FAFSA error: Contributor email invitation leads to empty page - how to add spouse?

This is a common issue with the new FAFSA system. The contributor invitations sometimes don't link correctly. Instead of using the email link, have your husband go directly to studentaid.gov and log in with his FSA ID. Then he should click on the FAFSA form section and look for "Contribute to a FAFSA Form" option. If that doesn't appear, you might need to send a new invitation from your account. Make sure both of you are using different email addresses for your FSA IDs.

omg the EXACT same thing happened with my wife's contributor invite!!! she kept getting the empty page too. so annoying. we eventually figured out that she needed to go to the FAFSA dashboard instead of using the email link. the whole new system is garbage tbh

I think it might be a browser issue too. My husband had the same problem but when he switched from Chrome to Firefox it magically worked. Also try clearing cookies/cache before logging in. These little technical glitches with the new FAFSA system are driving everyone crazy!!

I had this EXACT problem last week and spent 4 hours trying to fix it. The solution was totally not intuitive. Your husband needs to go to studentaid.gov directly, log in, then go to the top right corner where it says "My Documents" or something like that - there should be a notification there about being invited as a contributor. DON'T use the email link - it's broken for most people. If that doesn't work, you might need to call FSA directly, which is a nightmare right now with all the FAFSA changes. I tried for days and kept getting disconnected.

your problem is that the new fasfa system is BROKEN!!! my son applied in january and were STILL having problems with the contributer thing. the department of education should be ashamed of themselves for rolling out such a disaster!!! i've called 8 times and either get disconnected or told different things each time. good luck!!

I work in a college financial aid office, and we're seeing this issue frequently with the new FAFSA. Here's what's happening: the contributor invitation system has several bugs that the Department of Education is aware of and working to fix. In the meantime, try these steps in exact order: 1. Have your husband log out completely from studentaid.gov 2. Clear browser cache and cookies 3. Log in fresh to studentaid.gov (not through the email link) 4. Look at the dashboard for a notification about being invited as a contributor 5. If no notification appears, check under "My Documents" and "My Activity" sections If none of that works, you may need to cancel the current invitation and send a new one. You can do this from your FAFSA application by going to the contributor section. As a last resort, if your income situation isn't complicated, you can manually enter your husband's information yourself if you have access to his tax information. The contributor function is helpful but not absolutely required.

my daughter had this problem too lolol. the new fafsa is such a mess! we ended up just giving up on the contributor thing and she entered all my info herself. probably not the best solution but it worked i guess?

UPDATE: We got it working! For anyone else with this issue - the solution was a combination of suggestions here. My husband logged in directly to studentaid.gov (NOT through the email link), cleared his browser cache first, and switched from Chrome to Firefox. The invitation showed up under a tiny bell icon in the top right corner of his dashboard that we hadn't noticed before. Thanks everyone for your help!

This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with the exact same issue right now - my spouse got the contributor email but keeps hitting that "No Activity Found" page. Really glad to see Alice got it resolved and that there are so many practical solutions here. I'm going to try the Firefox + cache clearing + notification bell approach first before attempting to call FSA. It's frustrating that the email links don't work properly, but at least there are workarounds. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!

As someone who just went through this nightmare last month, I can confirm that the notification bell trick works! But here's an additional tip that might help others - if your spouse still can't see the notification bell after trying all the browser fixes, try having them log out completely, then log back in using a private/incognito browser window. Something about the session cookies seems to get stuck sometimes. Also, make sure you're both not logged into FSA accounts simultaneously from the same computer - that caused issues for us too. The whole contributor system definitely needs work, but these workarounds do help most people get through it eventually!

Just wanted to add my experience for anyone still struggling with this! We had the same contributor email issue, and what finally worked for us was having my husband create a completely fresh FSA ID with a different email address. Turns out his original FSA ID had some weird glitch from years ago when he helped with our older daughter's FAFSA. Once he made the new account, I sent a fresh contributor invitation to that new email, and everything worked perfectly - he could see the notification bell right away and complete his portion without any issues. Might be worth trying if all the browser fixes aren't working!

I'm so glad I found this thread! I'm currently dealing with this exact same contributor invitation issue with my husband's FSA account. The email link just takes him to that frustrating "No Activity Found" page. Based on all the helpful suggestions here, I'm going to have him try the Firefox browser + cache clearing + looking for the notification bell approach first. It's really reassuring to see that so many people have figured out workarounds for this problem. The new FAFSA system definitely has some kinks to work out, but at least there's a supportive community here sharing solutions! I'll report back if we get it working.