FAFSA loan promissory note error: 'No school selected' despite school being in form

This is completely normal! The school has to actually process your FAFSA information first before any loans will appear in the system. After you submit your FAFSA, the schools you selected need time to: 1. Receive your FAFSA data (takes 3-5 business days) 2. Process your information through their financial aid office (can take 2-4 weeks) 3. Generate a financial aid award package 4. Make the loans available for you to accept/decline Only after all that will you be able to complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN) for specific loan types. Just keep checking your student portal at the school for updates - that's where you'll first see loan offers, not on studentaid.gov.

lol ur fine just wait. the whole system is slow AF and nothing works right the first time. my stuff took like a month to show up last year

What you're experiencing is a common process timing issue. To clarify some specifics about the loan promissory note process: You can't complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN) until: 1. Your FAFSA is fully processed (usually 3-7 days) 2. The school receives your FAFSA information 3. The school determines your eligibility and OFFERS the loans 4. The school originates (officially requests) the loans from the Department of Education Only after step 4 will you be able to complete the promissory note without getting that error message. Each school has different timelines for financial aid processing - some complete steps 2-4 within a week, others might take 4-6 weeks, especially during peak periods. To check status: Log into your school's student portal instead of studentaid.gov - that's where you'll first see loan offers appear.

THEY DO THIS ON PURPOSE!! The whole system is designed to be confusing so people give up. My daughter's FAFSA took 3 months to process last year and we had to call the school financial aid office 8 TIMES to fix errors that weren't even our fault!!! And guess what? Her SAI was calculated completely wrong at first. Trust me, you need to be proactive and keep calling the school AND the federal aid office!!

I had the exact same problem last semester! Try checking your Student Aid Index (SAI) score - if that hasn't been calculated yet, the system won't let you access loan options. For me, it took about 3 weeks after submitting my FAFSA before I could see my loan options and complete the MPN. One thing that helped me get through to someone at Federal Student Aid when I was confused was using Claimyr (claimyr.com). They have this service that basically holds your place in the phone queue and calls you when an agent is available. Saved me from being on hold for hours. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. It was super helpful when I needed to ask specifically about my promissory note issues.

ok this might seem random but what browser are u using? i had weird errors on studentaid.gov when i was using safari but when i switched to chrome everything started working. something about the website being not fully compatible with all browsers. might not fix ur problem but worth a try

After reading all the comments, I want to give you a realistic timeline expectation. For the 2025-2026 aid year: 1. FAFSA processing: 3-7 days for initial processing 2. School receiving FAFSA info: 1-3 days after processing 3. School determining eligibility: 2-4 weeks (varies by institution) 4. Aid package creation: 1-2 weeks after determination 5. Loan origination: 1-3 days after accepting aid 6. MPN availability: Immediate after origination Total timeline: Typically 3-8 weeks from FAFSA submission to being able to complete an MPN. I recommend checking your school's student portal weekly, not daily. And remember that contacting your school's financial aid office directly is usually more helpful than calling Federal Student Aid for this particular issue, as it's the school that controls the timing of steps 3-5.

Quick update question - have you checked if your FAFSA is still showing as "processing" on studentaid.gov? If it is, that's definitely why you can't access loan info yet. Also, make sure your FAFSA doesn't have any flags requiring verification - that can significantly delay the whole process.

Hey Sean! I went through this exact same frustrating experience last year. The "no school selected" error is super common and honestly pretty misleading since your school IS in your FAFSA - it's just that the loan system can't generate the promissory note until your school has officially processed everything and made you a loan offer. From what I remember, the key milestone to watch for is when your FAFSA status changes from "processing" to "processed" on studentaid.gov. Once that happens, your school will usually take another 2-3 weeks to review your info and create your financial aid package. Only THEN will the loan options become available for you to accept/decline, and only AFTER you accept them can you complete the Master Promissory Note. I know it's stressful when you're trying to plan financially, but this waiting period is totally normal. The good news is that once your school processes everything, the actual loan acceptance and MPN completion happens pretty quickly!

Hey Sean! I just wanted to jump in as someone who's been helping students navigate FAFSA issues for a while. What you're experiencing is completely normal - that "no school selected" error is one of the most confusing messages in the whole system because it makes you think something's wrong with your application when really it's just a timing issue. Since you mentioned your FAFSA is still showing "processing" status, that's definitely the bottleneck right now. The system literally can't generate loan options until that processing is complete. Once it switches to "processed," your school will receive the data and start their review process. One thing I'd suggest is setting up notifications in your school's student portal if they offer that feature - many schools will email you as soon as your financial aid package is ready to review. That way you won't have to keep checking manually every few days. And don't worry about needing backup private loan plans just yet - federal aid processing almost always comes through, it just takes longer than we'd all like! The timeline everyone's mentioned (3-8 weeks total) is pretty accurate in my experience.

Hey Sean! I totally get your frustration - I went through this exact same thing when I was applying for financial aid. That "no school selected" error is so misleading because you KNOW your school is in there! What helped me was understanding that there are actually two different systems at play here. Your FAFSA gets submitted to the federal government first, but then each individual school has to pull that data into their own financial aid system and create your specific aid package. Until your school does that second part and officially offers you loans, the promissory note system has nothing to work with - hence the confusing error message. Since your FAFSA is still showing "processing" status, you're definitely in the waiting phase. Once that changes to "processed," your school should receive the data pretty quickly, but then they still need time to review everything and determine what aid to offer you. Hang in there - I know the waiting is stressful when you're trying to plan your finances, but this is just how the system works unfortunately. You haven't done anything wrong!

Hey Sean! I just went through this exact same situation a few months ago and I know how stressful it can be when you're trying to plan your finances but can't access the loan information. From reading through all the responses, it sounds like you've gotten some great advice - especially about your FAFSA still showing "processing" status. That's definitely the key bottleneck right now. Once that switches to "processed," things should start moving more quickly. One additional tip that helped me: when you do eventually get access to your loan options, don't feel rushed to complete the Master Promissory Note immediately. You usually have several weeks to accept/decline loans once they're offered, so take some time to review the terms and amounts carefully. I initially accepted more than I actually needed because I was so relieved to finally see the offers! Also, if you're planning for next semester specifically, keep in mind that loan disbursements usually happen right before the semester starts, so even once you complete all the paperwork, you might not see the actual funds until closer to when classes begin. Hang in there - the waiting is definitely the hardest part, but once your school processes everything, the rest goes pretty smoothly!