FAFSA birth year 2000 glitch - application stuck or should we submit anyway?
So I turned 25 this year and was trying to complete my FAFSA for grad school. The system kept giving me errors when I entered my birthdate (born in 2000). After three attempts, I called the help line but couldn't get through. I've seen other posts saying there's a birth year glitch for people born in 2000. Has anyone with this birth year been able to successfully submit their FAFSA? Or are you all waiting for them to fix the system? My school's priority deadline is coming up next month and I'm getting nervous about missing out on aid packages.
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Tyrone Johnson
I was born in 2000 and had the EXACT same problem! What worked for me was using the mobile app instead of the website. For some reason, the website has this weird glitch with our birth year but the app processed it just fine. I submitted last week and already got my SAI score yesterday. Try that before waiting for them to fix the website bug!
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Gabrielle Dubois
•OMG thank you!! I didn't even think to try the app. Downloading it now. Did you have any other issues with the application after that?
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Ingrid Larsson
same issue here. born in 2000 & the system kept freezing when i entered my birthday. ended up just putting 1999 and december 31st then explaining the issue in the comments section lol. probably not the best solution but my schools financial aid office said theyd help fix it after submission
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Carlos Mendoza
•You should NOT put incorrect information on your FAFSA! That could be considered fraud and might get your entire application flagged or rejected. I would contact your school's financial aid office immediately to let them know what happened and ask how to correct it.
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Zainab Mahmoud
This is actually a known issue with the 2025-2026 FAFSA system. It's affecting many students born in 2000. I work at a university financial aid office, and we've been telling students to try these workarounds: 1. Use the mobile app instead of the website 2. Try using a different browser (Firefox seems to work better than Chrome) 3. Clear your cache and cookies before attempting 4. If all else fails, submit a case number through studentaid.gov/help DON'T enter incorrect information as that will cause problems later. If your deadline is approaching, contact your school's financial aid office to request an extension due to the technical issue.
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Gabrielle Dubois
•Thank you so much for this detailed advice! I'm going to try the app first (downloading now) and if that doesn't work I'll try Firefox. It's reassuring to know that schools are aware of this issue. I'll definitely reach out to my grad program if I can't get it submitted by next week.
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Ava Williams
I HAD THIS PROBLEM AND WASTED 3 WEEKS TRYING TO FIX IT!!! The phone number is USELESS - I waited for 4 hours and then got disconnected. I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an actual person at FAFSA. They got me to the front of the phone queue in like 10 minutes and the agent helped me bypass the glitch. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. Seriously saved my semester because my school wouldn't process any aid without the FAFSA on file.
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Raj Gupta
•Is that service legit? I've never heard of it before and I'm always suspicious of third-party services for government stuff.
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Ava Williams
•Yeah it's totally legit. My financial aid advisor actually recommended it when I told her I couldn't get through on the phone. They don't touch your FAFSA or anything - they just connect you with an actual FSA agent instead of waiting on hold forever.
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Lena Müller
this is so typical of the fafsa site lol... they update the system and mess up something basic like birth years 🙄 i'm not born in 2000 but had issues with the parents section freezing constantly. ended up having to do my entire application at 2am when the site wasn't being hammered with traffic
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Gabrielle Dubois
•That's a good idea about trying during off-hours! If the app doesn't work I might try that approach. The whole system seems so buggy this year.
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Carlos Mendoza
Have you tried calling your school's financial aid office directly? I had a similar issue (not birth year related, but the system kept rejecting my parent's tax info). My school gave me a special form to document the technical issue and extended my deadline by 2 weeks while I worked with FSA to resolve it. Most schools understand these technical problems are happening and have processes to accommodate students affected by them.
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Gabrielle Dubois
•That's a good suggestion! I'll call my program's financial aid office tomorrow morning. I didn't realize they might have special forms for technical issues.
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Ingrid Larsson
did u try using a different browser? i heard someone say that internet explorer (lol) actually works for the 2000 birth year glitch
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Tyrone Johnson
•Internet Explorer has been discontinued by Microsoft and isn't even available on most computers anymore. Microsoft Edge or Firefox are better alternatives to try.
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Raj Gupta
GOOD NEWS! FSA just released an update yesterday that specifically mentioned fixing the birth year issue for people born in 2000. If you update your browser and clear your cache completely, it should work now. I just helped my little brother submit his (he's a 2000 baby too) and it went through fine. They've been rolling out fixes all month for various bugs in the new system.
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Gabrielle Dubois
•That's fantastic news! I'll try again right now with a fresh browser. Thanks for the update - I hadn't seen any official announcement about them fixing it.
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