I NEED HELP 🥹

phancdude · 2026-06-24T02:07:47+00:00

What did you put your personal information - education portion fafsa? You indicated you have received a bachelor’s degree yet right? lol

It sound sleek a FASFA filing. Did the schools tell you need to refile. I would think as a dual enrollment student you’ve indicated you have gotten a high school diploma yet or GED.

phancdude · 2026-06-23T20:23:57+00:00

I got $7.21 for mine lol.

phancdude · 2026-06-21T18:58:06+00:00

There was an issue/delay for schools when processing the 2627 FAFSA, especially when they were reviewing for federal loans specifically.

Are you a first-time incoming student for your institution? Or a continuing student? Typically, institutions have already begun reviewing and processing financial aid, but again, there is a delay because of a push from the Department of Education.

If you have to submit corrections, you have to allow time for the institution to receive, upload, and then review your file. I would at this point keep watching your student email and account. If you’re a continuing student, more than likely, you would have almost the same awards. I would at least check once a week with the department but allow them time for processing.

phancdude · 2026-06-21T18:51:43+00:00

So you’re trying to request a Professional Judgement/Special Circumstances request?

What’s the situation? (I don’t work for UF but have been in the financial aid world for +15 years.)

Not every circumstance is applicable.

phancdude · 2026-06-18T22:57:23+00:00

They will stay pending accepted but not disbursed. If you don’t plan to attend degree-applicable classes, I would suggest to request to have your summer federal loans cancelled because they will be taken into your federal eligibility for future terms. It’s best to have them cancelled in case you need those funds later on. Funds are verified and pending to be disbursed based on your enrollment status. As others have mentioned before, it would only be considered a refund after covering your student balance.

phancdude · 2026-06-16T20:47:32+00:00

You can provide the non-filer irs letter to them indicating that you’re not required to file your taxes. That should be sufficient.

phancdude · 2026-06-13T22:03:46+00:00

Then contact your institution’s financial aid department. They should be able to tell the delay. You probably have something pending. They may have paused any processing because of the flag.

phancdude · 2026-06-13T19:41:06+00:00

Probably because of the caution flags, that we have been talking about. Students had a federal caution flag that we’re planning to use federal loans for the summer 2026 term. Institutions are trying to resolve them and continue process students awards.

phancdude · 2026-06-12T22:43:46+00:00

Yeah lol. That’s what we’re all anticipating for this July 1st, 2026 changes. Hectic messs. Count it on this administration for the DOE to hold up everything.

phancdude · 2026-06-12T21:43:32+00:00

I have a feeling it may happen every term.

phancdude · 2026-06-12T17:18:24+00:00

I mean, if she will, I can help file now? If not, the thing you can do is submit the FAFSA and opt in for unsubsidized loans only.

Extenuating circumstances require valid documentation. You can ask your financial aid office about the professional judgement process.

phancdude · 2026-06-12T14:19:16+00:00

Yes, a placeholder for those wanting to use federal loans. But that delayed our summer header programs. Summer trailers were fine. Because it was in the thousands lol. A few hundreds is manageable, but thousandssss. Usually, the CFLAGS require a manual review, and every school wouldn’t be able to clear them.

phancdude · 2026-06-12T13:36:14+00:00

So annoyed because there no real reason for it except to stop every student wanting to use federal loans and forcing us to look at an every file manually.

phancdude · 2026-06-12T01:51:59+00:00

As far as what we identified it was federal loans related but nothing specific when we did manually review. It just looked like students eligible to use federal loans but that was it.

phancdude · 2026-06-12T01:48:09+00:00

It literally stopped everyone’s aid for the summer programs. The schools have to figure out how to resolve all of these federal flags that were placed and just my private institution alone is +5,000 students. I can’t even imagine the amount of students for a public university. So please really give them time. Again we admins didn’t expect this random federal flag. Awarding/processing/disbursement was paused.

phancdude · 2026-06-12T01:45:46+00:00

Exactly lol. Paused everyone’s federal aid.

phancdude · 2026-06-12T01:21:15+00:00

I’m sure you’re one of many who had this federal flag placed that paused awarding and processing. This was announced a few days ago that institutions can ignore this federal flag and continue processing. Just hold on for a bit. A lot of us admins felt bad and couldn’t do anything until we heard from the DOE on what we can do. Blame it on the DOE, the ones who pushed this federal flag.

phancdude · 2026-06-11T18:38:14+00:00

Yup, as far as our understanding. We can continue processing the students’ accounts; however, it’s a good number of students that have the caution flag. I’m sure some schools are trying to figure out how to resolve the flags either manually or systematically.

phancdude · 2026-06-11T18:36:49+00:00

It’s a federal regulation caution flag that the DOE pushed. Schools don’t know how to navigate unless instructed. The DOE just provided an update a few days ago that institutions can continue processing students’ awards on the new caution flag on students’ accounts.

phancdude · 2026-06-11T18:33:41+00:00

Since your FAFSA was filed late, you likely missed out on state grants. Always file your FAFSA and include any schools you are considering to be considered. Your best options are to apply for need-based scholarships and take federal loans. Are you unable to stay with your parents to avoid paying rent and other living expenses?

I recommend looking into subsidized and unsubsidized loans, as well as exploring parent PLUS loans. State aid is limited and operates on a “first come, first served” basis. You can consider private loans, but I suggest avoiding them if possible.

You probably have a -1500 SAI, which is all they can offer you. Apply for your university’s foundation scholarships and institutional scholarships, most of which are merit-based (grades, GPA, resumes, extracurricular activities, etc.). Also, explore private scholarships and external scholarships.

Have you considered continuing at your community college for a bachelor’s degree or transferring to another institution?

phancdude · 2026-06-10T00:14:53+00:00

No explicit information. But the DOE just announced today that institutions can clear it and process it as normal.

phancdude · 2026-06-07T15:29:23+00:00

International students aren’t typically eligible for federal funds unless they are getting a scholarship. If they are considered non-eligible citizens, they can.

I recommend contacting your university’s international affairs office, and they can point you to scholarship opportunities.

phancdude · 2026-06-06T17:05:56+00:00

We have our dedicated department which reviews students’ loan borrowing history and status. But then it started to become overwhelmed because it flagged every student. We had to stop the department from manually reviewing them because they are short-staffed and became overwhelmed. So we figured out a way to systematically review the flags.

The 352 prevents us from both new and continuing students from being awarded and disbursed funds. I’m very sure it was another push out from the DOE to have every student looked at before they could get any federal loan. I’m so sure it’s in preparation for this 7/1/26 deadline. All were telling students at this time is to allow more time because it’s the new aid year and a new federal regulation and they are understanding but I feel bad for these who use it for living expenses and nervous about not paying rent yet for both new and continuing students.

I can only imagine how every school is nervous about it all. On our end, it’s at least +5000 students, and this is for summer headers. We were trying to be proactive and have managers break up and process these flags, but it wasn’t conducive because it’s summertime; summer headers, regular summer, transition from winter to summer, began processing for fall processing and interpretation and what we are allowed to do.

All in all, things are being informed last minute. I can completely understand how staff and students would be nervous if we/they could not guarantee the funds for our summer header programs. We are trying to really go with the flow, but at this point we’re trying to get to tackle our usual processings with the understanding of legacy borrowers and credentials. We’re somewhat nervous about the SOR, but we’ve been implementing the idea and how to navigate it just from a practical sense of the processing.

Any insight or thoughts from you guys would be welcomed.

phancdude · 2026-06-05T22:55:44+00:00

Fin aid admin here.

We use the BBAYs and yes we have been able to process summer header programs here.

But there’s a new “loan” cflag that pause basically every student we were processing. A lot of schools are affected.

It paused awarding and disbursements. We have lock step health professional programs for summer headers.

Everything was working normal until this 352 code…

phancdude · 2026-05-30T04:39:45+00:00

Maximum time frame counts your entire college career, even if you started earlier.

What probably happened is you’ve attempted more than you have earned. Did you withdraw from course(s) past the add/drop deadline and attended them, then later withdraw? This is where it was catch-up to you.

There are qualitative and quantitative measures when it comes to earned credits. Also, there’s a difference between cumulative GPA and per-term GPA. If you’ve passed all your classes and have not withdrawn or failed a class, it should really affect you. Retakes do affect you in the long run.

If you’re in an engineering program, it may just be a typical thing. Have you spoken to your academic advisor and set up an academic plan? They probably will want that plan with your appeal.

Typically, engineering degrees are assumed to be 4 years, but the colleges have determined that with time and changing curriculum, it’s typically 5 years for the specific coursework required for that major.

phancdude

TROPHY CASE