This duplicate parent account issue has been a recurring problem this year with the redesigned FAFSA. To provide some clarity: When the new FAFSA system launched, many parents who had previously created FSA IDs under the old system found themselves with partial or duplicate accounts in the new system. This occurs because the migration process wasn't seamless. The most effective solution is this specific process: 1. Have your parent log in at studentaid.gov (not the FAFSA form directly) 2. Go to Account Settings > Personal Information 3. Look for any warning messages about account verification 4. Complete the full identity verification process if prompted 5. After verification, contact FSA specifically requesting "account consolidation" If this doesn't work, your school's financial aid office can process a FAFSA override form while you work through the technical issues. Most schools have implemented contingency procedures for these system failures.

UPDATE: We got it fixed!! After following the advice here, my dad did the identity verification on studentaid.gov, then called FSA again. This time he got through to someone who knew exactly what the problem was. They had to merge his accounts and it took about 48 hours to process, but now he can see the parent section and we're finishing the FAFSA today! I also contacted my school's financial aid office and they gave me a deadline extension because of the technical issues. THANK YOU everyone for your help!!

Just to clarify something important: When you submit documents for the Professional Judgment review, make sure you're clear that this is about BOTH: 1. Correcting the fraudulent application 2. Adjusting for your current income situation Sometimes schools handle these as separate processes, and you don't want your income adjustment request to get lost while they're dealing with the fraud correction. Consider requesting a meeting with a senior financial aid counselor rather than just working with whoever answers the phone.

wait did u try to login to studentaid.gov to see what information the fraudster put in ur fafsa?? u should check that to see what schools they sent it to and everything!!!

Honestly the whole FAFSA system is so confusing and nobody explains anything properly. My daughter had her FAFSA "processed" but then one school randomly selected her for verification and we had to submit like 20 more documents and it delayed her aid by 2 months. The whole system is designed to make you give up.

Thank you all for the helpful advice! I've had my son check each school's portal and two of them actually do need additional information - one needs the CSS Profile and another has a school-specific form. We wouldn't have known to check without your suggestions! We'll keep an eye out for any verification requests too. I appreciate everyone's help navigating this confusing process.

Speaking as someone who works in higher education IT systems, I can explain what's actually happening on the technical side: When you resubmit without changes, the system generates what's called a "duplicate ISIR" (Institutional Student Information Record). The schools' financial aid management systems can detect this. Most modern systems automatically flag identical resubmissions and don't treat them as new applications requiring full review. The delay is generally just the federal processing time (typically 3-7 days) for the data to be transmitted back to schools. Schools that use automated systems will simply verify the data matches and continue processing. Some smaller schools with manual processes might take a few extra days. The most important factor is timing in relation to the school's internal aid packaging timeline. If they're actively packaging aid right now, a brief delay could potentially impact priority consideration. That's why it's good advice to contact financial aid offices directly.

One more thing to add - when this happened to us, I panicked and made it worse by calling schools everyday asking about it. My son was embarrassed and it actually caused more confusion. The best approach is one calm email to financial aid offices explaining the situation, then be patient. Eventually everything worked out fine and he got the same aid package he would have anyway.

One more thing - I recommend having your daughter check her SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation on her FAFSA account. If there's a flag on the citizenship verification, you might see an alert there. And make sure to check both her student.aid.gov account AND her school portal, as sometimes the messages don't sync properly between systems.

just my 2 cents but the birth certificate + photo ID combo worked for my citizenship verification last fall. took like 3 days to process vs the weeks they said a passport would take