FAFSA 2025-2026 signature issues - both blue 'sign and submit' buttons showing for student and parent

I just went thru this last week with my son. We both had the blue sign & submit buttons too. What worked for us was having HIM click sign & submit first, then I did mine right after. It completed successfully & we got the confirmation email about 2 days later. Don't delete anything!

FSA has been updating the system constantly since January, which is why you're seeing conflicting advice. The current correct procedure is: 1. Student signs first (clicks 'sign and submit') 2. Parent signs second (clicks 'sign and submit') 3. Must be completed within the same session If you do it in reverse order, the system sometimes nullifies the student signature. This was confirmed by FSA in their latest technical update.

we had same problm 2 and ended up having to delete everything because one signature disappeared. started over 3 times!!! finally worked when my son signed first then waited 10 mins before i signed. stupid system wasted hours of our time

The signature process is definitely one of the most confusing parts of the new FAFSA. Here's what's actually happening: the system is designed for the student to sign first, then the parent, but the interface doesn't make this clear. The reason you're both seeing "sign and submit" is because the form doesn't know which order you'll sign in. Once one person signs, the other person's button should update - but this update sometimes fails to display properly due to caching issues. Try this: have your student sign first, then completely close the browser and reopen it. Log back in as the parent and complete your signature. This has worked for about 85% of the families I've advised this year.

I spent HOURS trying to get through to someone at Federal Student Aid about this exact issue last month. After being disconnected 4 times, I found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual FAFSA agent in about 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent confirmed that both parties can have the sign and submit button, but you need to do it in the right order (student first, then parent) and you need to do it within the same login session. Fixed our issue immediately!

UGH THE NEW FAFSA IS THE WORST!!!! Why did they have to "simplify" something that was working fine before? My daughter's SAI came back $5000 higher than her EFC was last year even though NOTHING about our finances changed. And don't even get me started on the signature problems - we had to submit FOUR TIMES because of glitches. Each time we thought it was complete but then would log in and see "signature missing" with no explanation of whose signature or how to fix it. Whoever designed this system should be FIRED.

My twins are heading to college this fall and we accidentally figured out a weird workaround. We first tried both signing on the same device and it glitched. Then we tried with them on their phones and me on my laptop simultaneously - that worked! Not sure if that's helpful but maybe try signing from different devices at the same time?

anyone else notice that the system works better late at night? we kept getting errors during daytime but when we tried at like 11pm everything went through smooth. maybe less server traffic or something

Update to my earlier advice: FSA just released a statement yesterday acknowledging the signature issue. They recommend: 1. Student initiates and completes their signature 2. Parent completes their signature within 7 days 3. If you encounter the "missing signature" error, use the "Update FAFSA Form" option rather than starting over This is the official guidance as of May 2025 for the 2025-2026 application cycle. Hope this helps!

UPDATE: Success! We followed the advice from this thread and had my daughter sign first, then I signed immediately after (same session). We got the confirmation screen with the checkmarks for both signatures! The estimated SAI appeared right away too - though it's much higher than I expected which is concerning. I guess that's a question for another thread... Thank you all for your help! This community has been more useful than any official guidance we've found.

Congratulations on getting through the signature process! 🎉 It's such a relief when it finally works after all that stress. For the higher SAI issue you mentioned - definitely worth starting a new thread about that. The SAI calculation changed significantly from the old EFC formula, so many families are seeing unexpected increases even with the same financial situation. There are some income protection allowances and other factors that shifted in ways that aren't always intuitive. Thanks for updating us with your success! It's really helpful for other families dealing with the same signature nightmare to know what actually worked.