minutes saying FAFSA was submitted, and it also contained SAI index and approximate amount of PELL grant eligibility.
S24 did not have to go back to the form after parent finished their section because he had already signed and submitted after inviting parent.