I'm a newcomer to this community but dealing with the exact same frustrating issue! My FAFSA has been stuck at "In Progress" for over a week now despite both my parent and I completing all sections and signing electronically. The status tracker won't budge from step 1 even though everything appears complete on our end. Reading through this thread has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea about the "submission verification" glitch that can happen behind the scenes while still showing signatures as complete. It's honestly ridiculous that the system can fail silently like this, especially when students have scholarship deadlines looming. Victoria, thank you so much for sharing your update about getting it resolved through FSA! That gives me hope that there's actually a solution. I'm going to try calling them tomorrow armed with the knowledge about this specific glitch. If I can't get through after a few attempts, I might look into that Claimyr service that Ryan and Mason mentioned - seems like it could be worth the cost to avoid the endless hold times. Has anyone had any luck with specific times of day for reaching FSA? I'm wondering if calling early morning or late afternoon might have better success rates. This whole situation is so stressful but at least now I know I'm not alone in dealing with this system bug!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm so relieved to find this thread! I've been dealing with the exact same issue for the past 12 days - my FAFSA shows "In Progress" even though my mom and I both completed and signed everything. I was starting to think I was doing something wrong, but reading about this "submission verification" glitch explains everything. Victoria, your update about getting it resolved through FSA is incredibly helpful! I've been hesitant to call because I wasn't sure what to even ask for, but now I know to specifically mention the submission verification issue. The fact that this can fail silently while showing signatures as complete is absolutely maddening - how are we supposed to know there's even a problem? I'm definitely going to try calling FSA tomorrow morning based on Sofia's timing suggestions. If that doesn't work, I might look into the Claimyr service too. It's frustrating that we might need to pay extra to reach support for their own system bug, but with college deadlines approaching, it seems worth it. Thank you all for sharing your experiences - it's such a relief to know this is a known issue with a solution!

New to this community and SO grateful I found this thread! I'm in the exact same boat with my two kids - already completed FAFSA for my older son last year and now my daughter is applying. I was literally googling "do I need separate parent FSA ID for each child" when I stumbled across this discussion. The clarity everyone has provided here is incredible compared to the confusing mess that is the official FAFSA website. It's such a relief to know that using my existing parent FSA ID is not only correct but actually the ONLY way to do this properly. Reading about all the verification delays and fraud flags from creating multiple accounts has me so thankful I asked here first. Quick question - when my daughter adds me as a contributor, will I be able to see both her application and my son's previous one in the same parent dashboard? Just want to make sure I understand how the system organizes multiple children's applications under one parent account. Thanks again to this amazing community for saving me from what could have been a costly mistake!

Just joining this community and wow, this thread is exactly what I needed! I'm a parent with three kids - already completed FAFSA for my eldest last year, and now my twins are both applying for 2025-2026. I was totally panicking about whether to create separate accounts for each of them. Reading everyone's experiences here, especially the horror stories about fraud flags and months-long delays, has been incredibly eye-opening. The official FAFSA website really does a terrible job explaining this process clearly. I'm so relieved to know I can use my existing parent FSA ID for both twins' applications. One thing I'm wondering about - since both my twins will be adding me as a contributor around the same time, should I wait to complete one fully before starting the other? Or can I have both applications "in progress" simultaneously in my parent dashboard? Thanks to everyone for sharing such detailed guidance - this community is invaluable!

For anyone else dealing with this issue: the 20% vs 5.64% assessment rates are accurate, but remember that the FAFSA also has an asset protection allowance for parents based on the oldest parent's age. For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, a 45-year-old parent gets around $9,500 protected. Student asset protection is much lower at $400. The system is designed to expect students to contribute more from their assets.

This is such a helpful thread! I'm in a similar situation with my son's savings account. One thing I've learned from talking to our financial planner is that timing really matters with FAFSA filing. If you're able to plan ahead for next year's FAFSA, consider strategies like paying down parent debt or prepaying expenses before the snapshot date, since FAFSA looks at assets on the day you file. Also, for anyone with multiple kids, remember that having siblings in college simultaneously can significantly impact your EFC/SAI calculations - sometimes more than the asset assessment differences we're discussing here.

As a newcomer to FAFSA applications myself, I'm finding this thread incredibly valuable! One question I haven't seen addressed yet - what happens if your financial situation changes significantly between when you file the FAFSA (using prior-prior year tax info) and when your student actually starts college? For example, if a parent loses their job or has a major medical expense? Is there a way to appeal or update the information with individual schools? I want to make sure I understand all the options in case our circumstances change unexpectedly during this process.

As someone who just finished helping my neighbor through her first FAFSA experience, I wanted to add a few practical tips that saved us tons of headaches: 1. **Browser matters!** Use Chrome or Firefox - we had issues with Safari causing form errors that cost us hours of re-entering data. 2. **Don't rely on autosave** - manually save your progress frequently. We lost 45 minutes of work when the session timed out. 3. **Parent vs. student sections confusion** - Make absolutely sure you're logged in as the right person (parent or student) when filling out each section. We accidentally entered parent info in student sections and had to start over. 4. **Bank account timing** - Check your bank balances on the same day you're filling out the FAFSA, not from old statements. The amounts need to reflect "as of today." 5. **Keep a printed checklist** - I made a simple checklist of all required documents and checked them off as we completed each section. Helped us avoid the back-and-forth of "wait, did we already enter the W-2 info?" The whole process took us about 3 hours with all documents ready, but having a systematic approach made it much less stressful than I expected! Good luck to everyone navigating this for the first time!

Quick update - just received the invitation email this morning (took about 30 hours). For anyone else having this issue, all the suggestions here were really helpful! The email did come from noreply@studentaid.gov and was in my promotions folder in Gmail, so check there if you use Gmail. Also, I called my son's school financial aid office and they said they're aware of the FAFSA delays and are being flexible with the priority deadline for students who can document when they started the process. Very relieved!

So glad you finally got the email and that the school is being flexible! This gives me hope as a parent just starting this process with my youngest. For anyone else reading this thread - it seems like the key takeaways are: 1) expect 24-48 hour delays for parent invitation emails, 2) check all email folders including promotions/spam, 3) take screenshots for documentation, and 4) contact your school's financial aid office early if you're worried about deadlines. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - this community is so helpful during these stressful times!