FAFSA glitch keeps looping me back to student circumstances page - anyone born in 2000 having this issue?

same here!! born dec 2000 and stuck in the same stupid loop. tried calling fsa but gave up after 45 min on hold

This is a known issue with the new FAFSA system for certain birth years, particularly 2000. The system has trouble processing the verification between your birthdate and your current age calculation in some cases. There are three potential solutions: 1. Try completing your application between 11pm-6am when server traffic is lower 2. Answer the student circumstances questions slightly differently (if any are subjective) 3. Clear your browser data, restart your device, and use the .gov site directly rather than any redirects If those don't work, you'll need to contact FSA directly for a manual override. The technical issue is on their end, not yours.

not born in 2000 but my sister had this EXACT problem last week!! she kept getting stuck in the loop until she tried using microsoft edge instead of chrome. weirdest thing ever but it worked for her!

I work at a university financial aid office, and we've seen several students with this issue. The glitch seems to affect students born in 2000 because of how the system calculates dependency status verification. The system is trying to determine if you're 24+ (for independent status) but the calculation gets caught in a validation loop with certain 2000 birth months. If the browser changes don't work, you'll need to contact FSA directly. Unfortunately, phone wait times are running 2-3 hours currently due to the high volume of similar technical issues with the new system.

I was stuck in exactly this loop for DAYS until I discovered Claimyr. It's a service that holds your place in the FSA phone queue and calls you when an agent is about to answer. Saved me from a 2+ hour wait time! The agent was able to manually override the birthdate loop issue in about 5 minutes once I got through. You can see how it works in their video demo: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ or just go to claimyr.com. MUCH better than waiting on hold all day!

FAFSA IS THE WORST!!! This is my second year dealing with their technical glitches. Last year they lost my parent's tax info THREE TIMES and I nearly lost my Pell Grant eligibility. Now they can't even handle birth years correctly?? How hard is it to program a simple form? Our entire financial futures depend on this broken system!!!!

UPDATE: I just checked the FSA technical issues log, and they've officially acknowledged this as a known bug affecting primarily users born in 2000. They're rolling out a fix in the next 48 hours. If your deadline is after that, you might want to wait for the fix rather than spending hours troubleshooting.

my cousins boyfriend had this same issue but he just kept clicking back and forth between pages and eventually it let him through? maybe try just brute forcing it for like 30 minutes?

UPDATE: Success! After trying multiple approaches, here's what finally worked for me: I used Edge browser in InPrivate mode, AND I went back to the very beginning of the application and re-entered my birthdate with the format MM/DD/YYYY instead of selecting from the dropdown calendar. For some reason, that combination got me past the loop! I was able to complete and submit my FAFSA this morning. For anyone else born in 2000 facing this issue, try manually typing your birthdate instead of using the calendar picker!

Just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who shared solutions here! I'm also born in 2000 and was hitting the same loop for the past 3 days. I was getting so stressed about missing my deadline. Just tried Ava's method with Edge InPrivate mode and manually typing the birthdate instead of using the calendar dropdown - IT WORKED! Submitted successfully on my first try. You all saved my financial aid! This community is amazing for helping each other navigate these technical nightmares.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm also born in 2000 and have been dealing with this exact same looping issue for the past week. I was starting to panic about my approaching deadline. Just tried Ava's solution with Edge InPrivate mode and manually typing my birthdate instead of using the dropdown calendar - and it worked on the first try! I can't believe something so simple fixed what seemed like an impossible technical problem. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and solutions. This community really came through when the official support system was failing us. Hopefully FSA gets this birth year calculation bug fixed soon so other students don't have to go through this stress!

Just wanted to add my experience to this thread! I'm also born in 2000 and was hitting this exact same loop yesterday. After reading through everyone's solutions here, I tried the Edge InPrivate + manual birthdate entry method that Ava discovered, and it worked perfectly! Got my FAFSA submitted this morning after days of frustration. One small addition to the solution: I also made sure to completely close all other browser windows before starting in InPrivate mode, just to be extra safe. Not sure if that made a difference, but figured I'd mention it in case it helps someone else. Thank you so much to everyone who shared their experiences and troubleshooting steps! This community is incredible - we shouldn't have to debug government websites for each other, but I'm so grateful we do. Hopefully FSA fixes this birth year bug soon so future 2000 babies don't have to deal with this stress!