FAFSA account confusion - Can I reuse my 2024-25 account for daughter's 2025-26 application?

Yes, you can use the same account for both years! The FSA ID account itself isn't year-specific - it's your permanent federal student aid account. When your daughter creates her account and lists you as a contributor, you'll just log in with your existing FSA ID and password to complete the parent portion for 2025-26.\n\nAbout your husband: If you're remarried and living with your spouse, both your income AND your current spouse's income must be reported on your daughter's FAFSA, even if he's not her biological parent. So yes, your husband will need his own FSA ID account and will need to be invited as an additional contributor. The system will ask for both of your information since you file taxes jointly (assuming you do).

Thank you so much! That's a relief I don't have to create another account. But ugh, I didn't realize my husband's income would count too. Will my daughter's biological father also need to provide his income information? They haven't had contact in years and he doesn't provide any financial support.

wait im confused do u even need a FAFSA for 2024-25 at all? if shes a senior now she'll be in college for 2025-26 right so thats the only one you need

You're right! We don't need the 2024-25 application at all. I created that account thinking it was for next year when she starts college, but then realized that would actually be the 2025-26 application. So I created an account for the wrong year, but from what the other person said, I can use the same account for the right year.

When I went through this last year with my son, I had a similar situation with my current husband (not biological father). Both of us had to create separate FSA IDs and both were invited by my son as contributors. Your ex won't need to provide anything since you're the custodial parent. But the system did get confused because my husband and I used the same email address initially, and it caused problems. Make sure each parent uses a DIFFERENT email address for their FSA ID!

this is so stupid why does the step parent have to be included??? my stepdad makes way more than my real dad and now i don't qualify for anything even though he doesn't pay for any of my college!!!

Thanks for the warning about using different email addresses! I'll make sure we do that. And that's good to know my ex won't need to be involved, that would have been a nightmare.

Just to clarify a key point: Your daughter should create her FSA ID first, then start the 2025-26 FAFSA application (when it becomes available October 1st), and THEN she'll invite you as a contributor. You'll receive an email invitation to complete your portion.\n\nAnd yes, both you and your current spouse must provide financial information if you're married and living together, regardless of biological relationship to the student. The FAFSA uses the household information of the custodial parent, which includes that parent's current spouse.\n\nOne more thing - make sure you're using the correct website. The official FAFSA site is studentaid.gov - there are lots of scam sites that charge fees for \

Thank you for the step-by-step explanation! Yes, I'm using studentaid.gov. Do you know when the 2025-26 application will be available? I want to make sure we complete it as early as possible.

I went through exactly this last year when I remarried before my daughter's college applications. My current husband and I BOTH had to provide all our tax information even though he has zero legal responsibility for my daughter. It felt really invasive honestly. But we each needed separate FSA IDs linked to our own SSNs and tax returns.\n\nThe system is super complicated but once you understand it, you'll be fine. Just be prepared that your current household income (both you and your husband) will determine your daughter's aid eligibility, not just your income alone. This sometimes causes issues for blended families because the step-parent's income counts even though they may not be contributing to college costs.

Jumping in to say we had the same issue with my stepdad's income being counted. The one option you might have is to look into a

That's really helpful to know about the professional judgment review option. My husband is supportive but we've kept our finances somewhat separate, so this might be relevant for us. I'll definitely ask the schools about this if needed.

Try calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center if you get stuck. I spent THREE HOURS trying to get through last year with similar questions. If you're struggling to reach someone, I recently discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com) which got me connected to a FAFSA agent in under 15 minutes instead of hours on hold. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. Saved my sanity during this whole process.

Does that service actually work? I wasted an entire day trying to get through to FAFSA last year when there was an issue with our application status.

Yes! I was super skeptical but it connected me to a real FAFSA agent quickly. Our situation was complicated because my daughter has a different last name than me, and the agent helped sort everything out.

The 2025-26 FAFSA should open on October 1, 2024. They completely redesigned the form last year, and even though it's supposed to be simpler, there were TONS of technical issues at launch. I'd honestly recommend waiting until mid-October to submit rather than trying on day one. Last year many early applicants had to redo everything because of system errors.

That's good advice, thanks! I remember hearing about all those problems in the news. Maybe we'll aim for mid-October instead of stressing about submitting on the first day.

The whole system is RIDICULOUS. My parents are divorced and my stepdad had to report all his income even though he doesn't pay a cent for my education! Completely tanked my financial aid. Such garbage.

While it can definitely feel unfair, you might want to look into filing a special circumstances appeal with your college's financial aid office explaining this situation. Some schools have discretion to adjust your aid based on these kinds of situations. It's not guaranteed, but worth trying.

Make sure both you and your daughter use different email addresses and different phone numbers when creating FSA IDs. The system gets extremely confused if there's any overlap. Also, have all your tax documents ready before starting - the process goes much smoother when you can directly transfer tax information using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool rather than entering everything manually.

Good tip! I'll use my personal email and have her use her school email. And I'll definitely gather all our tax documents beforehand.