diff --git a/src/registrar/config/settings.py b/src/registrar/config/settings.py
index 93ba60dfe..050950c9b 100644
--- a/src/registrar/config/settings.py
+++ b/src/registrar/config/settings.py
@@ -824,7 +824,9 @@ SESSION_COOKIE_SAMESITE = "Lax"
 SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
 
 # session engine to cache session information
-SESSION_ENGINE = "django.contrib.sessions.backends.cache"
+SESSION_ENGINE = "django.contrib.sessions.backends.db"
+
+SESSION_SERIALIZER = "django.contrib.sessions.serializers.PickleSerializer"
 
 # ~ Set by django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware
 # prevent clickjacking by instructing the browser not to load