I just want to thank everyone for all this helpful info. I'm definitely going to submit my application ASAP and make sure all my verification documents are ready to go. I'll also talk to my school's financial aid office tomorrow about any emergency funds they might have if there are disbursement delays. Feeling much less panicked now!

As someone who went through a similar situation a few years ago, I wanted to add that it's also worth checking if your state has any emergency financial aid programs. When I had delays with my federal aid during a processing backlog, my state's higher education agency had a small emergency grant program that helped bridge the gap for textbooks and immediate expenses. It wasn't much (like $500) but it made a huge difference at the time. Also, don't forget about your school's food pantry and other campus resources if money gets tight while waiting for aid to process. Most schools have gotten much better about these services since COVID. You've got this!

After dealing with this exact situation last year, I can confirm that you only need one FSA ID as a parent. However, I strongly recommend taking screenshots of the confirmation page after completing each twin's contributor section. The new FAFSA system sometimes doesn't send confirmation emails reliably, and with multiple applications, it's easy to get confused about which ones you've completed. Also, set calendar reminders to check both applications' status regularly. Sometimes one application processes faster than the other even when submitted on the same day.

As someone who just went through this process with my own twins this year, I can confirm what others have said - you definitely only need ONE FSA ID as the parent! The system is actually designed pretty well for this situation once you understand how it works. Here's what worked smoothly for me: After my twins each sent me contributor invitations, I logged in with my single FSA ID and could see both pending requests in my dashboard. I completed each one separately (took about 20 minutes each), and the financial information was the same for both since it's all about our family's finances. One tip that saved me time: Have your 2023 tax return handy before you start either application. Even though you're entering the same info twice, having everything organized made the process much faster. Good luck with your twins' college journey!

Update: We got it all figured out! The parent invite finally came through (was in my Promotions tab in Gmail, not spam). My son signed his part first as suggested, I completed the parent section last night, and we submitted the whole application. Thanks everyone for your help! We received the confirmation email this morning, so now we're just waiting for the SAI calculation. This community has been so helpful for navigating our first FAFSA experience!

Congratulations on getting through the process successfully! It's so relieving when everything finally comes together. For other parents reading this thread who might be in a similar situation - the Gmail Promotions tab is definitely a common place for the parent invite to land, so that's a great tip to share. Also wanted to mention that once you get your SAI, it's worth comparing it to any early estimates you might have gotten from college net price calculators. Sometimes there can be discrepancies that are worth investigating, especially if your family financial situation changed between when you did those estimates and when you filed the actual FAFSA. Best of luck with the rest of the financial aid process!

one thing no one mentioned yet is to check each schools financial aid portal too, not just waiting for them to email. sometimse they post the aid package on the portal before sending the official email. my son almost missed a scholarship deadline because we were waiting for an email but the info was already in his school account for like 2 weeks! 😬

Great advice from everyone here! As a newcomer to this process myself, I wanted to add that it's also worth bookmarking each school's financial aid webpage and checking for any FAFSA processing updates they might post. Some schools are being really transparent about their timeline delays this year and posting estimated dates for when aid packages will be ready. Also, if your son is considering any schools that require CSS Profile or additional institutional forms beyond FAFSA, make sure those are submitted too - some schools won't release aid packages until they have ALL required documents. The waiting is definitely nerve-wracking but sounds like it's normal!

FAFSA is COMPLETE GARBAGE this year. My son's application has been "processing" for 5 WEEKS with NO SAI score yet. We called 16 TIMES and got disconnected EVERY TIME. The one time we got through, they said there's a "system-wide issue with signatures" affecting THOUSANDS of applications. They're supposedly fixing it but WHO KNOWS when. My son might lose his scholarship because of their incompetence. I'm LIVID.

Just checking in - did you manage to resolve this issue? If it's been 72 hours, you should definitely see something in one of your accounts by now. If not, there are still options to fix it before deadlines.