Does an Associate Degree count as "completed college" on FAFSA parent education question?

pretty sure associates counts as college. my parents both have associate degrees and i marked "completed college" on my fafsa last year and never had any issues

According to the official FAFSA guidelines, an Associate degree DOES count as completing college for the parent education question. The question is asking about any college degree completion, not specifically a bachelor's degree. So for your mom, you would select "completed college" and for your dad, you would select that he did not complete college. This information is used for demographic purposes and potentially for determining your eligibility for certain first-generation college student scholarships, but it doesn't directly impact your SAI calculation for federal aid.

OMG I think I answered this wrong on mine!!! I said my mom didn't complete college because she has an associates degree and I thought it had to be a bachelors!!! Will this mess up my financial aid???? Should I correct my FAFSA now???

Honestly the whole FAFSA system is so frustrating with unclear questions like this. I spent HOURS on mine trying to figure out exactly what they meant by questions like this. Would it kill them to add a little more explanation about what counts? And then they wonder why completion rates are low. SMH.

I work in a college financial aid office, and I can confirm that an Associate degree absolutely counts as "completed college" for FAFSA purposes. For your situation, you would mark that your mother completed college and your father did not. This question is used partly for demographic information but also helps identify potential first-generation college students. First-generation status is typically defined as neither parent having completed a 4-year degree, so depending on your school's specific definition, you might still qualify for first-generation student support services even if you mark that your mother completed college with her Associate's degree. If you're having trouble getting through to FSA on the phone to confirm any details, I've had students use Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get connected to an agent faster. They have a video demo here: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. It's been helpful for students with urgent verification issues.

My dad has like 90 credits but never got his degree bc he dropped out senior year. I put that he didn't complete college. Wonder if that was right?

btw the new FAFSA is way more confusing than the old one imo. all these questions about contributors and all the extra verification steps. took me like 5 hours to finish mine with all the tax document lookups!

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I'm going to mark my mom as "completed college" with her Associate's and my dad as "did not complete college." Now I just need to figure out this whole Selective Service registration question for my brother who's also applying...

As someone who just went through this same confusion last month, I can confirm that Associate degrees definitely count as "completed college" on the FAFSA! I was in the exact same boat - my mom has an Associate's in Business Administration and my dad has a high school diploma. I called the Federal Student Aid helpline to double-check (after reading conflicting info online) and they confirmed that ANY college degree, including Associate's, counts as completing college for that question. The key thing to remember is that this question is asking about degree completion, not level of degree. So mark your mom as completed college and your dad as did not complete college. You've got this!

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who made this mistake initially! I marked my mom as "did not complete college" even though she has an Associate's in Early Childhood Education because I thought it had to be a bachelor's degree. When I realized my error during verification, I had to submit a correction. The good news is that it was super easy to fix online through studentaid.gov - just logged in, selected "Make FAFSA Corrections," and updated the parent education info. The whole process took maybe 10 minutes. So if anyone else made the same mistake, don't panic! Just fix it as soon as you can. Better to correct it now than deal with potential issues later during verification.