Do I need to wait for my son's FAFSA validation before completing parent contribution section?
My son submitted his portion of the 2025-2026 FAFSA application yesterday and got a message saying it would take 2 days to validate his identity. I'm ready to complete my parent contribution section right now, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to wait until his validation is complete? The FSA website isn't clear about this. Anyone know if I can proceed with my part now or if I have to wait the full 2 days for his validation to finish? Getting antsy since I know early submission can matter for some aid!
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Freya Larsen
You do NOT need to wait! I just went through this with my daughter last week. The validation is just confirming your son's identity, but you can complete your contributor information right away. The system will hold everything until validation completes, then submit the full application. Just make sure you're using the FSA ID that's linked as a contributor to your son's application.
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Ravi Sharma
•Oh thank goodness! I was worried about losing precious time. I'll get on it tonight then. Thanks for the quick answer!
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Omar Hassan
Wait really? When my daughter did hers in October I couldn't access anything until she got the verification email. Maybe they changed the system??
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Chloe Taylor
•The system was updated in December. Before, contributors had to wait for student verification, but now they can complete their sections simultaneously. However, the application won't be fully processed until all validations complete. It's a change to improve efficiency in the new FAFSA Simplification process.
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ShadowHunter
LITERALLY everyone is giving different advice on this!!! When I called the financial aid office at my son's school they said wait, but when I called the FAFSA helpline they said go ahead!!! The whole system is such a MESS this year with all these changes. Why can't they just make it CLEAR??!!!
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Chloe Taylor
•You're right that there's been a lot of confusion. To clarify: technically you CAN complete your section before validation completes, but the application won't be SUBMITTED until all validations are done. So either approach works - waiting or proceeding now. The end result is the same.
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Diego Ramirez
I spent 4 hours trying to reach someone at Federal Student Aid last week for this exact question. Kept getting disconnected or told the wait was 2+ hours. Finally used Claimyr.com and got through in 10 minutes. The agent confirmed parents can complete their section while student validation is pending. You can see how it works in their video demo: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ - saved me so much frustration!
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Ravi Sharma
•I've never heard of this service before. That would have been helpful when I spent 90 minutes on hold last month! Bookmarking this for next time, thanks for sharing.
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Anastasia Sokolov
my son did his part thn i did mine right away. his validaton came thru later and everythng worked fine. dont worry about it
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Sean O'Connor
Make sure your son added you properly as a contributor when he created his application! My daughter thought she added me but didn't complete that step correctly, so I never got the email invitation. We had to start the whole process over and lost a week. Double check he received confirmation that contributors were successfully added.
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Ravi Sharma
•Good point! I just texted him and he confirmed I'm listed as a contributor in his application. He did get the confirmation email about that part.
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Freya Larsen
One more important thing - when you complete your section, you might see a message saying the application is "pending student validation" even after you submit your part. That's normal! The whole application will automatically progress once all validations complete. Just make sure you actually finish and submit your section completely.
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Ravi Sharma
•Thank you so much for that detail! I probably would have panicked seeing that message. I've got my tax documents ready and plan to finish my part tonight. Fingers crossed we get a decent SAI score!
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GalaxyGuardian
Just wanted to add my experience - I was in the exact same situation two weeks ago and went ahead with my parent section while my daughter's validation was still pending. Everything worked perfectly! The key thing is to make sure you complete ALL required fields in your section and hit submit. Don't just save as draft. Once both validations were done (hers took 3 days, mine was instant), the full application automatically processed and we got our SAI within 24 hours. The new system is actually pretty efficient once you understand how it works!
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