FAFSA 2025-2026: Do all applicants need to sign again after January updates?

my daughters was the same, submitted jan 2, still says processing, no emails about signing again. starting to think we did something wrong bc everyone else seems to be getting these correction emails??

The reason many people are having to sign again is because of the January 8th system update that fixed some calculation errors in the new FAFSA. If you submitted on January 1st and haven't received any correction notices, it could mean one of three things: 1. Your application didn't have any of the specific issues the update addressed (most likely) 2. Your application hasn't been processed to the point where those corrections would be flagged yet 3. The notification could still be coming The Department of Education is processing applications in batches, not necessarily in the exact order received. They've stated that many early filers will need to take additional steps, but not ALL early filers. I'd recommend checking both the student and parent email accounts associated with the FAFSA regularly and monitoring the studentaid.gov portal at least twice a week.

my kid got the email about signing again yesterday and we submitted jan 6!! so frustrating cause now its gonna take even longer to get the SAI score and we need to make college decisions soon

DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING IS FINE JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING! The whole system is a total mess this year. My son's application looked fine for weeks then suddenly we got an "action required" notice buried in his studentaid.gov account (no email!!). We almost missed the deadline to fix it because the notification system is broken too. If I were you I'd call FSA directly to confirm everything is actually processing correctly.

I think this year's FAFSA rollout has been a complete disaster compared to previous years. The new "simplified" FAFSA has caused more problems than it solved. My daughter submitted January 5, got an email to correct/sign again on January 30, then got ANOTHER email to sign yet again on February 15. Now her application is "on hold" for verification even though we used the IRS data retrieval tool. My advice - don't assume anything is working correctly this year. Be proactive and check your accounts daily, call if needed, and document everything.

Financial aid advisor here. To directly answer your question: Yes, there are definitely students who did not need to make corrections or sign again after the January updates. The corrections were targeting specific issues in the calculation system, and if your application didn't trigger any of those specific flags, you wouldn't need to sign again. However, the processing time for ALL applications is significantly longer this year. Many institutions are seeing 4-6 week processing times even for applications without errors. My recommendation is to: 1. Check your son's student email AND your parent email regularly 2. Look for notifications directly in the studentaid.gov portal (sometimes they appear there without email notifications) 3. Verify that both student and all contributors (parents) completed their portions fully If you're approaching a college decision deadline and still don't have your SAI, contact the financial aid offices at the schools directly. Many are working with preliminary aid packages or extending deadlines due to the FAFSA delays.

I work in a college financial aid office and we're seeing about 60% of early filers needing to make corrections or sign again, which means 40% are proceeding normally. So your experience isn't unusual! The Department is prioritizing first-time filers over renewals in their processing queue. If your son is a first-time applicant and you submitted on January 1st with no complex financial situation, you might just be one of the lucky ones whose application didn't have issues. But here's my advice - take a screenshot of the "processing" status page now, and continue to check it at least twice weekly. Document everything in case there are questions later.

i just got an email 10 mins ago saying we need to sign again!!! submitted jan 2nd and NOW they tell us?? check ur email again maybe

My twins both submitted FAFSA on the same day (Jan 3) and one had to resign but the other didnt. Makes no sense to me!! The financial aid office at State College told me it depends on what sections of the form had calculation errors. Like if you had certain types of income or family situations those were the ones affected by the system glitch. So maybe your sons form just didnt have any of the specific issues they fixed?

Update: Just got off the phone with the financial aid office at my son's top choice school. They said they're seeing many applications from early January that are proceeding normally without corrections! The advisor suggested we just keep monitoring the portal and emails, but that there's no need to worry if we haven't received correction notices. She also mentioned that even with the delays, they expect to have all financial aid packages ready by early April, which is plenty of time before the May 1 decision deadline. Feeling much better now!