Interesting timing on this question - I attended a financial aid workshop yesterday where they specifically addressed this! The Federal Student Aid office has simplified many aspects of the FAFSA, including requiring only one parent/contributor signature even for married filing jointly households. They're trying to reduce barriers to completion. As long as your FAFSA shows as processed, you're good to go. The system won't allow processing if required signatures are missing.

This is exactly what I needed to hear! I'm a freshman and this is my first time dealing with FAFSA, so when only my mom got the signature invitation and not my dad, I was convinced we'd messed something up. It's reassuring to know this is actually the new normal and not an error. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it really helps to know other families went through the same confusion. Now I can stop worrying and just wait for my aid packages!

Thank you everyone for clearing up my confusion! I'm definitely going to complete both FAFSA and CSS Profile now. It sounds like with our family income around $52k, we might qualify for the CSS Profile fee waiver automatically. I'll be applying to some state schools with just FAFSA and some private schools with both forms. Really appreciate all the helpful information!

Great advice from everyone here! Just wanted to add that if you're using the CSS Profile, make sure you have all your financial documents ready beforehand - tax returns, bank statements, investment accounts, etc. The CSS Profile asks for way more detail than FAFSA and you can't save your progress indefinitely like you can with FAFSA. I learned this the hard way and had to scramble to gather everything when my session was about to time out. Also, some schools have their CSS Profile deadlines earlier than their admissions deadlines, so double-check those dates!

just wondering - doesnt the student have to report if a parent died within a certain timeframe? i thought there was a question about that somewhere on the fafsa. might affect how much aid they get.

I'm so sorry for your loss. This is definitely a confusing situation, but you're getting good advice here. I went through something similar when my mom became widowed during my FAFSA year. The key thing to remember is that FAFSA wants your current status when you're filling it out, not your history. So you'd answer "No" to remarried since you're currently widowed. One thing I'd add - make sure to keep copies of everything (death certificate, 2022 joint tax return, etc.) because you'll likely need them if you get selected for verification. Also, don't stress too much about getting flagged for verification - it's super common when there are discrepancies between current status and tax filing status, and the financial aid offices are used to handling these situations. They're generally pretty understanding about major life changes.

Final update: It's fixed! My SAI was recalculated with the correct tax jurisdiction and my revised financial aid package came through. The actual fix happened 4 days after my call, so within their estimated timeline. My SAI went down by about $3,200 after fixing this error, which qualified me for additional grant aid. For anyone dealing with this issue, definitely call FSA directly and specifically request the tax jurisdiction correction to be expedited. Thanks again to everyone for your help!

This is such a relief to read! I'm dealing with the exact same Puerto Rico filing error right now and was starting to panic about my aid deadlines. My parents have lived in California their whole lives but somehow FAFSA thinks they filed in Puerto Rico. I've been stuck in correction limbo for 3 weeks now. Going to call FSA first thing tomorrow morning at 8am and ask for the "tax jurisdiction correction" expedited review like you did. Thank you so much for sharing your step-by-step solution and the final update - it gives me hope that this nightmare will actually get resolved!

To summarize the correct process based on the discussion: 1. You (parent) create your FSA ID with your email and phone number 2. You complete the parent section of the FAFSA 3. At the end of your section, you'll provide details for your son 4. Your son creates his own FSA ID using his own email and phone number 5. He'll receive instructions to complete his portion 6. Once both sections are completed, the FAFSA is submitted And if you run into technical issues or have questions about your SAI calculation later, remember you can contact Federal Student Aid directly or use services that help connect you with agents.

As someone who just went through this process last month, I can confirm everything James summarized is correct! One additional tip: when your son creates his FSA ID, make sure he has his Social Security card and driver's license handy for the identity verification process. The system will ask him to verify his identity using information from these documents, and having them ready will make the process much smoother. Also, don't be surprised if the FSA ID creation takes 1-3 business days to fully activate - this is normal and part of the security verification process.