Quick update since there's some confusion in this thread: The 2025-2026 FAFSA uses the Student Aid Index (SAI) instead of the older EFC calculation. For families with incomes below $49,000 (with certain tax filing statuses), there's often an automatic zero SAI calculation that would ignore the student assets entirely. I'd recommend scheduling a meeting with a financial aid counselor at your son's school to discuss your specific situation. They can run a preliminary calculation and give you more precise advice for your circumstances.

As a parent who went through this exact situation two years ago, I want to reassure you that it's not as catastrophic as it might seem! My daughter had about $8,500 in savings when we filed her sophomore year FAFSA, and while it did reduce her Pell Grant slightly, she still received substantial aid. The key thing to remember is that the FAFSA looks at your overall financial picture, not just one component. Since you qualified for full Pell this year with low income, that income level will still be the dominant factor in your SAI calculation next year. That said, if your son has legitimate educational expenses coming up (laptop, textbooks, dorm supplies, etc.), it makes financial sense to purchase those before filing the FAFSA. Just make sure they're things he actually needs - don't make frivolous purchases just to reduce assets. Also, definitely look into that automatic zero SAI that Ellie mentioned. With your income level, you might qualify and that would make his savings irrelevant to the calculation entirely.

One more tip - once you get your application back and fix the tax consent issue, make sure you check your SAI calculation carefully. My boyfriend had a similar issue and when they finally processed his application, they somehow didn't include his parents' tax info correctly even though the consent was fixed. This made his SAI way higher than it should have been. You'll want to compare the income figures on your SAI report against what you know was on your taxes.

I'm so glad to see this thread because I thought I was going crazy! This exact same thing happened to me last week. My application vanished after I got the tax consent notification, and like everyone else, the system insisted I already had one submitted but wouldn't show it anywhere. I ended up having to escalate through my school's financial aid office - they have a direct line to FSA for these kinds of technical issues. It took 3 business days but they were able to locate my application and get it restored to my dashboard. If you're still stuck after trying the other suggestions here, definitely reach out to your school's aid office. They deal with these FAFSA glitches all the time and have resources we don't have as individual students.

UPDATE: Mystery solved! After checking all your suggestions, my daughter logged into her FSA ID account and found the application in HER activity section. Apparently I was logged into her account when I started working on the parent contribution (facepalm). The confusing part is that I remember entering my FSA ID too, but I guess that was just to authorize my section of HER application, not to create it in MY account. She sent me a new contributor invitation email, and now I can access it directly without going through her account. Thank you all for your help!!

So glad you figured it out! This exact thing happened to my friend last year and she ended up redoing the entire parent section because she couldn't find it. The FAFSA interface really needs better user flow - it's not intuitive at all that parent contributions live under the student's account. Your post will definitely help other parents who run into this same issue!

Just joined this community after discovering I'm dealing with the exact same FAFSA nightmare that everyone here has described! My daughter's 2025-26 application has been stuck for a full week now - parent invite never made it to my husband's email (we've checked spam, promotions, everything), the application completely vanished from My Activity, but I get hit with that "form already exists" error every time I try to restart. It's absolutely maddening that we're STILL battling these identical system failures that turned last year's rollout into such a disaster. Reading through all these experiences has been both a relief (I'm not losing my mind!) and deeply concerning (this is clearly a massive widespread issue). I've tried every single troubleshooting step mentioned here - different browsers, clearing cache, mobile version, waiting multiple days - nothing works. The Claimyr service that @Julian Paolo mentioned seems like our only real hope at this point since FSA's direct support is apparently non-existent. I've documented everything with screenshots and saved all my confirmation emails from the initial attempts. Thank you all for sharing these real solutions - this community is providing infinitely more help than any official FAFSA channel! The stress of potentially missing scholarship deadlines because of their technical incompetence is just crushing, but seeing that others have successfully resolved this gives me hope.

New to this community and unfortunately dealing with the exact same FAFSA disaster that everyone has been describing! My son's 2025-26 application has been stuck for 3 days now - the parent invite never reached my ex-wife despite multiple resend attempts, the entire application vanished from My Activity, but I keep getting that infuriating "form already exists" error when trying to start over. It's absolutely unbelievable that we're still facing these identical technical failures that made the 2024-25 rollout such a nightmare. Reading through all these experiences has been both validating (I'm not going insane!) and deeply frustrating (this is clearly a massive systemic problem). I've already tried different browsers, cleared all cache and cookies, attempted the mobile version - nothing works. Based on all the success stories shared here, I'm definitely going to try the Claimyr service that @Julian Paolo mentioned since calling FSA directly seems completely hopeless. I've saved screenshots of every error message and have all the confirmation emails from my initial setup attempts. Thank you everyone for sharing these real working solutions - this community is providing way more actual help than FSA's useless official support! The stress of potentially missing critical scholarship deadlines due to their technical incompetence is overwhelming, but it's encouraging to see that others have successfully gotten through this mess.

Update for everyone in this thread: I just received an official notice that Nelnet has confirmed they're experiencing a system-wide issue with their multi-factor authentication system. They expect it to be resolved within 72 hours. In the meantime, they're automatically applying a 15-day grace period to all accounts with payments due during this timeframe. They're also temporarily expanding their phone payment staff. If you call 888-486-4722 and select option 1, then option 3 for "technical difficulties," you should get routed to a special team that can take your payment over the phone without requiring account login.

I'm so glad I found this thread! I've been having the exact same issue with Nelnet for the past week - no verification codes coming through at all. It's such a relief to know it's not just me and that there's actually a system-wide problem they're working on. I tried calling the regular customer service line three times and kept getting disconnected after long holds. But after reading through all these comments, I'm going to try that special phone payment option that @Liam Sullivan mentioned, and also attempt the early morning login trick. Has anyone else noticed if this affects their auto-pay customers too? I have auto-pay set up but I'm paranoid it might not go through if their whole system is having issues. I'd rather make a manual payment just to be safe this month. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and solutions - this community is so helpful when dealing with these frustrating servicer problems!