FAFSA name field issue - first and middle name entered wrong - how to fix?

ya this happened to my daughter too... the financial aid office told us names have to EXACTLY match social security records or they'll reject the whole application. you definitely need to fix it

You can absolutely fix this. You'll need to log into studentaid.gov with his FSA ID, then go to Account Settings > Personal Information > Edit Name. The name on the FSA ID must match his Social Security card exactly. Make sure you're only putting his legal first name in the first name field, middle name in the middle name field, etc. After changing it, there's a verification period (usually 1-3 days) before he can use it to sign the FAFSA.

My brother put his nickname on his FSA ID and it took MONTHS to fix when his FAFSA got rejected. The lady at his college said they see this ALL THE TIME and it causes so many delays. Fix it asap!!!

Fixing the name field won't affect the SAI calculation at all, but it is critical that the name matches exactly what's on the Social Security card. After you make the correction, print or save a copy of the confirmation page for your records. One thing to note: if you've already submitted the FAFSA with the incorrect name format, you may need to make a correction to the submitted FAFSA as well. The system doesn't automatically update already-submitted applications when you change the FSA ID information.

Trying to get anyone on the phone at Federal Student Aid to help with this kind of problem is impossible these days. I spent 3 hours on hold last month trying to fix my daughter's account. I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through - they connected me to an agent in about 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The FSA agent I talked to was able to help with a similar name issue and confirmed everything was fixed properly. Saved me so much stress wondering if I did it right.

OMG THE NAME FIELDS ARE SO IMPORTANT!!!!! My son's FAFSA got selected for verification because his first name on FAFSA didn't match EXACTLY with his Social Security card. Took an extra month to get his aid package and almost missed a scholarship deadline. Don't mess around with this - fix it now!!!

I want to add one more thing - when you go to edit the name, pay attention to spaces, hyphens, and apostrophes too. For example, if the name is "O'Connor" make sure it's entered exactly that way with the apostrophe. Same with hyphenated last names. The system is very precise about matching with Social Security records.

weird question but does anyone know if this causes issues with the CSS Profile too??? i did both FAFSA and CSS and now im worried my names might not match between them....

Update: I followed the advice here and was able to edit his name fields on the FSA ID. It says there's a 1-3 day processing period before we can use it to sign the FAFSA. I'm relieved we caught this before submitting! Thank you all for the help and warnings about how important this is. Will make sure everything matches his Social Security card exactly.

Great that you got it fixed! Just wanted to add for anyone else reading this - make sure to also check that the date of birth on the FSA ID matches your Social Security records exactly. I've seen students have issues where the name was correct but the birth date was off by even one day, and it caused the same verification problems. The Social Security Administration is very strict about exact matches across all fields, not just the name.

Just want to add another important tip - after you make the name correction and it processes, I'd recommend calling your son's colleges to give them a heads up about the change, especially if you're close to any deadlines. Some schools appreciate knowing about FSA ID corrections in advance so they can note it in his file. Also, keep screenshots of the corrected FSA ID information showing it matches his Social Security card - this can be helpful if any verification questions come up later. Better to have documentation and not need it than the other way around!

I'm new to this whole FAFSA process and this thread has been incredibly helpful! My daughter is just starting her senior year and we haven't created her FSA ID yet. After reading all these comments about name matching issues, I'm definitely going to make sure we have her Social Security card right in front of us when we create the account. It sounds like getting it right the first time is so much easier than trying to fix it later. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it's really reassuring to know there's a community here to help navigate all this!

As someone who works in a high school guidance office, I see this exact issue multiple times every year! You're definitely on the right track fixing it now. One thing I always tell families is to also check that any suffix (Jr., Sr., III, etc.) is entered correctly if applicable. The Social Security Administration is very particular about these details too. Also, once you get the name corrected and verified, I'd suggest making a note in your calendar to double-check all the information again before hitting submit on the FAFSA - sometimes people fix one thing and accidentally mess up something else. Good luck with the process!

Just wanted to share my experience since I went through this exact same thing last year! The name correction process is actually pretty straightforward once you know what to do. After you fix the FSA ID name fields, make sure to wait the full verification period before trying to sign the FAFSA - I got impatient and tried after just one day and it didn't work yet. Also, when you do submit the FAFSA, double-check that the name appears correctly on the signature page before finalizing everything. The whole process ended up being much less stressful than I initially thought, and my daughter had no issues with her financial aid processing once everything was corrected. You're doing the right thing by fixing it early!