I didn’t participate in this thread first time around, but I’ll interject now.
Something similar happened to us a few years ago. We had hired a professional financial aid consultant to help us with our forms and appeal (complicated financial situation). One college made a change to Fafsa that made no sense. Before contacting the school, we contacted our very knowledgable F/A consultant. He said that schools can do WHATEVER THEY WANT to the Fafsa to make it come out so that the student gets more aid. This is a quote from him: “If you or I were to do what the school did, it would be fraud. But the school is allowed to make any changes they want.”