Update: I finally got this resolved! After trying everything suggested here, what finally worked was: 1. I had my son contact the financial aid office at the new college directly 2. They were able to manually request his FAFSA data using his SSN and DOB 3. They confirmed they could see his information even though we couldn't complete the formal "add school" process They said they're seeing this issue frequently with January 2024 FAFSA submissions and have a workaround on their end. So for anyone else facing this, go directly to the financial aid office! Thanks everyone for all your help with this frustrating situation!

This is such a relief to read! I'm a parent going through the exact same nightmare right now with my daughter's FAFSA from January 2024. We've been getting that same "form not available" error for weeks when trying to add a school for her fall transfer. I was starting to panic thinking we'd miss all the financial aid deadlines. Reading through all these responses gives me hope - I'm going to try calling the financial aid office directly tomorrow morning. It sounds like that's been the most successful approach for people. Thanks for sharing your experience and the update that it actually got resolved! Sometimes it feels like these FAFSA issues never have happy endings.

One more thing to watch for - after your SAI is calculated, your daughter's FAFSA information is sent to the schools listed on her application. Each school then calculates its own financial aid package based on the SAI and their institutional formula. So even after you get the SAI, there's still a waiting period before you hear from individual schools about actual aid offers. Just wanted to manage expectations about the overall timeline.

As someone new to this whole FAFSA process, I'm finding this thread incredibly helpful! My son is a junior and we haven't started yet, but seeing all these processing delays is making me nervous about timing. Should we plan to submit earlier than the typical deadlines to account for these longer processing times? Also, I'm confused about the difference between the SAR and SAI that people are mentioning - are these two separate documents or is the SAI just part of the SAR? Thanks for sharing your experiences, everyone!

I'd like to add some clarification that might help. While it's true the system isn't perfect, there are some provisions that recognize disability situations: 1. Medical expenses that exceed 11% of the Income Protection Allowance can be reported on the FAFSA as special circumstances. 2. For the 529 plan and the other investment account: These are considered parental assets if the parent is the account owner, which reduces your Expected Family Contribution far less than if they were student assets. 3. Many colleges have special circumstances appeals specifically for families with disabilities. Once you receive your aid offer, you can request a professional judgment review and provide documentation about the disability-related expenses. Don't get discouraged before going through the process. Your daughter should still apply for all possible scholarships and aid options.

I just wanted to add something that might help with your situation. Since your wife's disability affects her cognitive abilities, you may want to look into whether your daughter qualifies for any disability-related scholarships or grants. Some organizations specifically provide funding for students whose parents have disabilities, recognizing the unique financial challenges families face. Also, when you do fill out the FAFSA, make sure to keep detailed records of everything you report - especially the asset values and any disability payments. If you need to make corrections later or file appeals, having good documentation will be crucial. The financial aid office at your daughter's school should be understanding of your complex situation, especially given the disability factors involved. One more thing - don't let the complexity discourage you from applying for aid. Even if the calculations don't work out perfectly in your favor initially, there are often additional opportunities for aid through the school itself, state programs, and private scholarships that might not consider all the same factors as the federal FAFSA.

yay! glad it worked out for you!!

I had this exact same issue last month! The cursor jumping between fields drove me absolutely crazy. What finally worked for me was using Safari on my Mac instead of any Windows browser - something about how Safari handles the form validation made it much more stable. Also, I found that typing very slowly (like waiting a full second between each character) helped prevent the automatic field jumping. It's ridiculous that we have to work around these bugs, but at least there are solutions. Hope this helps if the Firefox/incognito combo doesn't work for everyone!

when i had signature problems my financial aid advisor told me that the data sometimes gets sent to schools before the signature verification is complete... something about "preliminary data release" vs "official data release" idk the technical terms but thats why portland state got the info early. but u definitely need to fix the signature thing for sure or u might miss out on first-come-first-served aid

I'm dealing with this exact same issue right now! My FAFSA has been stuck on "signatures needed" for over two weeks, even though my parent and I both signed with our FSA IDs when we first submitted. It's such a relief to see I'm not the only one experiencing this glitch. The whole new FAFSA rollout has been a nightmare - I've heard so many horror stories from friends about applications getting lost, signature issues, and processing delays. I'm definitely going to try re-signing tonight based on everyone's advice here. Has anyone noticed if this happens more when you save and return to the application multiple times? I'm wondering if that's what triggered the issue for me since I had to come back to it a few times to gather tax documents.