Update: It finally moved to processing this morning - took exactly 8 business days! Now we're able to make corrections. Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I've already contacted his school to let them know corrections are coming.

Congrats on finally getting through to the processing phase! Eight business days seems to be pretty typical from what I'm seeing here. I'm dealing with a similar situation with my daughter's FAFSA - it's been pending for 5 days now and she also has some errors that need correcting (mixed up our tax info). This thread has been super helpful in understanding what to expect. Did you end up calling your son's school before the status changed, or are you planning to wait until after you submit the corrections?

guys stop suggesting private loans!!!! theyre basically SCAMS with how high the interest is. better to go to community college for 2 years and transfer than to get stuck with private loans. i had to drop out last semester cause i couldnt afford school anymore even with the extra unsub loan amount.

When my dad got denied for the Parent PLUS my school automatically added like $4k in extra unsubsidized loans to my aid package. I didn't have to do anything special. BUT my mom was deceased so maybe that's why they didn't try to make her apply lol. No but seriously every school handles it differently and $4k is probably not enough to cover your shortfall. Have you thought about maybe taking a semester off and working to save up some $? Lots of people do that.

Specific to your income question: The new FAFSA for 2025-2026 actually includes some calculation changes that might benefit families in the $150K-200K range more than previous versions. The Student Aid Index (SAI) which replaced the old EFC has different allowances for family size and now treats small business assets differently. Also important to note that many schools, especially private institutions, use what's called "preferential packaging" where they offer better aid packages to students they really want to attract. If your son has strong academics, leadership experience, or other qualities the school values, they may offer significant non-need-based aid that requires the FAFSA to be on file. For the password issue, since the recovery process hasn't worked, I would recommend creating a new FSA ID as the fastest solution at this point, especially as the priority deadlines are approaching for many colleges.

I'm in a very similar situation - household income around $160k and my daughter also had FSA ID issues last year. We ended up creating a new FSA ID and I'm so glad we pushed through the frustration because she received $18,000 in institutional aid from her state university plus qualified for unsubsidized federal loans at much better rates than private loans would have been. One tip that helped us with the new FSA ID process: make sure your son writes down ALL his security question answers somewhere safe this time, and use an email he checks regularly. Also, even though it feels late in the cycle, many schools have FAFSA deadlines into March and April, so you still have time. The stories here about families in our income range getting significant aid are really encouraging - it definitely seems worth the effort despite the technical headaches!

Make sure your husband creates his FSA ID ASAP and completes his section. Our son's SAI calculation was delayed by almost 3 weeks because my husband didn't complete his portion, and we almost missed priority deadlines for several schools. Once both parent sections are complete, the SAI calculation should happen within 3-5 days (though some are reporting longer times this year).

Just wanted to jump in as someone who went through this exact same confusion last month! Yes, both spouses absolutely need separate FSA IDs and must complete their individual sections even when filing jointly - it's one of the most frustrating changes to the new FAFSA system. What helped us was setting aside about 30 minutes one evening to get my husband's FSA ID created and his section completed. The good news is that once the first parent enters the tax info through IRS DRT, the second parent doesn't have to re-enter all those numbers - they just need to give consent and answer some personal verification questions. Don't wait though - our daughter's aid package was delayed by 2 weeks because we didn't realize this requirement! The sooner your husband completes his part, the sooner you'll get that SAI calculation and can move forward with financial aid applications.

UPDATE: We got it working!! After trying basically everything suggested here, what finally fixed it was: 1. Waiting 24 hours with no login attempts (thanks financial aid office worker!) 2. Using my dad's phone instead of his laptop (thanks for that suggestion!) 3. Making sure he was on our home WiFi, not his cellular data Not sure which of these was the actual fix, but the combination worked. He was able to log in, get past the secure code screen, and complete his section of my FAFSA. My application is finally submitted! Thank you all for the help - this forum saved us from missing my deadline!

Wow, this thread is a goldmine of information! I'm dealing with the exact same parent login issue right now and was getting so stressed about it. Reading through everyone's experiences makes me feel less alone in this mess. The combination of solutions that worked for Andre gives me hope - I'm definitely going to try the 24-hour reset approach first since that seems to be a common theme. It's really frustrating that the FSA support line doesn't mention these technical details about security flags and soft-locks. You'd think they would know their own system better! Has anyone else noticed if this problem is worse during certain times of the year? I'm wondering if it's related to high traffic periods when everyone's trying to submit their FAFSAs at once.