divine angst

Mr. Angst called me this morning to report that his SAR (that’s “Student Aid Report”) had flagged a particular item on his FAFSA—specifically, the item where he reported that there would be 2 persons in our household in college next year. Right under the item where he reported that there are 2 persons in our household total. (Never mind that the phrase “in college” is, in itself, incorrect.)

I checked my own SAR and, sure enough, the same item was flagged.

Now, as this information is correct, we were both a bit confused. He was more agitated than I—this is his first experience with the FAFSA. And as I looked for information on the FAFSA website, I got a little nervous myself. They say they flag information that is “inconsistent” with other parts of your application.

I couldn’t figure out how this information could be inconsistent with anything else, so I called. I actually talked to a person! And you know what she told me?

“Oh, no, don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”

This doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence in the FAFSA folks. Maybe they just can’t comprehend that two people—married, independent people—would be going to school at the same time. I admit it, it’s a little insane, but it can’t be that unusual. Can it?