How to renew my FAFSA for the new school year without starting over?

School messing with my FAFSA?

• So, while applying for my FAFSA this year, I left my daughter off of the form because I didn't want to claim her on the FAFSA until I got her social security card (just incase the financial aid office wanted to see it.) I then amended the FAFSA when I got her SS card. About a week later I get an e-mail saying that an administrator had changed my FAFSA and that I needed to review it for correctness. When I went to review the changes I noticed they had taken my daughter off the FAFSA. I then repaired the FAFSA and contacted the financial aid office at my school and informed them of the changes, they said they would contact me if they needed any additional information. I recieved my reward and signed it. Now, I got an e-mail from the college I'm attending, that said we could renew our FAFSA's. I went online and was viewing the FAFSA I turned in for this year and noticed that the the school based my aid this year on not having any dependants. They have based my aid on information they made up, is there anything I can do about this? Their screwing me around, telling me they'll get back to me. Can I get the FAFSA fixed and recieve additional funds for the year? Background: I'm a 30 year old single dad. I didn't claim my daughter on taxes last year but I will be this year. Only recieved $1700 in Pell and my EFC was 0 after I filled out the info.

• Answer:

  You may be having an issue because household size is a field that can only be changed in certain circumstances. Household size cannot be "updated" after the initial completion of the FAFSA unless the FAFSA was selected for verification. So, if you are changing this field, and your FAFSA was not selected for verification, the school may think that you are "messing" with your FAFSA. They need to understand that you are attempting to make a "correction" (i.e., you were supporting your child at the time of FAFSA completion and have continued to do so throughout the FAFSA award year), as opposed to an "update." They will require at least a statement from you explaining the the situation. Your current Financial Aid is based on your 2011-12 FAFSA. If a Financial Aid Office were to disburse funds based on a FAFSA on which the household size was changed after the completion date without supporting documentation, they would have made a mistake and would be found at fault in an audit. See my source for information on corrections versus updates.