Do my college student and high school senior need to fill out separate FAFSA forms before parents?

yes each kid needs ther own fafsa and they each need to fill out there part first. my twins had to make seprate FSA IDs and do there sections before i could do mine. its super annoying tbh

With the new FAFSA system for 2025-2026, each student needs their own FSA ID and must complete their student section first. After they've done their part, they'll add you as a contributor using your email address. You'll then receive notification to complete the parent/contributor section. The good news is that you only need to fill out your section once, even with multiple students. Once you complete it for one child, the system will automatically share your information with your other child's application. This is one improvement with the new FAFSA. Make sure both your children list all schools they're considering on their applications, and that your college sophomore renews their application as well.

my kids had to do it separate and i had to do everything twice last year it was RIDICULOUS!!! the whole system is broken and they just want to make it confusing so people give up and dont get aid!!

Financial aid advisor here. For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, the process works like this: 1. Each student creates their own FSA ID (if they don't already have one) 2. Each student starts their own FAFSA application and completes the student section 3. In each application, students will enter parent/contributor information (email address) 4. Parents receive contributor invitations and create an FSA ID if needed 5. Parents complete their section ONCE, and it automatically applies to all linked student applications This is a significant improvement over the previous system where parents had to repeat information. However, each student still needs to complete their own unique section that includes their personal information, schools they're applying to, etc. Be aware that each student will receive their own unique Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation based on their specific circumstances, even though the parent information is shared.

I just went through this with my kids and it was a nightmare trying to get through to someone at Federal Student Aid when we had issues with the contributor section not linking properly. After waiting on hold for HOURS, I found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me through to an agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ It saved my sanity because we had a deadline approaching and one of my kids' applications wasn't connecting to my contributor information correctly. The FSA agent was able to fix it right away once I finally got through.

I literally just finished dealing with this exact situation last week! You're getting some good advice here, but one thing nobody mentioned - make sure BOTH your kids use the EXACT same spelling and format of your name and information when they add you as a contributor. My son put "Robert Smith" and my daughter put "Rob Smith" and the system didn't recognize us as the same person, so I had to fill everything out twice anyway. Super frustrating waste of time.

Thank you all so much for the helpful information! Just to make sure I've got this right: 1. Both my sophomore and senior need to create their own FSA IDs first 2. They each complete their own student sections 3. They both add me as a contributor using my email 4. I only need to fill out my parent section once as long as they entered my info exactly the same way This is so much better than I expected! I was dreading having to enter all our tax information twice.

make sure your kids use the IRS data retreval tool if they can its way easier than entering all the tax stuff manually trust me on this one lol

does anyone know if this effects the amount of aid? like if i have 2 kids in college at once do they each get more aid than if it was just 1 kid?

As someone who just went through this process with twins last month, I can confirm what others have said - the new system is definitely an improvement! One additional tip: make sure your kids coordinate when they're going to add you as a contributor. I had both my kids send me the contributor invitations on the same day, which made it easier to complete everything at once rather than getting notified weeks apart. Also, keep your FSA ID login info handy because you'll need it to access the contributor section. The whole process took me about 45 minutes total for both kids once they had completed their portions. Much better than the old system where I was basically doing two completely separate applications!

One thing to watch out for - make sure both kids submit their applications before the priority deadlines for their schools! Even though the parent contributor section can be shared, each student still needs to hit their individual school deadlines. My friend's daughter missed out on some state grant money because they thought having the parent info completed was enough, but the student hadn't actually submitted her application yet. The "Submit" button is separate for each kid's application even after you complete your contributor section.

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who went through this process with three kids over the past few years. The new FAFSA system is definitely better for parents with multiple students, but one thing that caught me off guard was timing. Even though you only fill out your parent section once, I recommend waiting until BOTH kids have completed their student sections before you do yours. I made the mistake of completing my contributor section right after my first child invited me, and then when my second child tried to add me weeks later, there was some glitch in the system that required me to contact student aid support. The representative told me it's more reliable when all the students add the parent contributor around the same time. Also, make sure you save copies of everything - the new system sometimes has display issues where completed sections appear blank even though they're actually saved. Having screenshots gave me peace of mind!

As a parent who just completed this process for my college junior and high school senior, I can confirm the new system works much better! One additional tip I haven't seen mentioned - if you're using a tax preparer or accountant, give them a heads up that you'll need your tax information earlier than usual for FAFSA purposes. We usually don't get our taxes done until late March, but both kids' schools had FAFSA deadlines in early March. I had to get our tax documents organized much earlier this year to meet the deadlines. Also, if you have any complex financial situations (like owning a business or rental property), it's worth reviewing the FAFSA questions ahead of time so you're not scrambling to figure out what information you need when you're actually filling it out.