FAFSA only showing one parent as contributor despite joint tax filing - missing my income!

This is a common issue with the new FAFSA system. The problem is in how the contributor invitations were set up. When one parent completes the joint tax information section, the system sometimes fails to properly attribute both incomes despite joint filing. You need to submit a correction request - there should be an option to 'Update FAFSA Information' after logging in to studentaid.gov with your daughter's account. Specifically request a contributor update and indicate that both parents' incomes need to be included.

omg same thing happened to me!!! only my income showed up and not my husbands which made our EFC way higher than it should be. so frustrating with all these FAFSA glitches this year

Wait, I'm confused. If you file taxes jointly, doesn't FAFSA just take your combined AGI from your tax return? Why would it matter which parent is listed as a contributor if the total household income is what counts? That's how it worked for us - we file jointly and they just took our total income from line 11 on the 1040.

I went through something similar last month. After multiple failed attempts to get through on the phone, I used Claimyr to reach an actual FSA agent. It's a service that holds your place in line and calls you when an agent is available - saved me hours of hold time. I watched their demo video (https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ) and was skeptical, but it worked perfectly. The agent was able to submit a manual correction request to add my spouse as a contributor. You can check them out at claimyr.com - definitely worth it when you're dealing with tight financial aid deadlines.

UGH THESE FAFSA PEOPLE ARE THE WORST!! this is my third kid going to college and every single year theres some new problem with their stupid system. last year we couldnt even access the site for WEEKS and this year they cant even count properly??? and they expect us to trust them with determining financial aid SMH

For a technical explanation: The new FAFSA system handles contributors differently than previous versions. Each contributor receives a specific role in the system - typically "Parent 1" and "Parent 2" for dependent students. When joint filing is involved, sometimes the system incorrectly assigns all income to whichever parent completed the tax information section. To fix this: 1. Log in to your student's account on studentaid.gov 2. Select "Make FAFSA Corrections" 3. Navigate to the "Parent Financial Information" section 4. There should be an option to "Update Parent Contributors" 5. Ensure both parents are properly added with correct roles 6. Save and resubmit If the online correction doesn't work, you'll need to speak with a Federal Student Aid representative to manually update the contributor information. Document all communication attempts for appeals if this affects aid offers.

Just adding another tip: Make sure you take screenshots of the current incorrect FAFSA showing only one parent contributor, and also document any correction attempts. These will be crucial if you need to appeal financial aid offers later. We had to do this last year when our daughter's FAFSA had a similar issue, and having documentation of the error helped tremendously during the appeal process.

has anyone noticed that the new FAFSA system seems to have way more glitches than the old one? my niece couldnt even get her parents linked properly and ended up missing out on a ton of aid at her first choice school

UPDATE: I tried the correction steps that were suggested, but the system gives me an error message saying "Contributor updates are currently unavailable - please try again later" every time. I've been trying for two days now. I'm going to try that Claimyr service to actually speak to someone because this is getting ridiculous. Our daughter is waiting on several financial aid offers and I'm afraid this mistake is going to cost her thousands in aid.

SECOND UPDATE: Success! I used the Claimyr service and got through to an FSA agent within an hour (after trying for DAYS on my own). The agent confirmed this is a known issue affecting many joint-filing parents. They submitted a manual correction on our behalf and said it should be processed within 7-10 business days. They also added a note to our daughter's file that all schools will be able to see, explaining that the correction is in process. The agent gave me a confirmation number for the correction request and said we can reference it if we need to contact any schools. Thank you all for your help with this stressful situation!

As someone who just went through this exact same nightmare last month, I want to emphasize how important it is to act quickly on this. The FAFSA contributor system has been a disaster this year - I've seen so many families affected by similar issues where only one parent gets properly linked despite joint filing. The good news is that once you get through to an actual FSA agent (which sounds like you successfully did!), they can usually fix it pretty efficiently with a manual override. Just make sure you follow up with each school's financial aid office using that confirmation number - some schools are more proactive than others about checking for updated FAFSA information, and you don't want any delays in processing your daughter's aid package. The whole system is frustrating, but at least there are ways to work around these technical glitches when you know the right steps to take.

This thread is incredibly helpful! As someone currently dealing with a similar FAFSA contributor issue (my spouse's income isn't showing up properly), I wanted to add that it's also worth checking if your state has any supplemental financial aid forms that might be affected by these FAFSA errors. In our case, the state grant application pulled the incorrect information from our FAFSA, so we had to contact both the federal aid office AND our state's education department to ensure corrections were made to both systems. The timing can be tricky since state aid deadlines are often earlier than federal ones. Just another layer to consider when dealing with these technical glitches!