Can't add school name for Parent PLUS loan application - system error?

I had the same issue last week! For me, it turned out that my daughter hadn't listed the school on her FAFSA application first. The Parent PLUS loan system only shows schools that are already listed on the student's FAFSA. Once she added the school to her FAFSA, it showed up in my Parent PLUS application about 24 hours later. Has your daughter confirmed that her school is listed on her FAFSA?

They hav no clue bc they never know whats going on!!! Ive been dealing with fasfa for 3 kids now and EVERY YEAR theres some new problem. last yr they told me to keep checking back about verification and i almost missed the deadline for my sons tuition!!! the whole system is broken

I work in a university financial aid office, and we've been seeing this issue quite frequently this year. There are two common causes: 1. As someone mentioned, the student hasn't listed the school on their FAFSA yet. 2. There's a timing issue between FAFSA submission and the Parent PLUS system. Even if your daughter has the school on her FAFSA, the Parent PLUS system sometimes takes 3-5 business days to update. If adding the school to her FAFSA doesn't solve it within 2-3 days, I'd recommend contacting the financial aid office at her school directly. We can often initiate a Parent PLUS loan from our end if the federal website is giving you trouble.

when i was trying to do my parent plus loan for my son the dropdown was empty too. turned out i was on the wrong application year!! i was accidentally on the 2024-2025 form instead of 2025-2026. maybe check that?

I've been trying to reach someone at Federal Student Aid for THREE DAYS about a verification issue. I finally found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual human at FSA in about 20 minutes instead of waiting on hold forever. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent I spoke with was able to see that there was indeed a system issue with some Parent PLUS applications and gave me specific steps to resolve it. Much better than being told to "keep checking back"!

Just wanted to add that this happened to my wife when she was trying to fill out our daughter's Parent PLUS application. In our case, it was because we started the application before our daughter's financial aid package had been fully processed by her school. Once the school processed her initial aid package (which took about a week after her FAFSA was processed), then the school appeared in the dropdown. So it might be a timing issue with the school's processing rather than something you're doing wrong.

Update: My daughter called her school's financial aid office, and they said they CAN initiate the Parent PLUS loan from their end! We just need to fill out a paper form instead of doing it online. They said they've had several parents with the same issue this week. Thanks everyone for your help - especially the financial aid worker who suggested contacting the school directly. Problem solved!

I'm dealing with the exact same issue right now! Been trying to complete my son's Parent PLUS application and the school dropdown is completely blank. This thread has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea about the FAFSA connection. My son completed his FAFSA months ago but I'm going to double-check that his current school is actually listed on there. It's so frustrating that the FSA phone reps don't seem to know about these common issues. Really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences and solutions here!

I'm new to this whole financial aid process and this thread has been a lifesaver! My daughter is starting college this fall and I was getting really worried when I couldn't get the Parent PLUS application to work. Based on what everyone's shared here, it sounds like the most common issue is the school not being listed on the student's FAFSA first. I'm going to have my daughter log into her studentaid.gov account tonight to make sure her school is properly listed. If that doesn't work within a few days, I'll definitely contact the school's financial aid office directly like Sydney suggested. It's reassuring to know there are paper alternatives if the online system keeps having problems. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - this is exactly the kind of practical advice that the official customer service should be providing!

As someone who just went through this nightmare last month, I can confirm that the FAFSA school listing is usually the culprit! But here's something else to check that I haven't seen mentioned yet - make sure your daughter's enrollment status is showing as "enrolled" or "accepted" for the correct term in her school's system. I discovered that even though my son had the school listed on his FAFSA, his enrollment status was still showing as "pending" in the university's records, which was preventing the Parent PLUS system from recognizing the school. Once the school updated his status to "enrolled," the dropdown populated within 48 hours. Also, if you're still having trouble after trying all these suggestions, try accessing the Parent PLUS application from a completely different network (like your phone's hotspot instead of home wifi) - I know it sounds weird, but it actually worked for a friend of mine who was having similar issues. The federal systems can be finicky about certain network configurations sometimes.

This entire thread has been incredibly eye-opening! I'm currently stuck in the exact same situation with my daughter's Parent PLUS application - empty dropdown, unhelpful customer service, the whole nine yards. Reading through everyone's experiences, it's clear this is a widespread issue that FSA should really address better. I'm going to work through the checklist that's emerged from this discussion: 1) Verify her school is actually listed on her FAFSA (not just submitted), 2) Check her enrollment status with the school directly, 3) Give it 3-5 business days for systems to sync up, and 4) Contact the financial aid office for the paper form backup plan if needed. It's frustrating that we have to crowdsource solutions like this, but I'm so grateful for everyone sharing their real-world fixes. This is way more helpful than anything I got from the official support channels!

I'm experiencing this exact same issue right now! My son is starting his junior year and I've been trying to complete his Parent PLUS application for two weeks. The school dropdown has been completely empty every time I try. After reading through all these responses, I realize I never actually verified that his school is listed on his FAFSA - I just assumed it was since he's been attending there for two years. I'm going to have him log in and double-check that tonight. It's so frustrating that the FSA phone support doesn't walk parents through these basic troubleshooting steps. This thread has been more helpful than three different phone calls to their helpline! I'll definitely try the financial aid office route if the FAFSA fix doesn't work within a few days. Thanks everyone for sharing your real experiences and solutions!