Although, if you’re having such issues while accessing the site or applications with the FAFSA, worry not. You may easily address the issue by attempting the solutions listed below. But before, let’s look at the common cause that prevents FAFSA from working on your device. Here are some common reasons includes:
- Technical Glitches: The FAFSA application or website may not work sufficiently due to technical glitches or issues. You aren’t able to access the FAFSA due to technical bugs or glitches.
- Outdated Information: If you’ve not updated the personal information of your college or university then you may face problems with the FAFSA application or site.
- Server & Maintenance Issue: It is possible that the FAFSA site is temporarily down or running into maintenance or server issues, causing the FAFSA to not work or prevents form submission.
- Incomplete Application: You can’t be able to access FAFSA correctly, if you haven’t completed the required fields such as your income, college details, and the personal information. These incomplete applications may prevent you from form submission.
- Incorrect Credentials: Most of the time, the students or users forget the FAFSA ID or password that prevents them from logging into their account. This also prevents the applications from form submission.
- Submission Deadlines: If you’re trying to submit the FAFSA application outside of the window or when the deadlines have passed then you may encounter certain issues. This prevents you from opening the FAFSA site or applications on your device.
- Security Issues: Sometimes, the FAFSA is not working due to security protocols such as CAPTCHAs or two-factor authentication on the site, causing the application or site to not function correctly.
- Corrupted Data & Cache: It can be possible that due to corrupted data or cache, you’re unable to access the FAFSA application or site on your device, preventing you from form submission.
- Poor Internet Connection: Unstable internet data is the other main cause that prevents the FAFSA site or applications from running correctly on the device. Ensure to connect the device with a stable internet data.
- Conflicting Third-Party Apps: It is possible that the third-party apps are conflicting with the FAFSA site or applications. This usually prevents you from form submission or filling application, etc.
- Ineligible Requirements: It is possible that the new eligible requirements and profile doesn’t meet the requirements which are actually need and that’s why you encounter issues with the FAFSA.
- Overload Server Issue: At certain times, especially when the deadlines close to end then manu students who want the financial student aid, they are applying which can result in server overloads and connectivity issues.
How to Fix FAFSA Not Working Issue?
If you’re unable to access FAFSA website or the application isn’t loading, you should follow the below solutions to troubleshoot the problem. Whether the issue is related to your account, FAFSA website, or while submitting the form, the below mentioned workarounds help you in resolving the site issue. So, check the below solutions and try your best to identify which solutions did the great job for you.
Fix 1: Refresh the Website Page
If you’re not able to access the FAFSA site page on your device the first thing you should do is refresh the website page. This will reload the site by refreshing the FAFSA connection and allow you to access the site to fill the application for the financial aid.
Try refreshing the FAFSA website page by clicking the Refresh icon (looks like round arrow) in the upper left-corner and check if the site is loading. As mentioned before, it usually refreshes the site page and allows to access the site without further hurdles.
At certain times, the FAFSA site and other applications don’t work as expected due to incorrect entered credentials. It is essential to enter the correct details when it requires on the application whether you’re on site or certain apps. It must be required to enter the correct username, phone number, and password in order to access the services.
For instance, when you’re ready to fill up the form application for submission on the FAFSA but unfortunately you notice the site isn’t working then it can be due to incorrect credentials which should be correct in order to finish the form submission. Make sure to check your information that you’ve entered on the form application.
It’s necessary to enter the correct input on the form which includes your name, social security number, phone number, birth date, email, and other required details regarding the family and college institutions. Ensure all information matches with your official documents as same, like the driving license and social security card.
Fix 3: Check Your Internet Connection
FAFSA is an online website which requires a stable internet connection in order to get the page in front of you to access it. Many students and other users encountered the website not working or FAFSA not loading issue which can be due to several reasons. One common reason why the FAFSA is not working is due to unstable internet data.
You hear right! Most times, when students are trying to fill the form submission for the financial student aid to pay college or for the scholarship, then at that time they are not connected with a stable internet data which might breaks the site connection and causing the issue with the site. This could be frustrating when you loose connection, especially when submitting the form.
For such a situation, you should connect your smartphone or computer with a stable internet connection before you access the site. If you’re using the computer to fill up the form application on the site then make sure the system is connected with a strong Wi-Fi connection. On the other hand, the same thing you’ve to follow on your mobile device, if you’re connected with the Wi-Fi network.
Additionally, if the network isn’t stable then you can refresh the internet connection by restarting your router or modem. To do this, unplug the router cable from the socket and then wait for a couple of minutes. After that, plug the router cable back to socket and try connecting the network with your device. It did a great job in giving the faster internet to your device.
Fix 4: Check FAFSA Server Status
Is there something wrong with the FAFSA server? It is necessary to identify whether the issue is could be due to device or with the server. At certain times, the server or maintenance are running up which usually prevents the site from running smoothly. It won’t allow the users to access the website until and unless the server issues get fixed back.
Therefore, it’s essential to check the server or maintenance issues on your computer to identify the real culprit. To check the server status, you can try using the Downdetector website which will show the accurate and current server status of the FAFSA website. I’m case there’s an issue with the server or other consumers having the same problem then you should wait until the server issues get back to normal.
Fix 5: Restart Your Device
Occasionally, the website and other service don’t function as expected due to software issues and temporary glitches which might affect the app’s performance and websites. It could be possible that the FAFSA website isn’t working on your device due to glitches or conflicts which prevents you to fulfill the form application for the financial student aid or other activities.
If it’s the case then you should restart your computer to troubleshoot the problem. This will automatically resolve the software bugs and temporary issues, allowing the website to function correctly and you may access it back. Restarting the device is a simple way to diagnose temporary issues and bugs on the device. But it mainly useful when you’re unable to access certain apps or the device stuck on logo screen. Therefore, restart the device and check the results.
For Smartphone:
- Press and hold the Power button for a few seconds.
- Tap on Restart or Reboot from the menu.
- This will automatically shut down the device and it will turn back on.
For Computer/Windows:
- Click the Window icon on the taskbar to open the Start Menu.
- Then, click on the Power icon menu and then select Restart.
- This will automatically restart your computer by itself.
Alternatively, you can restart your computer by simply pressing the Power button unless the computer turns off or appears the logo on the screen. This is another way that you can follow up to restart your computer.
Fix 6: Clear Browser Cache Data and Cookies
You may encounter difficulties loading sites when the browser’s cache and cookies get accumulated over time on your computer. It may prevent the FAFSA site from running up or loading. Although, the issue can often be troubleshooted by clearing your browser cache data and cookies. Therefore, ensure to clear the browser cache data. Here’s are the steps to clear your browser cookies and cache data:
For Google Chrome:
- Launch the Chrome browser on the computer.
- Click on the three-vertical dot in the upper right-corner and choose the “Clear browsing data.” (This will open the Clear browsing data menu on the screen.)
- Check marks all the given option and choose “All time” from Time range section.
- Click on the “Clear data” to confirm the action.
Alternatively, you can head over to the Clear browsing data menu by pressing the Ctrl + Shift + Del key simultaneously on the keyboard. This will bring the menu directly and allow you to clear the data with a click.
For Microsoft Edge:
- Launch the Microsoft Edge browser on your computer.
- Click on the three-dot in the upper right-corner and select “Settings.”
- Click on the “Privacy, search, and services.”
- Then, scroll down and click “Choose what to clear” option.
5. Check marks all the given option and choose “All time” from Time range section.
6. Click on the “Clear now” to confirm the action.
For Safari:
- Launch Safari browser on your Mac and select Safari from the menu bar.
- Navigate to Preferences > Privacy.
- On the Manage Website Data Page, click on Remove All.
Fix 7: Disable Third-Party Extensions
At certain times, you may encounter issues and technical issues when using third-party extensions on your computer browser. This can prevent you from accessing specific sites which may be quite unfortunate. But you can address the issue by disabling the extensions on the browser you’ve installed.
Locate the problematic extensions you’ve installed on your browser and then remove or disable it permanently. Here’s how you can disable the third-party extensions on your browser by following the below steps:
- Launch Chrome browser on your computer.
- Click on the three-vertical dot in the upper right-corner.
- Choose “Extensions”, then “Manage Extensions” from the pop-up menu.
- Here, you see the extensions that you’ve installed on your browser.
- Click on toggle for the specific extension to disable it.
- Alternatively, you can permanently remove it by clicking the “Remove” option.
Once you disable the extensions from the browser then launch the FAFSA website on your browser and access it to check if the issue has been resolved or not. If the issue persists, follow the next solution.
Fix 8: Reach Out to FAFSA Support
If you have tried the above workarounds and it fails to work out, you should reach out to FAFSA customer support for further help. Make sure to contact FAFSA support through office channels if you continue to encounter issues. However, if you want to solve the problem more effectively, ensure to provide them with detailed information about the issue to fix them soon.
It is recommended to stay up-to-date with FAFSA support team’s, so you can get the official guidance and announcements from the team. In addition, ensure to stay on top of the soft launch phase to receive official updates.
Final Words
FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is an online website mainly for students to get the financial student aid for paying college, getting scholarships, etc. It is common to encounter occasional issues with certain websites, especially when a lot of students are filing the application form at the same time, leading to heavy traffic on the site, causing issues with the website. If you’re encountering FAFSA not working on your device, then you can follow our listed workarounds to troubleshoot the problem.
By following the workarounds carefully, you may easily tackle the issue and are able to access the FAFSA website back. In case if the solutions don’t work, you should reach out to contact the support team for further help. I hope that this blog post was helpful to you. However, if you have any questions or thoughts related to this, do let us know in the comments section box.
