FAFSA filing order in 2025-26: Student first, parent signatures last? Avoiding current glitches

Your process is mostly correct, but there have been some adjustments to the recommended steps recently. Here's the current optimal process: 1. Student creates account and starts application (completes their demographic info) 2. Student adds parent as contributor but DOES NOT SIGN 3. Parent creates their own account and completes their section 4. Parent signs their portion 5. Student reviews the complete application and signs last For technical tips: Use Chrome or Edge (Firefox has had some issues), clear your cache before starting, and have all tax documents ready in digital form. The system tends to run smoother on weekdays during business hours rather than weekend evenings when everyone's trying to submit. Also, take screenshots at each completion step as backup in case something goes wrong. The new SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation is much faster now than in February, but there are still occasional delays.

We just completed ours last week and it was STILL a nightmare despite following all the "correct" steps!! The student signed first by accident and we couldn't go back. Had to start the ENTIRE process over from scratch. Then the income verification wouldn't accept our tax transcript upload - kept saying "format error" even though it was a PDF straight from the IRS site!!! But we FINALLY got it submitted after 3 attempts. My advice - DO NOT RUSH through any section. Take your time reviewing every single page before clicking next. And for the love of God DON'T let your student sign until the very end!!!

The order you mentioned is correct, but I'd add that you should ensure BOTH you and your student have created your FSA IDs at least 3 days before attempting to complete the FAFSA. The system needs time to verify identities properly. Also, a small technical tip: when entering financial information, don't use commas in number fields (so type 50000 not 50,000). I've seen the system glitch on this and either reject the entry or worse, misinterpret the value. Finally, for tax information, the direct transfer from IRS (the IRS Data Retrieval Tool) is working much better now than in February. Use that instead of manual entry if possible - it's more accurate and reduces the chance of verification later.

we did ours on tuesday and it was fine but my son signed first by accident LOL but nothing bad happened actually?? the whole thing still went through ok and we got the confirmation email the next day. maybe they fixed that glitch? idk

After trying SEVEN TIMES to contact the Federal Student Aid help center about our verification issues (kept getting disconnected or 3+ hour wait times), I discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com) and finally got through to a live agent in about 15 minutes. They have a service that holds your place in line and calls you when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration! They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ As for your signing order question - definitely have the student sign LAST. When we did it wrong, our application got stuck in processing limbo for over a week.

I work in a college financial aid office and we're still seeing the same issues daily with the new system. The most common problem is contribution confusion - make sure ALL contributors (parents on the FAFSA) complete their sections BEFORE any signatures happen. Also, there's a known issue with the income summary screen - it sometimes shows $0 for certain income types even when entered correctly. DON'T PANIC if you see this! It's a display glitch only. The correct values are still in the system. Last tip - write down your confirmation number AND take screenshots of the confirmation page. You'd be surprised how many "completed" applications disappear from the system.

One more thing I forgot to mention - make sure you're entering the CORRECT tax year information! This year's FAFSA (2025-2026) requires 2023 tax information, NOT 2024. My sister made this mistake and had to redo everything. The new "prior-prior year" rule confuses everyone.

Based on latest reports from last week, the best times to access the system are Tuesday-Thursday mornings (8am-11am Eastern). The system tends to get overloaded on weekends and Sunday night/Monday morning particularly. Also, if you do encounter the dreaded "processing" status that doesn't change after submission, the new recommended waiting period before contacting FSA is 7 business days. They've been slowly improving the processing speeds, so it's not the 3+ weeks many experienced back in February.

my daughter did hers last month and the whole contributor section was missing?? ended up having to call tech support. make sure u actually see the parent section before submitting!

Once you've successfully submitted, you should receive your SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation within about 3-5 days now. That's much faster than back in February when the new system was first implemented. Remember that the SAI replaces the old EFC and works slightly differently in aid calculations. Also, don't be alarmed if your SAI seems higher than last year's EFC. The calculations have changed and most schools have adjusted their aid formulas accordingly. The important thing is getting the application completed and processed without technical issues.

Just wanted to add one more crucial tip from our experience last week - make sure to disable any browser extensions (especially ad blockers and password managers) before starting the FAFSA. We kept getting weird errors and timeouts until we realized my ad blocker was interfering with the form validation scripts. Also, if you're using a shared computer, make sure to log out completely from any other accounts and clear the browser cache first. The system seems really sensitive to cached data from previous sessions. Good luck tomorrow! It sounds like you're well-prepared with all this great advice. The fact that you're planning ahead and asking these questions puts you way ahead of most families who just wing it.

As someone who just went through this process with my son two weeks ago, I can confirm that most of the advice here is spot-on! We followed the exact signing order that Gabriel outlined and it worked perfectly - no glitches or stuck applications. One additional tip I'd add: if you're planning to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (which I highly recommend), make sure your name on the FAFSA matches EXACTLY how it appears on your tax return. Even small differences like "Jr." vs "Junior" or missing middle initials can cause the data transfer to fail. Also, keep your phone nearby during the process. The system now sends text verification codes for certain steps, and there's usually a short time limit to enter them. We almost timed out once because I had left my phone in another room! You've got this! The new system really is more stable now than it was in the early months of the year.