FAFSA website only showing 2024-2025 forms after parent invite - can't access 2025-2026 application

omg SAME THING happened to me last week!!! I think theres a glitch in the new system. did u try clicking on "start" instead of "continue" on the main page? thats what eventually worked for me but it took like 5 tries

This is a known issue with parent/contributor invitations this cycle. Make sure your parent sent the invitation specifically for the 2025-2026 form. If they sent it from the 2024-2025 form (even accidentally), you'll only see that year. Here's what your parent needs to do: 1. Log into studentaid.gov 2. Start a NEW 2025-2026 FAFSA application (don't continue any existing ones) 3. When they reach the "Student Information" section, they need to send a new invitation Once you accept the new invitation, you should see the correct year. If that doesn't work, you might need to contact FSA directly.

When i tried back in november the whole site was a mess lol. Kept kicking me out or saying system error after i answered all the stupid questions!!! ended up having to call them FOUR TIMES before someone helped me. the 1st three calls i waited 1+ hour and got disconnected!!!

Definitely sounds like the invitation was sent from the wrong application year. I've helped several students with this exact issue. One other thing to check - make sure you're logging in with the correct FSA ID. If you have multiple emails or accounts, it's easy to accept the invitation with one account but then log in with another. If your dad already submitted his part of the 2024-2025 FAFSA, he should be able to "start a new FAFSA" from his dashboard and specifically select 2025-2026. The invitation process should be the same, but this time it will link to the correct application year.

I had this exact problem trying to finish my FAFSA last month. After wasting days trying everything online, I found Claimyr (claimyr.com) which got me connected to an actual FSA agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. The agent was able to fix the issue on their end and told me it was a permission setting that got stuck. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. It was honestly the only thing that worked after trying everything else.

Check if your dad actually submitted his portion or just started it. That messed me up too. If he didn't complete his section first, then your invite might be linked to an incomplete application which explains why you can't access it properly. The way FAFSA works now with the "contributor" stuff is SO confusing compared to before.

Try using a different browser completely. Chrome kept giving me errors but Firefox worked fine. Also check if you have any browser extensions/ad blockers that might be interfering. The FAFSA site is super finicky with that stuff.

if nothing else works just start a brand new application yourself without the parent invite and then send HIM an invite instead! thats what my roommate ended up doing after dealing with this same problem for like a week

UPDATE: Problem solved! Dad checked and he had accidentally started the process from his 2024-2025 dashboard. He sent a new invitation from the correct 2025-2026 application, and now I can see and access the right form. Thanks everyone for your help!

So glad to see this got resolved! This seems to be a really common issue this year. For anyone else running into this problem, the key takeaway is to make sure the parent starts from the correct year's application when sending the invitation. The FAFSA system doesn't seem to give clear error messages when there's a year mismatch, so it's easy to get stuck in the wrong application cycle. Definitely worth double-checking before spending hours troubleshooting!