FAFSA duplicate applications flagged after signature glitch - how long until resolved?

same thing happened to my daughter!!!! we also got caught in that stupid signature glitch and now theres apparently 2 applications. nobody can tell us how it happened either and its been TWO WEEKS with no resolution. the financial aid deadline is coming up for her school and im freaking out that shell lose her spot. this whole fafsa thing is a DISASTER this year

I work at a community college financial aid office. This duplicate application issue is happening a lot this year, especially with applicants who got caught in the signature glitch. Here's what's typically happening: when the original signature glitch occurred, the system sometimes created a pending application but didn't properly delete it when you submitted your corrected application. Most schools have a process for handling this, but it requires manual review. Typically, they'll compare submission dates and verification data to determine which application to keep. The timeline varies by institution - at our school it's taking about 10-14 days to resolve these flags, but larger universities might take longer. My advice: call the financial aid office once a week for updates but document everything (who you spoke with, date/time). If your school has a priority deadline approaching, request a deadline extension in writing based on the FAFSA processing error. They should accommodate this since it's a known system issue.

this happened to my roomate too lol. fafsa is such a mess this yr. he just waited and it fixed itself after like 3 weeks

After THREE attempts to reach the Federal Student Aid helpline about our duplicate application issue (kept getting disconnected after 2+ hour waits!), I finally used Claimyr to connect me directly to an agent without the wait. The FSA rep confirmed this is happening to lots of families who were caught in the signature glitch. Check out their video demo if you're struggling to get through: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The FSA agent told me they can actually identify and mark the duplicate application on their end which speeds up resolution. After they fixed it on their side, I called the university financial aid office again and they were able to process my daughter's correct application within 48 hours. Might save you some time versus waiting for the school to figure it out on their own.

I had a similar situation with duplicate FAFSAs except mine was because I started one application on my phone then finished on my laptop and somehow it submitted both versions??? Anyway my kid's school took TWENTY-THREE DAYS to fix it. The financial aid director finally told me that when duplicates occur they have to manually review BOTH applications line by line to determine if there are any differences in reported assets or income before they can decide which one to process. If you're approaching a deadline, print out your FAFSA confirmation page with your SAI score and submit that directly to the financial aid office with a letter explaining the situation. Most schools will accept that temporarily until the flag is resolved.

This is so frustrating! I'm dealing with a different FAFSA issue (verification flag), but I've learned that being persistent with the financial aid office is key. Can I ask what your student's SAI score was? I'm trying to figure out if that affects how quickly they resolve these problems. I've heard lower SAI applications (meaning higher need) sometimes get prioritized for fixes.

Update on the duplicate application issue: The Department of Education just issued guidance to schools this week about how to handle the duplicate applications from the signature glitch. They're instructing financial aid offices to prioritize the most recently submitted FAFSA (which should have the valid signatures) and to expedite processing for affected students. Schools should be sending communications about this soon, but if you don't hear anything by end of week, I'd recommend calling your financial aid office and specifically mentioning the new guidance about signature glitch duplicates. This should help speed up your resolution!

Just following up - were you able to get this resolved? I'm curious if contacting FSA directly worked for you like it did for me.

I'm so glad you were able to get this resolved! This whole thread has been incredibly helpful for understanding the duplicate application issue. As someone new to navigating FAFSA (my daughter is a high school senior), reading about everyone's experiences with the signature glitch and duplicate applications is both terrifying and reassuring. It's scary that these technical issues are happening, but it's comforting to know there are solutions and that the financial aid offices are working to fix them. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and tips - especially about contacting FSA directly and requesting deadline extensions. This community is a lifesaver for stressed parents trying to figure out this whole process!