As someone who just went through this process for the first time this year, I can confirm that you don't need a new FSA ID! I was panicking because I couldn't remember if I needed to wait for my son to send me another invitation. Turns out I just logged in with my existing credentials from last year and everything was there. The key thing (that I learned the hard way) is making sure your daughter adds you as a contributor when she starts her renewal - otherwise you won't see her application in your account. The whole process was actually much smoother than I expected once I figured that part out. Good luck with the scholarship - I know how stressful it can be when so much depends on getting the FAFSA right!

Just wanted to add my experience as another data point - I'm a parent going through this for my third child's FAFSA renewal this year. You definitely keep the same FSA ID! The confusion often comes from the fact that each year's FAFSA is treated as a separate application, so even though your FSA ID credentials stay the same, you need to be connected to that specific year's form. One tip that might help: after your daughter starts her renewal and adds you as a contributor, it can sometimes take a few hours for her application to show up in your account when you log in. Don't panic if you don't see it immediately! Also, make sure you're looking under the correct academic year (2025-2026) when you log in, as the system will show applications for different years. The good news is that once you're in, a lot of your information from last year will be pre-populated, which makes the process much faster than the initial application. Just double-check everything, especially if your tax situation changed at all from last year. Good luck with the scholarship renewal!

I'm dealing with a similar situation and want to share what I learned from my school's financial aid office. When child support amounts are variable or sporadic, they typically want to see either your divorce decree/court order that specifies the support amount, or a year-end summary of actual payments received if it differs significantly from what was ordered. Some schools use third-party verification services that can pull payment records directly from state child support agencies, which actually makes it easier since you don't have to compile everything yourself. If your actual received amount for 2023 was substantially different from what was court-ordered (either higher or lower), definitely keep documentation of both the order and actual payments. The key is being able to explain any discrepancies if asked. Also, don't stress too much about minor month-to-month variations - they're more concerned with getting the annual total right for the SAI calculation.

As a single parent who's been through this process multiple times over the years, I can confirm that the 2025-2026 FAFSA change has been incredibly frustrating! What helped me was calling my child's school directly instead of the federal helpline - the financial aid counselors at individual schools tend to be much more accessible and they're seeing these exact issues daily. They walked me through it and confirmed that yes, you need to answer "Yes" to receiving untaxed income, then look for the "Money received or paid on your behalf" section. One tip that wasn't mentioned yet - if you're divorced and your ex-spouse claims the child as a dependent on their taxes, make sure YOU'RE still the one reporting the child support you receive on your FAFSA, not them. I've seen some parents get confused about this since the simplified form doesn't make it as clear as the old version did. The whole redesign definitely feels like a step backward in terms of user experience!

Glad you got answers! This whole new FAFSA system is such a disaster. My daughter almost missed out on $8000 in grants because of similar issues. They really need to extend all the deadlines this year.

I'm dealing with a similar signature issue right now and this thread has been so helpful! For anyone else reading this, I wanted to add that I discovered you can check your FSA ID verification status by logging into your account and looking at the "My Account" section - it will show if your identity verification is still "pending" or "complete." This saved me from wondering if that was my problem. Also, if you're still having browser issues, try Safari if you're on a Mac - it worked for me when Chrome and Firefox didn't. The FAFSA system really is a nightmare this year but at least we're all suffering together! 😅

I'm so glad you were able to get through to someone at FSA and get confirmation about what happened! This gives me hope that they're actually tracking these issues and working to fix them. I'm in a similar situation - completed my FAFSA in early November and just found out last week that my school never received it. Like you, all my information was still saved but it showed as incomplete. I'm planning to call FSA tomorrow armed with this information about the backup systems. Did they give you any timeline for when they might restore the original submissions, or should we all just proceed with our resubmissions as the primary application?

Wow, reading through all of this makes me feel so much better knowing I'm not going crazy! I submitted my daughter's FAFSA in late October and just discovered yesterday that her college has no record of it. When I logged back into the portal, everything was there but marked as "in progress" instead of submitted. It's such a relief to see that FSA is acknowledging this as a known issue and that they're supposedly working to restore applications from backups. I'm definitely going to follow everyone's advice here - taking screenshots of my new confirmation, calling the financial aid offices directly, and documenting everything. Has anyone heard if there's a master list somewhere of all the schools that are being flexible with deadlines this year? It would be helpful to know which colleges are actually accommodating these technical issues versus just saying "too bad, you missed the deadline.

Just wanted to share my experience as someone who went through this exact same panic last week! My daughter's FAFSA also completely vanished from the dashboard after showing "in review" for weeks. I was absolutely terrified we'd have to start over and miss all her scholarship deadlines. After reading similar posts here and trying the workarounds people suggested, I called her top choice school directly. The financial aid counselor was super understanding and confirmed they had received her FAFSA data on their end - apparently they've been getting tons of calls about this dashboard issue. She even walked me through their internal system to show me exactly what information they had received and when. The whole ordeal taught me to always keep multiple forms of documentation and to establish direct contact with the schools' financial aid offices early in the process. So grateful for communities like this where we can support each other through these stressful technical glitches!

I'm new to this community but going through this exact same issue right now! My daughter's FAFSA disappeared from our dashboard this morning and I've been in full panic mode. Reading through everyone's experiences has been such a lifesaver - thank you all for sharing your solutions and keeping each other updated. I just tried Brady's workaround with the "Renew My FAFSA Form" and it confirmed ours is still in the system too! What a relief. I'm also taking screenshots of everything and will call her schools tomorrow. It's incredible how this community stepped up to help troubleshoot when the official channels weren't providing clear information. Definitely following this thread and bookmarking all the helpful tips shared here. So grateful to have found you all during this stressful time!