FAFSA contributor signature loop error - application stuck with deadline approaching

omg SAME THING happened to me!! been stuck for a week with the contributor signature thing. website is a disaster this year

I ran into this exact issue with my daughter's FAFSA when her father needed to sign as contributor. The problem is in how the new system handles multi-parent households. Here's what finally worked for us: 1. Have your ex-husband log in to his FSA ID account directly (not through your application link) 2. From HIS dashboard, he should see a "Tasks" section with pending signatures 3. He needs to click on that specific task, not just the general application 4. Make sure he completes BOTH the contributor authorization AND the actual signature page (it's a two-step process many miss) If those steps don't work, it could be that the system doesn't properly recognize him as a contributor. In that case, you'll need to contact FSA directly to have them manually link his FSA ID to your son's application.

my brothers gf had a similar probem she had to use the desktop version not mobile, try taht

The entire FAFSA system is BROKEN this year!!! My daughter's SAI calculation was delayed for THREE MONTHS because of these ridiculous technical issues. We finally got it resolved after our congressperson's office filed an inquiry. This is what happens when they roll out a "simplified" system without proper testing. The contributor signature issue is one of the WORST bugs in the system. We've now helped 4 different families through this nightmare. Even the financial aid officers at my daughter's university say they're drowning in these problems.

I went through contributor signature hell last month with my stepson's FAFSA. After trying everything online and getting nowhere, I finally used Claimyr to reach an actual FSA agent (claimyr.com). They have this service where you can skip the hold times to talk to Federal Student Aid - watched their demo video (https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ) and decided to try it. The agent I reached was able to see that there was a mismatch between how my husband's name was entered in the system versus his FSA ID registration. They fixed it on their end, and we were able to complete the signature within an hour. Sometimes these technical glitches can only be resolved by someone with backend access to the system.

Financial aid advisor here. The contributor signature loop is a known issue affecting about 15% of applications with multiple contributors. Some technical points that might help: 1. There are two entirely different signature processes: one for the student and one for contributors. Contributors must complete both the "Contributor Authorization" AND the "Parent FAFSA Signature" steps. 2. The most common cause is a mismatch between the contributor's personal information on the FAFSA versus how it was entered when creating their FSA ID. Even minor discrepancies (like using "Robert" on one and "Bob" on another) can cause the system to fail silently. 3. Sometimes there's a system flag on the application that only FSA agents can see and remove. If you've already tried the standard troubleshooting, I strongly recommend contacting FSA directly. While their standard phone lines have very long waits, you can also try: - Using their new virtual assistant chat feature on studentaid.gov - Contacting your college's financial aid office for assistance - Requesting help through the FAFSA feedback center The good news: most schools understand these are widespread system issues and many have extended their priority deadlines accordingly.

when this happend to us my husband had to call FSA directly and they reset something on there end. took like 3 days to process but fixed it. the phone number is hard to get thru tho, we called for like 2 hours b4 anyone picked up. maybe try calling super early when they first open? thats what worked for us

UPDATE: We got it fixed!!! After trying everyone's suggestions, what finally worked was: 1. Having my ex update his address in his FSA ID profile (thank you @financial_aid_advisor for this tip!) 2. Waiting 48 hours for the systems to sync 3. Using the Claimyr service to reach an FSA agent who removed some kind of internal flag on our application The agent mentioned they're seeing TONS of these issues specifically with the contributor signature process in divorced/separated households. Apparently the new simplified FAFSA doesn't handle multiple household contributions as smoothly as they'd hoped. For anyone else stuck in this nightmare: getting to an actual human at FSA seems to be the only reliable fix. Thanks everyone for your help - my stress level has dropped from 11/10 to about a 3/10 now!

So glad to see you got this resolved! I'm dealing with a similar nightmare - my daughter's FAFSA has been stuck for 2 weeks with the contributor signature issue. My ex-wife keeps getting the same endless loop problem you described. I've been hesitant to pay for a service like Claimyr, but honestly at this point the stress and time lost might be worth it. Did the FSA agent give you any sense of how widespread this problem is? Our financial aid counselor at the college said they're seeing it "frequently" but that doesn't really tell me if it's 1 in 10 applications or half of them!

This thread is incredibly helpful! I'm a college financial aid counselor and I've been forwarding this discussion to families dealing with the exact same contributor signature loop issue. The combination of address updates + waiting for system sync + getting FSA agent help seems to be the most reliable solution path we've seen. For anyone still struggling with this: I want to emphasize that missing priority deadlines due to these technical failures will NOT hurt your aid eligibility. We're working directly with FSA to document these cases, and most schools are being very understanding about delays caused by the contributor signature bug. Don't panic if you miss a deadline - just make sure to communicate with your school's financial aid office about the technical issues you're experiencing. The fact that FSA agents are seeing "dozens" of these cases daily really validates what we're seeing on the ground. This isn't isolated user error - it's a systematic problem with how the new FAFSA handles multi-contributor households.

As a parent who went through a similar contributor signature nightmare last year, I want to add one more potential solution that worked for us when everything else failed. After trying all the standard fixes (different browsers, clearing cache, updating addresses, etc.), we discovered the issue was that my ex-husband's FSA ID was created with his middle initial, but when I added him as a contributor on the FAFSA, I entered his full middle name. The system couldn't match "John M. Smith" with "John Michael Smith" even though it's obviously the same person. Once we figured this out and I updated the contributor information to match his FSA ID exactly (including the period after the middle initial), everything worked immediately. It might seem like a tiny detail, but the new FAFSA system is apparently very picky about exact name matches. Before calling FSA or using paid services, it might be worth double-checking that every single character in the contributor's name matches their FSA ID registration exactly - including spaces, periods, and whether they used nicknames vs. full names. This could save other families hours of frustration!