One additional piece of advice: keep a detailed communication log of everyone you speak with, what they told you, and when. In the verification process, it's not uncommon to get conflicting instructions from different staff members. If your son has a student email through the college, make sure he's checking it daily. Many schools communicate exclusively through their internal systems rather than personal email. Finally, don't hesitate to ask for a timeline once you've submitted everything. A simple "When can we expect verification to be completed?" can help manage expectations. Most schools have internal processing timelines they can share with you.

I went through verification with my twins last year and it was stressful but manageable. A few things that helped us get through it quickly: 1. Create a checklist of every document they request and check them off as you gather them 2. Make copies of everything before you submit - seriously, documents can get lost 3. If possible, submit everything electronically through the student portal rather than mailing The 2022 tax transcript request is definitely unusual for a 2025-26 FAFSA. When I called about a similar issue, it turned out they had flagged our application because of a large difference in income between years (my husband changed jobs). They wanted to verify the income change was legitimate. Don't let your son stress too much - verification is super common and rarely results in aid being denied if you provided accurate information originally. Just respond promptly with everything they ask for. Good luck!

Just to clarify a technical detail - while only one parent needs to complete the contributor section for joint filers, both parents should still create FSA IDs for future needs like signing loan documents if your daughter ends up taking federal loans. So your husband's FSA ID is still useful to have, even if it's not linked as a contributor right now.

I went through this exact same situation with my twins' FAFSAs this year! The confusion is totally understandable - the new system's instructions are really unclear about contributor requirements. Just to add some reassurance to what others have said: if you file jointly, you're all set with just one parent completing the contributor section. My husband also created an FSA ID thinking he needed to be linked too, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Both my daughters' applications processed smoothly with just me as the contributor. The key thing is making sure your section is fully complete and submitted. Don't stress about your husband's account not showing as linked - that's actually normal for your situation!

UPDATE: I want to thank everyone for their advice! I called my school's financial aid office this morning and explained my situation. They were actually super understanding and said they've had dozens of students in the same position. They're putting a note in my file to hold my aid package for an additional 3 weeks while my FAFSA processes. I'm also going to try the Claimyr service to see if I can get through to FSA directly. Will update again when I have more news. Thanks again everyone!

Great to hear your school is being accommodating! Just wanted to add that you should also check if your FAFSA application shows any error flags when you log into studentaid.gov - sometimes applications get stuck because of missing signatures or verification issues that aren't immediately obvious. If you see any red flags or messages asking for additional documents, addressing those might help speed up processing. Also keep checking every few days since the system updates can be sporadic. Good luck with the Claimyr service too!

Update: I emailed all my schools about the SAI change. Two have already responded saying the difference was too small to affect my aid package (phew!). Still waiting to hear from the other three. I also tried calling FSA to understand why they made these changes but couldn't get through after waiting 45 minutes. Might try that Claimyr service somebody mentioned if I don't have any luck tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your help!

This is so frustrating but unfortunately becoming more common this year! I'm a college senior and this exact same thing happened to me in February. My SAI went up by about $200 and I only found out because I randomly logged in to check something else. No email, no notification - nothing! What's really annoying is that some schools have already started disbursing aid for next semester based on the original numbers. I ended up having to contact 4 different financial aid offices and one of them actually had to recall and reprocess my entire aid package because they have strict SAI thresholds for their need-based grants. Pro tip: Set a calendar reminder to check your FAFSA account at least once a month. I learned this the hard way but it's apparently necessary now with all these "background verification" processes they're doing.

Ugh FAFSA is GARBAGE this year!! I had the same problem and tried EVERYTHING - even called them 3 times and got 3 different answers. What finally worked was the stupidest thing: I completely deleted my school list, saved it with NO schools, then went back and added them again. For whatever reason this reset something in the system and my continue button finally appeared. No idea why this works but it did for me and two friends. This new FAFSA is a complete disaster!!

UPDATE: IT WORKED!!! After trying literally everything suggested here, what finally worked was doing these three things together: 1. Removed all schools and re-added them (thanks @profile5!) 2. Cleared cache and cookies 3. Zoomed out to 75% on Firefox The continue button magically appeared! My application is now showing "Processed" instead of "In Progress" and I got my confirmation email with my SAI score. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your help - you saved me from losing out on thousands in financial aid!