FAFSA corrections - student vs parent login access question

ya gotta use the student login for most stuff. parent login is basically useless except for signing

The student login is definitely the primary account for making most FAFSA corrections. While both student and parent can sign the FAFSA, the student account has more functionality including the ability to make corrections to both student and parent sections. This is because the FAFSA is technically the student's application, even though parent financial information is required for dependent students. When your son logs in, he should select the option to "Make FAFSA Corrections" and can then navigate to whichever section needs updating (whether it's student or parent information). After making the corrections, both student and parent will need to sign again with their respective FSA IDs before resubmitting.

I had the EXACT same issue!!! It's so frustrating because nowhere on the website does it clearly explain this. I wasted like 3 hours trying to figure out why I couldn't make changes through my parent account. Why even give us parent accounts if they're basically useless? The whole system is ridiculous!

Just to clarify some misinformation here - the parent login actually CAN make some corrections, but only to the parent demographic and financial information sections. Student-specific corrections must be made through the student login. However, for your specific correction (student income), you absolutely need to use the student's FSA ID to log in. If you're making corrections to parent income, you can use either login, but it's often easier to use the student login since it provides access to everything. Just make sure your son is entering the information correctly - maybe sit with him while he makes the corrections so you can verify the numbers.

Off topic but $3,400 vs $4,200 for summer job probably won't change your SAI much. My daughter's changed by like $200 when we corrected an $8k mistake on our AGI. Unless your family is right at some cutoff threshold it might not matter much for his scholarships.

I spent 3 days trying to reach someone at Federal Student Aid about this exact issue last month! Kept getting disconnected or waiting for hours. Finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an actual person who confirmed that corrections need to be made through the student account. Saved me a ton of time - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. Definitely worth it when you're dealing with deadline pressure and need answers right away.

One important thing to note is that after making any corrections, there will be a processing period before your updated SAI is calculated. This typically takes 3-5 business days, though it can sometimes take longer during peak periods. Since you mentioned scholarship deadlines, make sure you plan for this processing time. Also, for future reference, if you're making multiple corrections, it's best to make them all at once rather than submitting several separate correction requests, as each new submission restarts the processing clock.

Thank you everyone for the helpful responses! We successfully made the correction through my son's student account yesterday. He was able to access both his own income section and could have changed our parent information too if needed. We both had to re-sign with our FSA IDs after making the change. Now we're just waiting for the updated SAI calculation. Fingers crossed it processes quickly since one of his scholarship applications needs the updated info by next Friday!