FAFSA 2024-2025 correction stuck in loop - can't add new school before August deadline

This is a known bug with the new system. I work in financial aid at a university and we've seen dozens of students with this exact issue. The fastest solution is to call FSA directly at 1-800-433-3243, but ask specifically for a "Tier 2 support specialist" who has the ability to manually add schools to your FAFSA. The regular support staff can't help with this particular glitch.

omg same thing happened to me last week!! so frustrating!! i kept getting stuck in the same loop and wanted to throw my computer out the window lol. try filling out EVERY field even if it says optional, that worked for me

Have you tried saving your progress, completely logging out, waiting about an hour, and then logging back in? That's what fixed it for me when I was trying to add a school last month. Something about the session timing out and refreshing seemed to break the loop.

This is a common issue with the redesigned FAFSA system this year. The problem is that when you're making corrections, the system is sometimes unable to verify that you've reviewed all required sections before allowing you to submit. Here's what I've found works consistently: 1. Start a new correction session 2. Click through EVERY page of the application in order, even if you don't need to change anything 3. Make sure to click the "Continue" button on each page rather than using the navigation menu 4. When you get to the school selection page, add your new school 5. Complete every remaining page until you reach the signature page If that still doesn't work, you'll need to request a manual override. The fastest way is calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center (1-800-433-3243), but wait times have been 2+ hours lately.

Im having the EXACT same problem trying to add University of Minnesota!! Been stuck for 5 days and cant get anyone helpful on the phone. This whole FAFSA redesign is a disaster. They should've never changed the old system that worked fine.

Have you tried using Claimyr to reach an actual FAFSA agent? I was stuck in the same situation last week, on hold forever with no help. My advisor recommended Claimyr (claimyr.com) and they got me connected to a real FAFSA agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. The agent was able to manually add my school. They have a video demo of how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ

Does your FAFSA show "processed" status or "processing"? If it's still in processing status for some reason, you won't be able to make corrections until it completes. This happened to me and I had to wait 3 weeks because there was some verification flag on my account I didn't know about.

Update: I just talked to FSA, and they said this is happening because of a server issue on their end. They're supposedly rolling out a fix next week, but that's not going to help those of us who need it fixed NOW for fall term. So frustrating!!! 🤬

One other thing to try: request that your school's financial aid office pull your ISIR directly. They can sometimes add themselves to your FAFSA on their end without you needing to correct anything. Not all schools know how to do this, but larger financial aid offices should be able to.

I'm dealing with this exact same issue right now! Been stuck in that financial loop for 3 days trying to add my local community college. What's really frustrating is that I can see other schools I already have listed, but every time I try to add a new one, it sends me back to review my parent's tax info again and again. Has anyone tried submitting a complaint through the FSA feedback system? I'm wondering if documenting these cases might help them prioritize a real fix. Also @Evelyn Rivera - definitely try calling your school's financial aid office first thing Monday morning. Sometimes they can work around the system glitch faster than waiting for FSA to fix it. This whole situation is making me seriously consider taking a gap semester, which is NOT what I want to do. Really hoping one of these workarounds helps!

I'm a new student dealing with this EXACT same issue! Just spent 3 hours yesterday trying to add my state university to my FAFSA and kept getting trapped in that financial review loop. It's honestly so relieving to see I'm not the only one - I was starting to think I was doing something wrong! @Evelyn Rivera I really hope one of these solutions works for you! Your August deadline is so soon. I'm going to try the methodical page-by-page approach that @Tony Brooks outlined first, then call for Tier 2 support if that doesn't work. Has anyone had success getting their school's financial aid office to expedite processing once the FAFSA correction finally goes through? I'm worried that even if I fix the glitch, there might not be enough time for everything to process before enrollment deadlines. This whole redesigned system has been such a mess for so many students! Keeping my fingers crossed for all of us dealing with this nightmare 🤞

Hey everyone! I'm new to this community but unfortunately not new to this FAFSA nightmare. I've been stuck in the exact same correction loop for over a week trying to add my transfer school. Reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea about asking for Tier 2 support specifically or that schools could potentially pull the ISIR directly. @Evelyn Rivera I really feel for you with that August 22nd deadline looming! Have you had any luck with the solutions people suggested? I'm planning to call first thing Monday and ask for Tier 2 support like @Julia Hall recommended, and also contact my school's financial aid office to see if they can pull my ISIR directly. It's honestly both frustrating and oddly comforting to see how many of us are dealing with this. The fact that FSA is supposedly rolling out a fix "next week" while students have immediate deadlines is just unacceptable. I'm definitely going to submit feedback through their system too - maybe if enough of us document these cases they'll prioritize actually fixing it. Thanks to everyone who shared their workarounds and experiences. This thread might have just saved my enrollment!