FAFSA portal glitches won't let parent complete section after student portion - stuck in endless loop
I'm about to lose my mind with the 'simplified' FAFSA! My son finished his student portion yesterday, but there was ZERO instruction about how I'm supposed to access the parent section. No continuation screen, no email, nothing! After hunting through help pages for an hour, I somehow managed to start entering my financial info, but then the screen suddenly jumped to something else, and now I can't get back to where I was. Every time I try to 'edit' or 're-enter,' it says I need a new invitation, but when I request one, nothing happens. Just stuck in an endless loop! The system keeps sending me back to the beginning. How is this supposed to be easier?? My son's college deadline is in 3 weeks and we're completely stuck. Has anyone managed to successfully navigate from student to parent section without losing your data?
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Aisha Rahman
OMG SAME ISSUE HERE!! This new FAFSA is a complete DISASTER compared to previous years!!! I spent FOUR HOURS yesterday going in circles. The studentaid.gov site kept freezing when trying to switch from my daughter's section to mine. Then when I finally got in with my FSA ID, it wouldn't accept my W-2 information saying there was a 'mismatch' with IRS records (which is impossible since I'm looking at my actual W-2). Now I'm locked out for 24 hours for too many attempts. This is NOT the 'easier' process they promised!!
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Mateo Perez
•At least you got an error message! I'm just stuck in limbo with no explanation. Did you ever figure out how to get back to where you left off?
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CosmicCrusader
I had similar issues last week. The transition from student to parent section is definitely glitchy. What worked for me was: 1) The student needs to log in to their studentaid.gov account, 2) Go to the FAFSA application and check that their section shows 'Completed', 3) There should be a button somewhere that says 'Invite Parent' or 'Send Parent Link' - have them click that and enter your email, 4) You'll receive an invitation email with a direct link to contribute your information as a parent. Don't try to access it through your own FSA ID initially - use the link in the email. Hope this helps!
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Mateo Perez
•Thank you! We'll try this approach. My son's section does show 'Completed' but we never saw any 'Invite Parent' button. We'll look more carefully this time. Really appreciate the step-by-step!
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Ethan Brown
the new system is total garbage... my cousin works in financial aid office and says theyre getting HUNDREDS of calls daily from people with the same problem. something about the parent contribution section being completely broken. good luck lol
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Mateo Perez
•That's actually somewhat comforting to know it's not just us struggling with this. Still frustrating though!
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Yuki Yamamoto
I've been helping families with FAFSA applications for years, and this new system has been particularly challenging. The parent contribution section has several known bugs that the Department of Education is working to fix. In the meantime, here's what I recommend: 1) Clear your browser cache and cookies completely 2) Use Chrome or Edge (Firefox has had more issues) 3) Have the student log in and go to the FAFSA dashboard 4) Look for 'Manage Contributors' option (sometimes it's hidden under 'Actions' or a menu icon) 5) From there, they can send you a new invitation 6) When you receive it, click the link and then create/use your FSA ID If that doesn't work, there's another approach: the student can call FSA directly at 1-800-433-3243 to request they reset the parent contribution section. However, wait times are extremely long right now (2+ hours).
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Mateo Perez
•Thank you so much for these detailed steps! We'll try the browser clearing approach first. I've been using Safari so maybe that's part of the problem. If we need to call, 2+ hour wait times sound miserable but at least it's an option.
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Carmen Ortiz
I had to call FSA three times this week for similar issues with my daughter's application. Total waste of 6 hours on hold just to get disconnected twice. Finally got through yesterday and they had to completely reset our application which means starting over from scratch. So frustrating!!
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Andre Rousseau
•I was having the same nightmare with endless hold times trying to reach someone at Federal Student Aid. A friend recommended trying Claimyr.com - it's a service that waits on hold for you and then calls when an agent is ready to talk. Saved me from wasting hours on hold. They have a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. It worked perfectly for me, and the agent was able to reset my parent access so I could finally complete our application.
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Zoe Papadakis
dont panic yet! the college financial aid offices know about all the fafsa problems. my sons school sent out an email yesterday saying theyre extending deadlines by 2 weeks because of all the technical issues with the new fafsa system. maybe check with ur sons school?
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Mateo Perez
•That's a good idea, I'll email his admissions counselor tomorrow. I hope they're extending deadlines too!
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CosmicCrusader
Update on my earlier suggestion - I just remembered there's another approach if the invitation system isn't working. Have your son log in, go to the FAFSA form, and specifically look for the 'Manage Contributors' section. It's sometimes hidden in the menu. From there, he can generate a specific access code for you that bypasses the email invitation system altogether. You'll need to create an FSA ID independently if you don't already have one.
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Mateo Perez
•We found it! It was hidden under a dropdown menu that wasn't obvious at all. Got the contributor code and I'm making progress now. Still having issues with the system accepting my tax information, but at least I'm in the right section. Thank you!!
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Aisha Rahman
The most frustrating part is that they PROMISED this would be easier and take less time. Now it takes MORE time and is MORE complicated. And the SAI calculation is completely different from the old EFC system so we have no idea what our aid will look like. Has anyone successfully completed the parent contribution section AND received a SAI score yet?
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Yuki Yamamoto
•Yes, I've seen several completed applications with SAI scores. The new calculation is indeed quite different from the old EFC. Generally speaking, most families are seeing similar or slightly more favorable results with the new SAI calculation, particularly middle-income families. However, the actual aid packages will still vary by institution since they each have their own methodologies for distributing aid beyond the federal formulas.
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Ethan Brown
pro tip: do it between 11pm-6am when the site isnt crashing every 5 min lol
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Mateo Perez
•I'll try that tonight! Hoping the system is less overloaded during off-hours.
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Yuki Yamamoto
I'm glad you're making progress! One additional thing to be aware of: if you're entering tax information manually rather than using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, make sure you're entering exactly what appears on your tax documents. Even small formatting differences (like including commas in numbers or leaving them out) can cause the system to reject your information. Also, for W-2 information, be sure you're entering the numbers from the correct boxes - the form isn't always intuitive about which information it's requesting.
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Mateo Perez
•That must be what's happening! I've been putting commas in the numbers. I'll remove those and try again. And I'll double-check the W-2 box numbers. Thank you so much for all your help!
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