If your FAFSA has been sitting on “In Review” for more than about three business days after an online submission, something specific is almost always holding it up, and that is why is my FAFSA still in review is worth investigating rather than waiting out. The usual causes are a contributor who hasn’t signed or granted tax consent, a Social Security Number or identity mismatch, a problem with the IRS data exchange, or selection for federal verification. Each has a clear fix once you know which one applies.
How Long Processing Should Actually Take
An online FAFSA filed at StudentAid.gov is processed by the Department of Education in one to three days.1Federal Student Aid. 7 Things To Do After Submitting Your FAFSA Form When it finishes, your status changes and you can view your FAFSA Submission Summary, and you’ll receive an email. Three full business days is the point to start troubleshooting.
Paper applications are slower by design. Federal Student Aid estimates about seven to ten days from the date you mail the form before processing even starts, and total turnaround can run three weeks or more.2University of the People. How Long Does It Take For FAFSA To Process? If you submitted on paper, a status of “In Review” for a couple of weeks may not indicate any real problem.
Timing within the cycle also matters. The Department of Education has acknowledged that batch processing runs longer during peak months, and Mondays and Tuesdays carry the heaviest volume.3Federal Student Aid. 2025-26 COD System Peak Processing Reminders An extra day or two in January or February is normal.
A Contributor Hasn’t Signed or Given Tax Consent
This is where most stuck applications are stuck. Every person listed as a contributor, whether that’s you, a parent, a stepparent, or a spouse, has to log in with their own StudentAid.gov account, complete their section, and electronically sign. If even one contributor hasn’t done this, the form cannot be submitted for processing and it will simply sit.4Federal Student Aid. Completing the FAFSA Form: Steps for Parents
Signing isn’t the whole job. Each contributor also has to check the boxes granting consent for the Department of Education to pull their federal tax information directly from the IRS. Skip that step, and the system cannot calculate your Student Aid Index, which makes you ineligible for all federal student aid, not just some of it.5Federal Student Aid. What Does It Mean To Provide Consent and Approval To Retrieve and Disclose Federal Tax Information? There is no workaround.
Only the Department of Education can collect a contributor’s consent and approval, so your school cannot handle this for you.6Federal Student Aid Knowledge Center. Filling Out the FAFSA Form The contributor has to create their own StudentAid.gov account, log in, and finish their portion directly. Until they do, your application goes nowhere.
An Identity or Social Security Number Mismatch
When you submit, the Department of Education runs your Social Security Number, name, and date of birth through the Social Security Administration’s database. Anything that doesn’t match exactly flags the application and holds it in review.7Department of Education. Chapter 4 The FAFSA Collects the Student’s Social Security Number Common triggers are a legal name change that never made it to the Social Security Administration, a hyphenated name entered differently, or a typo in the date of birth.
The fix depends on which side is wrong. If you mistyped, you correct the FAFSA. If the government’s records are stale, you visit a Social Security office to update them. Either way, you can’t make corrections while the form is still “In Review.” You have to wait for it to process, then submit the correction through your FAFSA Submission Summary.8MIT Student Financial Services. My FAFSA Says It Is “In Review” on the StudentAid.gov Site, What Should I Do?
Contributors Without an SSN
If a contributor doesn’t have a Social Security Number, common for noncitizen parents, there’s an extra wrinkle. Starting with the 2025–26 cycle, identity attestation is built into the online account creation process, so contributors no longer mail a separate paper form.9Federal Student Aid. Update Regarding StudentAid.gov Account Creation for Individuals Without a Social Security Number These contributors cannot use the automated IRS data transfer, so their income may need manual verification by your school, and these applications are more likely to be selected for verification overall.
A Problem With the IRS Data Exchange
The FAFSA now uses the FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange to pull tax information straight from the IRS.10Internal Revenue Service. Tax Information for Federal Student Aid Applications When it works, it’s real time. When it doesn’t, whether from a technical glitch, a communication failure, or a timing issue, your application can stall while the systems try to sync.
Amended returns create a specific problem. The IRS takes 8 to 12 weeks to process a Form 1040-X, and up to 16 weeks in some cases.11Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return: Frequently Asked Questions If you or a contributor recently amended, the data exchange may pull a mix of original and updated figures, or fail to pull anything usable. The Department of Education has said that in these cases the exchange sometimes transfers the most recent adjusted gross income alongside original values for other line items, producing inconsistencies that have to be resolved.12Federal Student Aid. Update on Tax Data Received from the FA-DDX and Manually Entered Information
Non-Filer Flags
If a contributor indicated they didn’t file a federal return, the application gets flagged for additional review. Your school then has to collect documentation, sometimes W-2s or a written explanation, to verify the contributor’s income and marital status before it can award aid. Aid cannot be finalized until the school has everything it needs.
Selection for Federal Verification
Even after your status flips to “Processed” federally, your school may open its own review. Verification is an audit the Department of Education selects applications for, and schools are legally required to complete it before disbursing aid.13eCFR. 34 CFR 668.54 – Selection of an Applicant’s FAFSA Information for Verification Being selected isn’t an accusation of anything. Historically the selection rate ran around 30 percent; more recently it has been closer to 18 percent.
Selected applications fall into one of three groups, each with different documentation:
- V1 Standard, the most common: filers verify income, taxes paid, IRA distributions, education credits, and family size; non-filers verify income from work and family size.
- V4 Custom: identity verification plus a signed Statement of Educational Purpose, often completed in person at your school.
- V5 Aggregate: everything in V1 plus the V4 identity check.
Your school may request tax transcripts, a verification worksheet, or other supporting documents.14eCFR. 34 CFR Part 668 – Student Assistance General Provisions – Subpart E: Verification and Updating of Student Aid Application Information The financial aid office can’t issue a formal award letter until verification wraps, so respond quickly. There is also a hard federal deadline: Pell Grant applicants must complete verification by the deadline published in the Federal Register or within 120 days of their last day of enrollment, whichever comes first. Miss it, and you can lose eligibility for the entire award year.
Why the Delay Matters More Than It Looks
The federal FAFSA deadline for the 2026–27 award year is June 30, 2027, but that date has little to do with the money you actually receive. What matters are state and school priority deadlines, which can fall as early as February. State grants and institutional aid are typically awarded from limited pools on a first-come, first-served basis, so a form stuck in review while those pools empty means money you won’t get back.15Federal Student Aid. 3 FAFSA Deadlines You Need To Know Now
Federal Pell Grants and Direct Loans work differently. If you qualify, you’ll receive them regardless of when your application processes, as long as you meet the federal deadline. State grants, institutional scholarships, and campus-based work-study can all disappear while your file sits. A two-week delay in January is far more damaging than the same delay in August. If you’ve already missed a priority deadline because of processing issues, call your school’s financial aid office. Some schools will make exceptions when you can show your submission was timely.
How to Get an “In Review” FAFSA Moving
Work through these in order:
- Check contributor status first. Log in and confirm every listed contributor has completed their section, granted consent, and signed. This is the fix more than half the time. Send the link and walk them through it if needed.
- Look for emails from Federal Student Aid, including spam. A notification about needed action may explain the wait.
- Call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243. Phone hours are Monday 8 a.m.–9 p.m. ET, Tuesday and Wednesday 8 a.m.–8 p.m. ET, Thursday and Friday 8 a.m.–6 p.m. ET. Live chat is available on StudentAid.gov. Representatives can tell you exactly what’s holding up your application.16Federal Student Aid. Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC)
- Contact your school’s financial aid office. They can often see your record even before federal processing finishes, and if you’ve been selected for verification, they, not Federal Student Aid, run that process.
- Don’t try to correct a form still in review. You can’t change it until it processes. Once it does, corrections go through your FAFSA Submission Summary or through your school.8MIT Student Financial Services. My FAFSA Says It Is “In Review” on the StudentAid.gov Site, What Should I Do?