<p>Is anyone else having issues with the FAFSA site? I submitted my DD's FAFSA on Monday, it was supposed to re-direct me to the NYS HESC (state financial aid) site to automatically fill in the form for that but did not. So according to the HESC site once my SAR comes back as completed and ready for viewing I can go back in and be redirected to them to complete the State forms.</p>
<p>I received the email that my SAR was ready yesterday morning and have tried several times (on more than one computer) to access the SAR. However, I keep getting a message that the FAFSA site is down for maintenance. I thought maybe someone on here would mention the same issue but I have not seen a mention so am wondering if anyone else has encountered either of these problems? I would call but don't want to be on hold for hours.</p>
<p>It is “hit and miss” most likely from system over-load. Just keep trying. It took me about an hour (Wednesday) to finally get a copy of our SAR printed out. I too keep getting the message: “Site down for maintenance.” </p>
<p>The site will eventually let you receive your SAR. Stay in front of your computer…and prevail!!</p>
<p>LOL, LilMamma. The SAR will be what it will be I guess. I just need to get my NYS forms filed! And oldest DD’s FAFSA also needs to be filed (awaiting her end of year statement from her college though). Not as urgent with oldest DD though as she is going to grad school so she isn’t getting any grant money.</p>
<p>ETA: Thanks, it is working for me now. Must have just been my luck. After re-reading the HESC site it appears I am waiting for a link from them and not from FAFSA.</p>
<p>I did an online chat with FAFSA yesterday as whenever I followed the link for my SAR from email it would tell me it was down.</p>
<p>They told me this was a “known issue” and to not follow the link but rather just go directly to [Home</a> - FAFSA on the Web-Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.fafsa.gov%5DHome”>http://www.fafsa.gov) and access my SAR from there.</p>
<p>When I did it that way it worked fine. So don’t follow that email link, access directly from the website instead!</p>
<p>I can’t get by the school selection page…just sits there and spins and says, “Wait while we search for your school(s).” It’s been that way all afternoon…</p>
There’s another thread in this forum where this is referenced. Somebody said it’s only happening to people with Windows 7 and IE9 and that if you downgrade to IE8 it will work for you.</p>
<p>Cruisnfamily…thanks so much for the heads up. The first time I started the application, I received a warning that Google Chrome is not a supported browser. So I opened up my IE9 browser. After reading your post, I went back and tried Chrome (despite the warning) and it worked like a charm…go figure!</p>
<p>@MomOf3Stars - I too have been having that problem. Dad and I filled the FAFSA on the 1st, said it was ready on the 3rd. Now every time I try to view it, it says it’s “down for maintenance”.</p>
<p>Not sure what to do/if I can do anything about it…</p>
I did an online chat with FAFSA yesterday as whenever I followed the link for my SAR from email it would tell me it was down.</p>
<p>They told me this was a “known issue” and to not follow the link but rather just go directly to Home - FAFSA on the Web-Federal Student Aid and access my SAR from there.</p>
<p>When I did it that way it worked fine. So don’t follow that email link, access directly from the website instead!</p>
<p>I am having problem to open my SAR on FAFSA website in either HTML or PDF format (used different computers and browsers). Keep on getting error ‘your browser failed to open separate window for help file’. I am on IE-8 and have the most recent Adobe Reader. While I was filling the forms up I did not have a single issue, but unable to review SAR.
Please help if you know how to get around this annoying problem.</p>
<p>Some ideas: Use IE 7 or 8, these browsers accomodate most of what’s written these days. If you’ve gotten error messages that others aren’t getting – clear your cache. These two things might very well clear up your problems. If you can save the pdf to your desktop and then open, that might help also. Good luck, I just know if I’m using Chrome or Firefox or Safari I almost always have problems with forms and I also often have trouble opening Adobe files directly (without saving to my desktop.)</p>
<p>I just went on live chat with Fafsa support; was recommened to turn off pop-up blocker (means allow pop-ups), no need to restart. It worked on both HTML and PDF. Good luck!</p>
<p>I did about 9 FAFSAs today (I’m a high school college admis. counselor) and the website was buggy and inconsistent all day–the “site maintenance” message (at 1:30 PM? I don’t think so!) and other stuff. I remember it was lots worse last year when there were some really big changes. I hope they get it all working soon!</p>