my cousins best friend had the same thing happen but she ended up getting her FAFSA finally done and got into university for spring semester, so dont give up hope!!!

Since your son just submitted yesterday, I'd recommend having him check his StudentAid.gov account daily for the SAI calculation. Once that appears, immediately add the university's school code and then personally contact their financial aid office. Many schools have special provisions for students affected by FAFSA delays this year, including extended deadlines and expedited processing. The Department of Education has also directed schools to be more flexible with documentation for the 2025-2026 cycle due to the widespread issues.

I think the FAFSA automatically assumes a student household size of 1 (just the student) for calculation purposes if that field is blank. Obviously that would result in a much higher SAI than if you have a household of 4! Definitely make that correction from your daughter's account. \n\nI saw a presentation from a financial aid administrator who said this is one of the most common errors they're seeing this year, along with the parent contribution not being split correctly between multiple students.

That makes sense why our SAI seems so off! If they're calculating as if she's in a household of 1 instead of 4, that would explain a lot. I'll make that correction right away. Thanks for the explanation.

I HATE THIS NEW SYSTEM SO MUCH!!!! Last year I could do all 3 of my kids applications in 30 minutes. This year it took me 7 HOURS to do the exact same thing!!!! And guess what? After all that the SAI calculation came back COMPLETELY WRONG because the system didn't properly account for multiple dependents in college at once. Had to file appeals for all 3 kids. Complete disaster. Good luck, you'll need it.

Update for anyone finding this thread: The Department of Education just announced they're going to simplify the process for parents with multiple students in the 2025-2026 cycle. They're adding a "copy parent information" button that will be available starting in November 2024. Should save parents from entering the same information multiple times.

Just following up - after you contact your school's financial aid office, make sure to get documentation of your conversation. Ask them to note in your file that you're experiencing the known signature verification glitch. Many schools are implementing workarounds where they'll process your preliminary FAFSA data while waiting for the signature issues to be resolved. Also important - don't create multiple applications as someone suggested. This can cause even more problems in the system and potentially flag your application for verification, which adds another layer of complications.

FYI I just saw on the FSA Twitter that they're doing system maintenance this weekend that's supposed to fix the signature issues. Maybe wait until Monday before trying again? Good luck!

The FAFSA system this year is complete garbage. They rushed out all these "simplification" changes without proper testing and now students are paying the price. I've been trying to help my nephew with his application for WEEKS and we keep hitting different errors. The signature page issue is especially bad because it's literally the last step before submission, so you think you're done and then... ERROR. I complained to my congressman about it and surprisingly his office responded saying they've received hundreds of similar complaints and are pressuring the Department of Education to extend all financial aid deadlines this year. Maybe we should all be contacting our representatives about this disaster.

UPDATE: Finally got it to work! After trying basically everything suggested here, what finally worked was: 1. Using Microsoft Edge in InPrivate mode (thanks to the financial aid advisor who suggested this!) 2. Turning off my ad blocker (great tip from the parent who mentioned popup blockers) 3. Doing it at 5:30am when the system wasn't busy We got all the way through and have our confirmation email! Our SAI score was immediately available too. Now I'm going to help my daughter email her schools to explain the delay just to be safe. Thank you all so much for your help - I was seriously ready to throw my computer out the window!