FAFSA grayed out school section - Can't add my son's college after signing
I'm pulling my hair out trying to finalize my son's 2025-2026 FAFSA! After weeks of errors and glitches, I FINALLY got to the signature section and successfully signed it yesterday. But now I realized the school section has been grayed out the entire time - I literally can't click on it or add any schools. It's completely uneditable. For context, my daughter's FAFSA went through perfectly last month (she's a sophomore), but my son's application has been nothing but problems. The weirdest part is that the school section has been grayed out from the beginning, not just after signing. Does the student HAVE to be the one to add schools? Or is there some step I missed that's causing the school section to be inaccessible? I really don't want to start over with a whole new application after all the documentation struggles we've already had. Anyone else deal with this grayed-out school section issue? Any help appreciated!
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Chloe Martin
Yes! The student HAS to add the schools on their side of the FAFSA. It's one of those weird rules that makes no sense since parents can do almost everything else. Make sure your son logs in with HIS FSA ID (not yours), and he should be able to add schools. The school section will always be grayed out on the parent side.
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Omar Farouk
•Oh thank goodness!! I was so worried we'd have to start over. I'll have him log in tonight when he gets back from work. Thanks for clarifying!
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Diego Fernández
this happened to me two! was freaking out but my kid had to do the schools part. super annoying they dont tell u that anywhere obvious
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Anastasia Kuznetsov
•They actually DO tell you that... it's in the instructions if you bother to read them lol. Page 7 of the FAFSA guide specifically states "school selection must be completed by the student applicant" but nobody reads instructions anymore 🙄
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Diego Fernández
•well excuse me for not having time to read a 30 page manual just to fill out 1 form!! they should make it more clear on the actual website.
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Sean Fitzgerald
This is completely normal. The FAFSA system is designed so that only the student can select which schools receive their financial aid information. This is part of their privacy protections. Here's the correct process: 1. Your son needs to log in with HIS FSA ID 2. Go to the School Selection section 3. He can add up to 10 schools initially 4. If he needs to add more later, he can go back and edit the FAFSA The parent side will always show this section as grayed out, even before signing. It's not a glitch - it's by design. Just have him complete that section and you should be all set!
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Omar Farouk
•Thank you for the detailed explanation! I wish they made this clearer in the instructions. Do you know if there's a time limit between when I (parent) sign and when he needs to add schools and complete his signature? I'm worried about hitting some deadline.
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Sean Fitzgerald
•There's no specific time limit between parent and student signatures, but keep in mind that the FAFSA isn't considered complete and won't be processed until both parties sign AND the schools are added. Most priority deadlines for the 2025-2026 academic year are in February/March 2025, but some schools have earlier deadlines, so don't delay too long.
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Zara Khan
when i did my sons fafsa the whole thing crashed after i signed it and we had to start ALL OVER AGAIN!!!! at least ur getting farther than we did lol
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MoonlightSonata
•That happened to me too! I was on hold with FAFSA for THREE HOURS trying to get help with the crashed application. Finally gave up and tried using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an actual person at Federal Student Aid. They have this service that calls and waits on hold for you, then calls you when they get a rep. Saved me hours of frustration and the agent was able to recover our application data! Check out their demo video if you're curious: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ
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Mateo Gonzalez
This is a common point of confusion with the FAFSA. The Department of Education implemented this design intentionally to protect student privacy. Since students who are 18+ are legally adults, they have the right to determine which institutions receive their financial information, even when parents are providing financial support and information. One important thing to note: if your son waits too long to add schools and complete his signature, some institutions might not consider him for certain priority aid programs. While the federal FAFSA deadline is quite late (June 30, 2026 for the 2025-2026 academic year), individual schools often have much earlier priority deadlines for institutional scholarships and grants. Also, make sure your son adds ALL potential schools he might attend, even if he hasn't made a final decision. Schools can only consider him for aid if they receive his FAFSA data.
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Omar Farouk
•This is so helpful! His top choice school has a priority deadline of February 15th, so we'll make sure it's done well before then. Do schools automatically get notified when they're added, or is there an additional step?
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Mateo Gonzalez
•Yes, schools automatically receive the information once the FAFSA is fully completed (meaning both you and your son have signed, and he's added the schools). There's no additional step needed. Schools typically receive the data within 3-5 business days after submission. Your son will also receive a Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation once processing is complete, which gives you an idea of your expected contribution.
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Anastasia Kuznetsov
Am I the only one who thinks it's RIDICULOUS that they keep making the FAFSA more complicated every year?? Like why would they gray out a section without ANY explanation? The new FAFSA is supposed to be "simpler" but I swear they're just making it worse. My nephew had to submit his 3 different times because of glitches. The whole system needs to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch.
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Diego Fernández
•omg YES!! took me 6 tries to get my kids fafsa to go thru this year. kept saying my w-2 info didnt match their records when i KNOW i typed it in right!!
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Chloe Martin
•The grayed out section isn't actually a glitch though - it's intentionally designed that way for privacy reasons. But I do agree they should make it more obvious WHY it's grayed out instead of leaving parents confused.
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Chloe Martin
Just wanted to follow up - did your son manage to add his schools? Hope everything worked out!
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Omar Farouk
•Yes! He logged in last night and was able to add his schools no problem. The application is now complete and submitted! Thanks again for all the help everyone. Such a relief to have this finished.
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