UPDATE: IT WORKED!!! I followed @practical_solution's advice - waited 24 hours, used incognito mode, and clicked submit again. The system showed a weird error message at first, but then refreshed to Stage 2! My son's status now shows "FAFSA Form Submitted" with today's date. No need to re-sign or re-enter anything. THANK YOU to everyone who responded with suggestions. For anyone else having this issue - definitely try the 24-hour reset method before starting over.

So glad to hear it worked for you! One more tip for future reference - take screenshots of your confirmation page and save the confirmation number. The new system has been known to occasionally revert statuses, and having proof of submission can save you headaches later.

btw if ur looking at community college as a backup DON'T FEEL BAD!!! my kid did 2 yrs at community then transferred and saved like $30k and got the SAME DEGREE in the end!!

That's reassuring. I'm definitely considering it as our backup plan if we can't get this resolved. The hardest part would be telling her she has to leave all the friends she's just made. 😞

Just wanted to follow up - if you've checked all the technical suggestions and still can't resolve it, there's one more approach that sometimes works. Have your dad log into his FSA account, go to the "Messages" section, and look for any notification that might have been sent there but not to email. Sometimes the system delivers messages internally but fails to send the email notification. Also, if his account was created before 2022, there might be an issue with it not being fully compatible with the new system. In that case, he might need to update some information in his FSA profile.

hey did u ever fix this?? im having the same problem now with my dad

If your school's deadline is in 18 days, I would strongly recommend contacting your school's financial aid office directly. Explain the technical issues you're having with the parent section. Most schools have processes in place for FAFSA technical difficulties, especially with all the problems in the new system. They may be able to hold your aid package or give you a deadline extension while you resolve the issues. Don't wait until after the deadline to do this!

One more thing to check - make sure your parent is using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool if possible. This automatically pulls the tax information directly from the IRS, which eliminates the possibility of manual entry errors with the AGI. About 30% of the parent section issues we see are resolved by using this tool rather than manual entry.

Everyone saying you have to wait is wrong. You need to IMMEDIATELY contact the school you're trying to add to your FAFSA. Explain the situation and provide them with your FAFSA ID. Most schools have a process for this exact situation - they can access your FAFSA information even if you haven't officially added them to your list. For the scholarship deadline, get documentation that you've initiated this process - emails between you and the financial aid office, screenshots of your current FAFSA status, etc. Submit this documentation to the scholarship committee explaining the situation. DON'T just wait for processing - be proactive!

UPDATE: You all have been so helpful! I spoke with the financial aid office at the school we need to add, and they said they can indeed access our FAFSA information with our FAFSA ID number - they just needed my daughter's permission. The scholarship committee also granted us a 5-day extension after I explained the situation and provided documentation of our efforts. I also tried the Claimyr service that someone recommended to get through to FSA, and I actually got to speak with someone who confirmed our FAFSA should be processed within 48 hours. Thank you all so much for helping us navigate this stressful situation! I'll update again once everything is finalized.