*Ahem* Excuse me. Terribly sorry about this.

[kawaiiski]

Well, great. I've never done something this simultaneously brave and stupid before, but I feel like maybe... I might be missing something here

Comments

[dhamphir]

Doesn't it just?

[charuby]

Since the OP has just joined, she probably isn't aware that the term she used can cause offense. It's a word that gets thrown around so much that people use it without realising how offensive it is. A little heads up that the word isn't best received in the community would have been better than snarking at her...

OP, you might want to remove the word B**** from your post. Just a little heads up for you.

[dhamphir]

Thirdly, this'll probably be my only post here ever, but I cannot guarantee it.

And? So what?

[xelloss_poo]

Just out of curiosity, why don't you have your own pin and use that instead? I never thought it was attached to the address, but rather to the SS numbers? So you should be able to get and use your own pin... But I could be wrong.

[greenlily]

College financial aid administrator here. Depending on what information you're trying to change on the FAFSA, the corrections sometimes need to be e-signed by both the parent and the student--requiring both the parent's PIN and the student's PIN

[kawaiiski]

I apologize, but I specified that we have already tried calling FAFSA and that they gave us the run around about the pin.

[greenlily]

Yes, yes, you did mention several times that FAFSA had not provided you with a solution to your problem

[rayce]

So the steps to fix it didn't work last year so instead of trying again you will contact someone who is saying they cannot do anything to help you and get mad at them for not helping you and refuse to do what they suggested you do to get help.

Sorry but this seems like a combo customer_suck / bad_service. You don't really help yourself by refusing to take any steps required to help yourself. At the same time, sucks they didn't help you last year.

[kawaiiski]

Before this post I tried to renew the pin. It's strange since the pin is the same and yet the system keeps saying that it does not exist.

I don't know. I might call them again, but automated systems in general can be a tad pain, as I experienced from last year.

[sevenday]

It's possible what didn't work last year may work this year due to changes in how these things are run. Denise likely did NOT have any way to change your mother's PIN; likely she just has fairly basic access to things. So yes, call the number. Yes, it'll take a while, yes, it'll be a pain in the ass, but you knew that already. Have your mother call since the problem PIN is hers. Sit down and coalesce the problem down into a few sentences: "When I try to use my PIN (####), it doesn't work. The website just does Y thing (does it throw a specific error? does it just say 'this PIN does not exist'? tell them that.) I need my PIN changed." At this point I'm assuming you eliminated user error - caps lock on, that kind of thing. You don't need to tell them the whole history of what happened. Just say "this does not work right now. please fix it." It's shorter and less aggravating for you both. And if they say to do what you did last year - DO IT ANYWAY. Do it, and if it still doesn't work (While you're on the phone with them)

[kawaiiski]

There's been an edit in the entry, but thank you for the advice.