FAFSA only requested tax info from one of my two college kids - why the difference?

Same thing happened with my twins last year! One had to upload all their tax docs and the other didn't have to do anything. Never figured out why.

There's actually a simple explanation for this. The FAFSA system has income thresholds that trigger the tax documentation requirement. For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, students with earned income above $4,200 typically need to provide their tax information, while those under that amount often don't. The system is designed this way because income below that threshold generally doesn't significantly impact the Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation. Your son was just slightly over the threshold, while your daughter was just under it. This is completely normal and shouldn't cause any issues with either application.

the fafsa is SO STUPID with these random rules ugh. my kid made like $4,100 last summer and didnt have to upload anything but her friend made $4,300 and had to do the whole tax upload thing. its all just designed to make it complicated to weed people out!!! the whole system is rigged

This happened to my kids too but we found out it also has to do with what TYPE of income they had. Did one kid have any investment income or 1099 income? FAFSA treats different income types differently for verification purposes.

For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, they're using a modified verification selection process. The $4,200 threshold mentioned is correct, but there are other factors as well: 1. Type of income (W-2 vs 1099 vs investment) 2. Random selection (approx 30% of applications) 3. Data discrepancies between answers If you're concerned about your daughter's application, you can always call Federal Student Aid to confirm everything is in order. But honestly, if the system didn't request her tax info, that's actually good news - less paperwork and potentially faster processing!

I had the same issue and spent TWO HOURS on hold with Federal Student Aid trying to get an answer! I finally gave up and used Claimyr.com to reach an agent in 12 minutes (there's a demo video at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works). The agent confirmed it's the income threshold thing others mentioned - basically if a student makes less than around $4,200, they typically don't need to provide tax docs. Anything over that typically triggers the verification. The agent also said sometimes they randomly select some applications for verification regardless of income level, which is why it can seem inconsistent.

Is one of ur kids a dependent and the other independent? That would make a HUGE difference in what gets asked. Or maybe one is getting grants and the other just loans? The requirements are totally different for differnt types of aid!!!

In my experience working with financial aid offices, this is completely normal. The Department of Education uses what's called "targeted verification" to reduce paperwork burden. Prior to 2022, they verified about 30% of all FAFSA applications randomly, but now they're more selective and focus on applications where the student's income might significantly impact the aid calculation. That's why there's that approximately $4,200 threshold others have mentioned. Your son was just above it, your daughter just below. One important note: make sure you keep all tax documents for BOTH children readily available. Sometimes they request additional verification later in the process, especially if there are any corrections made to the application.