Confused about FAFSA vs Common App order - which should my child start first?

Hi there! The Common App and FAFSA are completely separate systems - you don't need one to start the other. Your child can work on the Common App for college admissions while separately you both work on the FAFSA for financial aid. What the counselor probably meant is that for the FAFSA, your child needs to create their own StudentAid.gov account first, then they can add you as a contributor to complete the parent sections. Your child initiates this by sending you an electronic invitation through the FAFSA system.

my daughter did common app stuff first bc thats for getting INTO college and fafsa is just for $$$. u can do them at the same time tho, theyre not connected at all

To clarify the exact process for FAFSA: 1. Your child creates a StudentAid.gov account with their own FSA ID 2. They start the FAFSA application and enter their basic information 3. When they reach the contributor section, they'll enter your email address 4. You'll receive an email invitation to create your own FSA ID (if you don't have one) 5. Once you have an FSA ID, you can log in and complete the parent/contributor sections For the CommonApp, that's completely separate and is for the actual college applications. The FAFSA is only for federal financial aid eligibility. Many students work on both simultaneously since they serve different purposes in the college application process.

She can start with just her basic information (name, contact info, schools she's interested in). For the financial sections, you'll both need: - 2023 tax returns (for 2025-2026 FAFSA) - Records of untaxed income - Information about assets (cash, savings, investments) The good news is the new FAFSA directly imports tax information from the IRS using the Data Retrieval Tool, which makes that part much easier.

If you're having trouble getting through to Federal Student Aid on the phone, I'd recommend trying Claimyr.com. It saved me HOURS of frustration when we had verification issues with my daughter's FAFSA. They basically call and wait on hold for you, then connect you directly to an agent when one becomes available. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. Worth it for peace of mind if you run into any issues with the FAFSA submission process.

I'm literally going through this right now with my twins!! The most confusing part was that my kids had to be the ones to create the FSA IDs first, then they had to start the application before I could do anything. But the Common App is completely separate - they're working on those essays while we're gathering all the FAFSA documents. Don't wait too long though!!! Last year my nephew's family waited until March to submit FAFSA and they missed out on like $5000 in university grants because the school had already allocated all their institutional aid by then!

Good question about adding schools later! You can always log back into FAFSA and add more schools after you've submitted. The FAFSA allows you to list up to 10 schools initially, but you can go back and swap schools out if your daughter's college list changes. The important thing is submitting early for priority financial aid consideration at the schools you're most interested in. Many colleges have institutional aid that's first-come, first-served, even though they don't explicitly advertise it that way.

Just wanted to add - make sure your daughter has her Social Security card handy when she creates her FSA ID! The system is pretty strict about verifying identity, and having all her documents ready (SSN, driver's license, etc.) will make the account creation process much smoother. Also, a pro tip from our experience: save the FSA ID username and password somewhere super secure because you'll need it every year to renew the FAFSA. We made the mistake of forgetting it and had to go through the whole identity verification process again the following year - such a headache! Good luck with everything! The process seems overwhelming at first but once you get through it the first time, renewals are much easier.

As someone who just went through this process with my oldest last year, I can confirm everything everyone has said - the FAFSA and Common App are totally independent! One thing I'd add is to make sure you and your daughter are both mentally prepared for the FAFSA to take longer than expected. Even with the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, we still had to manually enter some information and double-check everything. Also, don't forget that some schools have their own financial aid forms (like CSS Profile) in addition to FAFSA, so check each college's specific requirements. The earlier you start, the less stressed you'll both be when those spring deadlines start approaching!

As a parent who just completed this process with my son last month, I want to echo what everyone has said about starting early! One additional tip that saved us a lot of stress: create a shared Google Doc or folder where you and your daughter can both track progress on both the Common App and FAFSA. We listed all the schools, their specific deadlines, required documents, and completion status for each application component. This was especially helpful because some schools had earlier priority deadlines for financial aid than their regular application deadlines. Having everything in one place meant we never missed a deadline and could easily see what still needed to be done. Plus, it helped my son feel more involved in the process rather than just handing everything off to me! The key thing to remember is that while these applications serve different purposes, they're both equally important for your daughter's college journey. Good luck!

Just wanted to share a quick resource that might help! The Federal Student Aid website has a really helpful FAFSA timeline checklist that breaks down exactly when to do what throughout senior year. You can find it at studentaid.gov - it helped me feel way more organized when we were going through this process with my daughter. One thing I wish someone had told me earlier: even though your daughter creates her FSA ID first, make sure YOU also create your parent FSA ID well before you plan to complete the FAFSA. Sometimes there can be delays with the identity verification process, and you don't want to be stuck waiting when you're ready to submit everything. Also, don't stress too much about getting everything perfect on the first try - you can always go back and make corrections if needed. The important thing is getting it submitted early for those priority deadlines everyone mentioned. You've got this!

Just want to add one more thing that really helped us - consider doing a "dry run" of both processes before you actually submit anything! We sat down one evening and went through the FAFSA questions without submitting, just to see what information we'd need and where we might get stuck. Same thing with the Common App - my daughter filled out one school's application completely but didn't submit it, just to get familiar with the interface and essay requirements. This practice run helped us identify which documents we were missing and gave us a realistic timeline for completion. It also reduced my daughter's anxiety because she knew exactly what to expect when it came time to do the real thing. Plus, we discovered that some of the schools on her list required additional essays beyond the main Common App essay, which we wouldn't have known until the last minute otherwise. The whole process felt much less overwhelming when we approached it as "practice first, then execute" rather than trying to do everything perfectly on the first attempt!

As a parent who recently navigated this process, I can't stress enough how helpful this thread is! One thing I'd add that hasn't been mentioned yet is to check if your state has its own financial aid application in addition to FAFSA. Some states like California (Cal Grant) and New York (TAP) have separate deadlines that are actually EARLIER than the federal FAFSA deadline. We almost missed our state aid deadline because we were so focused on the federal requirements. The good news is that most state applications pull information directly from your completed FAFSA, so you don't have to enter everything twice - but you do need to be aware of those earlier deadlines! Also, if your daughter is considering any private scholarships, many of those applications open up in the fall too. It might be worth creating a master calendar with ALL the different deadlines (Common App, FAFSA, state aid, scholarship applications) so nothing falls through the cracks. The organization tips everyone shared here are gold - this process has so many moving parts but it's totally manageable when you break it down step by step!

As someone who just went through this exact same confusion last year, I completely understand the overwhelm! Everyone here has given fantastic advice. One thing that really helped me was realizing that these are two completely different "lanes" - think of Common App as the college admissions lane and FAFSA as the financial aid lane. They can run in parallel without affecting each other. What worked for us was having my son start his Common App essays early (like in August/September) since those take time to write and revise, while we gathered all our financial documents for FAFSA in the fall. Then in October, he created his StudentAid.gov account and invited me as a contributor, so by November we were ready to submit the FAFSA as soon as it opened. The key insight for me was that the FAFSA "invitation" system is actually pretty straightforward once you understand it - your daughter controls the initial setup, but then you get full access to complete your parent sections independently. It's not like she has to babysit the process or give you permission for every step. One last tip: bookmark this thread! I found myself coming back to reference advice from other parents throughout the entire process. Good luck - you're being such a thoughtful parent by starting early and asking the right questions!

Hi Freya! As a parent who just finished this process with my son, I wanted to add one quick tip that saved us a lot of headaches. Make sure to double-check that your daughter's legal name on her Social Security card EXACTLY matches what she enters when creating her FSA ID. Even small differences like a middle initial being included or excluded can cause verification delays later. We learned this the hard way when my son used "Mike" instead of "Michael" and it held up our FAFSA submission for almost two weeks while we sorted out the identity verification issues. The system is very strict about name matching across all federal databases. Also, once you both have your FSA IDs created, I'd recommend doing a quick test login before you actually need to use them for the FAFSA. Sometimes there can be technical glitches, and it's better to discover and resolve those issues when you're not under deadline pressure. You're asking all the right questions and starting at the perfect time - your daughter is lucky to have such a proactive parent helping her navigate this process!