Do parents need their own FAFSA account or just join student's application?

You need to create your own FSA ID. Your son cannot invite you to his application directly - each parent who wants to contribute to the FAFSA needs their own account with FSA ID. It's annoying but necessary for the digital signature part.

Yes, you need to create your own FSA ID as a parent contributor. The system is designed for both the student and contributing parent(s) to have separate FSA IDs linked to their own email addresses and personal information. Your son will list you as a parent contributor on his FAFSA, and you'll use your FSA ID to electronically sign the form. This is actually a security feature to verify both parties' identities and consent to sharing financial information. Make sure you're using different email addresses for each FSA ID and keep track of your login credentials!

I went thru this last year and it was SO CONFUSING!! You definitely need your own FSA ID. But what they don't tell you is that it takes 1-3 days for your FSA ID to be fully validated with the Social Security Administration before you can use it to sign the FAFSA!!!!! We had to delay submitting because of that and almost missed a scholarship deadline. Make your FSA ID ASAP!!!!

Everyone is correct that you need your own FSA ID. Here's the exact process: 1. You create your FSA ID at studentaid.gov (use YOUR information, not your son's) 2. Your son completes his portions of the FAFSA 3. When he reaches the parent contribution section, he enters your basic info 4. He can then either give you access to complete the parent section yourself OR he can enter your financial information if you provide it to him 5. Regardless of who enters the info, YOU must sign with your FSA ID Also important: Your son should list all schools he's considering on his FAFSA, even ones he's not sure about yet. It's easier to have them already listed than to add them later.

After your son enters your financial information, he'll get to a page asking for parent signature. At that point, he can either have you log in right then with your FSA ID to sign, or he can submit it without your signature. If he submits without your signature, you'll need to log in to your own studentaid.gov account later, and you'll see a notification that you have a FAFSA to sign. There's no email notification system - you'll need to coordinate with your son about when it's ready for your signature.

The FAFSA system is SUCH a nightmare! I don't understand why they make everything SO complicated!!! Last year I had to create my own account, verify my identity, link my IRS data, and THEN my daughter's application had errors because my birthday was entered wrong somewhere. We ended up having to call FSA and spent HOURS on hold just to fix one small mistake. The whole system needs to be redesigned from scratch!!!!

If you're having trouble reaching someone at FSA when you hit issues (which happens a lot with parent accounts), I found this service called Claimyr that helped me get through to an actual human at FSA in about 10 minutes instead of waiting for hours. You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ and their website is claimyr.com. I was super skeptical at first but it saved me when I kept getting this weird error linking my tax info to my FSA ID. The agent fixed it in like 5 minutes once I actually got through.

Update: I created my FSA ID last night and it says my Social Security info has been verified already. My son added me to his FAFSA and I was able to log in and complete the parent contribution section with our 2023 tax information. It actually wasn't as complicated as I feared once I understood the process. Thanks everyone for your help!

Congratulations on getting through the process! As someone who just went through this with my oldest last year, I wanted to add one more tip: make sure to save a PDF copy of your completed FAFSA before submitting it. The system sometimes has glitches where submitted forms get lost or corrupted, and having that backup saved us when we had to resubmit after a technical error. Also, keep an eye on your email for any requests for additional documentation - some schools require verification documents even if your FAFSA processes smoothly. Good luck to your son with his college applications!

Just want to echo what everyone else is saying - yes, you absolutely need your own FSA ID! I made the mistake of thinking my daughter could just add me to hers somehow, but that's not how it works at all. Each parent needs their own account with their own email address and login credentials. The process is actually pretty straightforward once you understand it: create your FSA ID, wait for verification (which can take a few days), then your son can add you as a contributor to his FAFSA. You'll be able to log in with your own credentials to complete the parent sections and digitally sign the form. Don't stress too much about it - millions of parents go through this every year! Just make sure to start the FSA ID creation process soon since you mentioned December deadlines.