FAFSA 'Sign and Submit' button missing - stuck in endless 'Sign and Continue' loop
I'm going CRAZY with the 2025-2026 FAFSA! Both the student and parent sections are 100% complete, but there's literally NO 'submit' button anywhere! All I see is 'sign and continue' which takes us to a page saying 'Congratulations, you're almost there' - but there's nowhere to actually SUBMIT the application! We started this nightmare on January 12th and it's now almost March. My daughter needs to confirm her aid package for her junior year by April 15th, but we can't even get the basic FAFSA submitted. We've tried: - Logging out/in multiple times - Using different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) - Clearing cache and cookies - Deleting and restarting the application - Calling the helpline (disconnected after 2 hours on hold) The financial aid office at her university says they can't generate an award letter until they receive our FAFSA data. Has anyone else encountered this 'sign and continue' loop with no actual submit button? How did you finally get it submitted?
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Vanessa Chang
Yes, this exact thing happened to me last month! The issue is that even though it SAYS everything is complete, there's actually one section that's not registering as finished in their system. For me, it was the parent asset verification page that looked complete but wasn't actually saving properly. Try going back through each section one by one and re-save even if everything looks complete. Pay special attention to the contributor section and make sure all checkmarks are green. When I went back and carefully clicked through each section again, suddenly the 'Submit FAFSA' button appeared on the final review page. Also check that your FSA IDs (both student and parent) are properly linked to the application. Sometimes that connection gets broken and prevents submission.
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Noah Irving
AuthorThank you! I'll try going through each section again. Did you have to re-enter all the information or just click through and save each page? I'm terrified of losing what we've already completed.
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Madison King
the same thing is happening to everyone i know!! my cousins tried for 6 weeks before they could submit. try checking the parent asset section - sometimes theres a hidden field thats not marking complete. also try using microsoft edge browser, worked for my roommate when chrome didnt.
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Julian Paolo
Actually, I found a solution that worked for us and several other families at my son's college. The issue seems to be specifically with the parent contribution section. Even though it shows completed with green checkmarks, there's a glitch in the system. What worked: Go to the Contributor section for the parent, click Edit, then manually re-enter the email address (even if it's already there), and click Save. Then go through the parent demographic information section again, clicking Next on each page without changing anything. For whatever reason, this forces the system to recognize all sections as truly complete. After doing this, the final page should change from "Sign and Continue" to "Sign and Submit FAFSA" - that's when you know you've fixed it!
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Ella Knight
OMG I HATE THE NEW FAFSA SO MUCH!!!! Been trying since DECEMBER to submit my daughter's application and kept running into the exact same issue! The Department of Education completely botched this rollout. Three months of our lives wasted on this garbage system. And then they have the NERVE to send emails saying "Don't delay, submit today!" WHEN WE LITERALLY CANNOT SUBMIT BECAUSE THEIR SYSTEM IS BROKEN!!! 😡😡😡
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William Schwarz
I understand your frustration. The new FAFSA implementation has had significant technical issues. However, there are some specific workarounds for the "sign and continue" loop problem: 1. Try switching to the mobile app instead of the website (or vice versa if you're currently using the app) 2. Check if the student and parent sections are BOTH showing 100% complete 3. Verify that all contributors have properly signed their sections 4. Make sure you're using the most updated version of your browser If you've tried all these solutions and still can't submit, I recommend documenting your attempts with screenshots and dates. Many schools are being flexible with internal deadlines due to these widespread FAFSA issues.
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Lauren Johnson
I had this exact problem with my son's FAFSA last month! After weeks of frustration, I finally got through to someone at Federal Student Aid who could help. I used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to bypass the hold times - they got me connected to an agent in about 15 minutes when I'd previously been waiting hours. There's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent explained that there's a known bug where if you have certain special characters (like hyphens or apostrophes) in any text field, it can cause the submission button to not appear. They had to manually reset something on their end, and then the submit button finally showed up when I logged back in. Worth trying if you're still stuck!
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Madison King
does this claimyr thing actually work? i've been trying to call for 2 weeks and never get through
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Lauren Johnson
Yes, it actually does! I was skeptical too but was desperate after trying to get through for almost 3 weeks. They connected me to an agent in about 15 minutes. The agent was able to see that our application was showing complete on our end but had an error flag in their system. They cleared it and we were able to submit the next day.
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Jade Santiago
We had this problem too and believe it or not the solution was incredibly simple but not obvious. You need to click on the "Summary" tab at the top of the page first, THEN the submit button will appear. For some reason going through the regular way never shows the submit button. Don't ask me why, this whole FAFSA redesign is a disaster! But try clicking on Summary and see if that helps.
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Noah Irving
AuthorTHANK YOU!!! This worked!!!! I cannot believe that after 6 weeks of trying everything under the sun, it was something this simple. The submit button appeared on the Summary page! We've finally submitted our FAFSA. I'm in shock that it was this ridiculous the whole time. Sharing this trick with everyone I know who's still struggling!
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Julian Paolo
For those still experiencing this issue: The Department of Education quietly released a patch last week to address the infamous "sign and continue" loop. Make sure you're logging in with the most recent version of the site. Also, a common problem is that even though the application shows as 100% complete, one of the following issues might be occurring: 1. A parent or student hasn't properly linked their FSA ID to the application 2. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool connection failed silently 3. A required signature is missing (even though the system shows everything complete) If you're using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, try manually entering your tax information instead. This resolved the issue for several students I've worked with as a college financial aid advisor.
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Madison King
another weird thing is that sometimes it works if you wait exactly 24 hrs after finishing the last section. my friend couldnt submit for days then randomly checked the next morning and the button was there. this new fafsa is so glitchy!
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Noah Irving
UPDATE: We FINALLY got our FAFSA submitted! For anyone else stuck in this ridiculous loop, what worked for us was: 1. Clicking on the Summary tab at the top (thanks to @profile6 for this crucial tip!) 2. On the Summary page, we discovered a tiny red exclamation mark next to the parent assets section that wasn't visible anywhere else 3. We fixed that section (had to re-enter some investment information) 4. When we returned to the Summary page, the magical "Sign and Submit" button appeared I'm beyond frustrated that this took 7 weeks of our lives, but relieved it's finally done. My daughter's university financial aid office said they're seeing this issue with about 40% of applicants this year. Absolute disaster of a rollout.
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Oliver Alexander
Congratulations on finally getting it submitted! This whole thread is a lifesaver - I've been stuck in the same loop for 3 weeks and was about to give up. The Summary tab tip is genius, I never would have thought to check there. Going to try this right now along with the other suggestions about re-checking the parent asset section. It's absolutely ridiculous that the Department of Education rolled out such a broken system and families are having to crowdsource solutions like this. Thank you everyone for sharing your workarounds!
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