<p>Is anyone else having problems with SSS receiving documentation? I am beyond frustrated. I sent a bunch of forms with a cover sheet in December and two of the forms were mysteriously lost. After a few phone conversations with them, they assured me that the forms could be viewed by the schools even though the status still showed "required" on my end. I contacted the schools and they could not access the forms. So I re-sent the forms (luckily I kept copies) in January, along with an additional form and another cover sheet. After 12 days I called because the forms were still not showing up in their system. So I log on this morning and TWO of THREE forms I sent in were showing up and and one wasn't. WTH? </p>
<p>I called them again and they keep "escalating" my calls, whatever that means. I'm sure they are going to tell me the same things as last time. I sent an email to the school so they would know what is going on. I don't want this to affect my daughter's chances of getting financial aid because the deadlines are looming and I did have everything turned in by December. Also, I'm wondering if they are scanning other schools' documents into the wrong schools (my daughter is applying to five schools).</p>
<p>Actually, yes, we are having problems. I keep getting the “we apologize for the inconvenience message.” I think I may need to start calling too.</p>
<p>I’m literally on hold with them as I type! What is wrong with these people? I’ve been trying to get the Report of Family Contribution online for two weeks to no avail, but apparently the schools are able to get the information. Very frustrating, however, since we’ve already heard that our child was accepted at two of the schools we applied to, but we have no idea what to expect in terms of FA offers.</p>
<p>Don’t panic, however. One of the schools we applied to was aware of the issues with SSS, the other was not. We also had an issue with SSS reporting that one of the schools still needed several forms, even though when I called the school, they assured me everything was okay. As long as you’re in touch with the school, I don’t think they’ll penalize you. And I think the problems with SSS are fairly widely known at this point. My understanding is that this was the first year the schools relied on them to gather all the information, so they may have been anticipating problems.</p>
<p>ETA: Just got off the phone with them. They are CLUELESS! Not only can I not get that Report of Family Contribution information online, they can’t access it either. But apparently the schools CAN! How is that possible? My impression is the customer service people are just hired guns who have nothing more than a script to work from – and not a very good one at that. My advice: Call your schools today and touch base with them directly.</p>
<p>Oh yes,after being snubbed last year for financial aid my wife and I told ourselves we would be on top of things this year.SSS has not helped our cause,documents are being posted 20 -30 days after they have received them.The schools we are applying to said " as long as they were post marked by the 31st we would be okay".</p>
<p>I have been in contact with the schools and they do understand the widespread problems with SSS. It is just so frustrating!</p>
<p>They always tell me that it takes 7-9 days to process documents and they have a high volume of documents right now (DUH), but when I tell them it has been 12-13 days, they just apologize for the inconvenience. </p>
<p>I was actually able to access my PFC document about 2 weeks ago. I had randomly logged on (I forgot the reason) and there was a link to it. But ever since then, it has the “Sorry for the Inconvenience” message. In their FAQ is says it takes 7 days to process and mail the PFC. When I called after three weeks I was told it was taking 45 days! I still haven’t received it in the mail.</p>
<p>I just sent them another batch of documents including my 2009 tax return and W2, so we’ll see if everything gets uploaded this time!</p>
<p>I called our school and they gave us the amount that SSS has determined we can afford. We still have to send in 2009 information and will have some corrections that need to be made, I wonder if it will ever be done!</p>
<p>I hope this isn’t considered hijacking a thread, but I have a slightly different problem. I have completed, but not submitted, my PFS. When I print it to double check accuracy, the “educational expenses” portion reads exactly the same for my two children, even though I entered completely different information for child #2. Anybody have this experience?</p>
<p>For those of you who got your EFC one way or another, are you surprised at SSS’s estimate of your ability to pay, or is it consistent with your expectation?</p>
<p>(snap, sorry don’t have an answer to your question)</p>
<p>Hey Snap, I haven’t had that problem. Have you tried calling them and asking what is going on? I think their entire system is just really screwed up…lol.</p>
<p>Benley ~ my EFC was actually a bit lower than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised. If we really stretched our budget we could afford probably $5000 and our EFC is about $3800.</p>
<p>We were pleasantly surprised at our EFC from SSS as well – once we were able to find out what it was by calling the school that offered us no FA. The good news is, another school offered us a LOT of aid. Still waiting on the others.</p>
<p>Thanks, folks. I am going to try to call tomorrow. It is very weird because the entry pages are accurate when I view them in the data-entry mode, but when I go to “print PFS” it loses my older child’s info (other than name) and double prints my younger child’s info. I’ve never tried to call the place before, but I will do so tomorrow.</p>
<p>I emailed them a few days ago and asked if they could tell be the amount of contribution we were estimated for. They emailed back and said they would be mailing the amounts out in mid February to the parents. I haven’t tried calling the school…I really want to know but it is not going to change the estimated amount and I am afraid to annoy someone at a busy time…best of luck to everyone. I can’t believe it is still over a month a way. It seems like forever!!! I check the threads every day just to see if there is any “news” of any sort out there. What is everyone else doing to not go crazy by the wait?</p>
<p>I talked to SSS today and they said they were having a software problem with the printing function, that is, with how the printed version is produced, but that the schools received the “right” information, so not to worry. Who’s worrying??</p>