I'm new to this community and your situation is making my blood boil! I went through something very similar with my respiratory therapy program at Pasadena City College last year. Like you, I was completely honest about my school attendance on every single certification, but they still denied my extension for not filing the formal CTB application within 16 weeks. The worst part is that I actually CALLED EDD during week 12 of my claim to ask about continuing benefits while in school, and the rep told me I was "fine as long as I kept reporting it on my certifications." Never once mentioned CTB or any formal application process! Then when I got denied, a different rep acted like I should have magically known about these requirements. What saved me was documenting EVERYTHING - dates of calls, rep names when they gave them, exact quotes of what they told me. I also got a letter from my program director explaining how respiratory therapy directly addresses critical healthcare shortages in California (especially post-COVID). The appeal judge was clearly frustrated with EDD's inconsistent information and approved my extension. Your healthcare administration program is absolutely in high demand right now - the administrative burden on healthcare facilities has exploded with all the new compliance requirements. Don't let their scare tactics about denying your whole claim work. You were eligible when you filed, you've been honest throughout, and you're training for a field that California desperately needs workers in. File that appeal and fight for what you're entitled to!

I'm new to this community but your situation really hits close to home because I'm currently dealing with EDD's confusing training benefit rules for my medical coding program at Mt. San Antonio College. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been both infuriating and encouraging - infuriating because it's clear how broken EDD's system is, but encouraging because so many people have successfully fought these denials. What really stands out about your case is how you've been completely transparent from day one. The fact that you consistently reported school attendance on every certification shows good faith on your part, and EDD's failure to inform you about CTB requirements despite having this information is a major procedural failure on their end. Healthcare administration is absolutely exploding right now - between telehealth expansion, increased compliance requirements, and the ongoing administrative challenges healthcare facilities face post-pandemic, there's huge demand for qualified professionals in your field. Make sure to emphasize this workforce development angle heavily in your appeal. The intimidation tactic about potentially denying your entire claim retroactively is particularly disgusting - they're literally trying to scare you out of exercising your legal right to appeal. But seeing all these success stories proves that fighting back works when you have solid documentation like you do. Don't let their bureaucratic failures derail your October 2025 graduation plans. File that appeal, gather all your documentation showing honest reporting, and keep pushing forward. You've got this!

I'm new here but wanted to share what worked for me when I had this exact same issue last week. I was getting the "Service Unavailable" error for 3 days straight too and was totally panicking about missing my certification deadline. What finally worked was a combination of things: I used Firefox in private browsing mode, disabled all my browser extensions, and accessed the site at around 2 AM when there's less traffic. But the key thing that I think made the difference was clearing not just my cookies but also my browser cache AND my stored passwords for the EDD site. Apparently sometimes old login data can conflict with their system updates. Also, make sure you're going directly to edd.ca.gov and navigating to UI Online from there rather than using bookmarks or Google search results, as sometimes those can point to cached or outdated versions of the site. Hope this helps someone else avoid the stress I went through!

I've been dealing with EDD system issues for over a year now and wanted to share a few additional tricks that have saved me multiple times. First, if you're getting "Service Unavailable" errors specifically, try accessing the site through different entry points - sometimes the main UI Online portal is down but you can still get in through the "Claim Status" or "Payment History" links and navigate from there. Second, I keep both the English and Spanish versions of the site bookmarked because occasionally one works when the other doesn't (you can switch languages at the bottom of any EDD page). Third, if you're really desperate and nothing else works, some public libraries have computers with different network configurations that might bypass whatever's blocking your access. I've literally driven to the library at 6 AM before just to certify when my home internet wasn't working with EDD's system. It sounds extreme but missing payments is worse! Also, for anyone reading this in the future - screenshot your successful certification confirmations and save the confirmation numbers somewhere safe. EDD's system sometimes "forgets" that you certified even when you did everything correctly.

I'm going through this exact same nightmare right now! Day 7 and counting. What's really frustrating is that I can see my claim was submitted (I have the confirmation number from that part) but I just can't access the online account to certify. I've tried everything mentioned here - password reset, different browsers, clearing cache, different times of day, even created a new email address but got too scared to use it. The regular phone line is absolutely useless - I've called probably 30 times and never gotten past the "high call volume" message. Going to try that technical support number 1-833-978-2511 tomorrow morning at exactly 8am. Really hoping it works because my savings are almost gone and I'm starting to panic about rent. This system is absolutely broken and it's crazy that so many people are dealing with the same issue. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - at least I know I'm not alone in this mess!

I'm dealing with this EXACT same issue right now and it's such a relief to find this thread! I've been stuck for 3 days trying to access my EDD account after registering. The system says my account exists when I try to register again, but won't let me log in. I've tried everything - password reset (no emails received), different browsers, clearing cache, checking spam folders multiple times a day. The regular EDD phone line is completely useless - just get hung up on every time. Reading everyone's experiences here gives me hope that this can actually be resolved. I'm definitely going to try calling that technical support number (1-833-978-2511) first thing tomorrow morning at 8am sharp. It's so frustrating that their system is this broken when people are already stressed about being unemployed. Thanks to everyone who shared their solutions - knowing this is a widespread issue and not something I did wrong makes me feel so much better!

This happens every other month honestly, and it's so frustrating. The most ridiculous part is that they never put any notice on their site saying "We're down for maintenance" - it just errors out. Like, how hard would it be to put up a simple message?? My system was rejecting my password earlier. I'm going to try again after midnight when there's less traffic. If it's still down tomorrow, definitely call them.

So glad to hear the website is back up and working! This is exactly why I always tell people not to stress too much when EDD's system goes down - it happens frequently but they usually don't penalize claimants for technical issues on their end. For future reference, if this happens again and you can't get through online or by phone, you can also try visiting a local EDD office if you have one nearby. They can sometimes help with urgent certification issues in person. Hope your payment comes through on schedule!

This exact thing happened to me 8 months ago! I was so panicked when I got that disqualification notice, but I want to give you hope - I successfully got it overturned through the appeal process. Here's what worked for me: I filed the DE 1000M within a week of getting the notice (don't wait the full 30 days), included a simple one-page letter explaining it was my first certification and I confused bi-weekly vs weekly reporting, attached copies of all my paystubs for those weeks, and even got a letter from my HR department confirming my actual weekly wages. The whole appeal took about 6 weeks to process, but they completely reversed the disqualification and released all my back payments. The key is being very clear that this was an unintentional first-time mistake with solid documentation to back up your actual earnings. Don't give up - the system does have a way to fix honest errors like this!

I'm going through something very similar right now and this thread has been incredibly helpful! Made my first certification last week and accidentally entered my gross monthly salary instead of weekly wages (talk about a massive error). Got the excess income disqualification yesterday and was honestly feeling pretty hopeless until I found this discussion. Based on all the great advice here, I'm planning to file the DE 1000M appeal form tomorrow with my pay stubs and a letter from my employer. It's reassuring to see so many success stories - gives me confidence that honest mistakes can actually be corrected if you have the right documentation and don't give up. The EDD certification process really should have better guidance for first-time users to prevent these kinds of errors, but at least there's a path forward through appeals. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!