FAFSA invitation sent to me instead of military spouse - can we still complete application?

You're fine! The parent contributor can be either parent in a married household. The military service benefits will still apply regardless of which parent completes the application, as long as you properly indicate military status when it asks about it. There's a specific section where you'll indicate that your spouse is active duty military, and that's what triggers the special considerations for service members' families. Just make sure to have your husband's military documentation handy (like his DOD ID number) when you're filling it out.

had this EXACT same situation last yr. you're good to go ahead, they just need info from at least 1 parent. my wife did ours even tho I'm the service member.

Actually the FSA website specifically states that for military families, the service member should be the one completing the parent portion. My son's financial aid office told us this when we had to correct our application last year. Just passing along what we learned the hard way!

One important thing to remember is that when you get to the income section, you'll need to indicate your husband's income separately and check the box identifying him as active duty military. The system will then automatically apply the military provisions to your daughter's SAI calculation, which typically results in excluding combat pay and certain housing allowances from the income assessment. Just make sure you have his W-2 and any LES statements available when completing this section.

Man trying to reach the FSA customer service for questions like this is almost impossible these days. My wife is also military and we had some specific questions they never answered. Spent hours on hold then got disconnected 🤬

I think people are overthinking this. My daughter applied for fafsa last yr and we're a military family too. She just listed me (mom) as parent even though my husband is the service member. We got all the military benefits and she got a great financial aid package. As long as you check the military box and list his service correctly you should be fine.

UPDATE: I spoke with my daughter's college financial aid office, and they confirmed that either parent can be the contributor! I'm going ahead with completing the application as-is. Thanks everyone for your help and advice - especially about marking my husband's military status correctly. So relieved we don't have to start over from scratch!