FAFSA parent contribution issue - husband can't access new contributor questions
Has anyone run into this weird FAFSA contributor access problem? My daughter created her studentaid.gov account first and filled out her part. Then I logged in as a contributor and completed my section no problem. But when my husband tries to log in to do his part, it just shows 'My Activity' screen instead of starting the contributor questions like mine did. There's no prompt for him to actually answer any questions! We triple-checked the email invitation my daughter sent him. His FSA ID is working fine for logging in but then nothing happens. Getting so frustrated with this new FAFSA system! Did we miss something obvious or is this a glitch?
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QuantumQuest
Maybe try clearing cache or using different browser? My wife had same issue and it worked after trying on Chrome instead of Safari.
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Paolo Rizzo
•Thanks! We've tried both Chrome and Edge so far with the same result. I'll have him try Firefox next I guess...
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Amina Sy
This happened to me too! The problem was that my son had checked 'No' when it asked if his father provides more than 50% financial support. When he fixed that and re-sent the invitation, I was able to see the questions. Maybe check that section in your daughter's application?
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Paolo Rizzo
•OMG you might be right! I'll have her look at that section right now. That would explain why I got questions but my husband didn't. Thanks so much!!
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Oliver Fischer
Are you both using separate FSA IDs? Common issue is when both parents try to use same email or phone number in their FSA ID accounts. System gets confused and won't prompt for second parent's info. Each contributor needs completely separate contact info.
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Paolo Rizzo
•Yes, we definitely have separate FSA IDs with different emails and phone numbers. He can log in fine, it just doesn't give him any questions to answer after that.
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Natasha Petrova
Ughhh the new FAFSA is THE WORST!!!! Been dealing with similar garbage for weeks. Their tech support is useless and wait times are insane. My daughter might miss her college deadlines because of this stupid system. Why did they have to "fix" something that wasn't broken?!?
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Javier Morales
•So true! Took me 3 wks just to get SAI score. Ridiculous!
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Emma Davis
This is a known issue with the multi-contributor function. Two things to check: 1. Make sure your daughter selected both parents as contributors in the "Parent/Spouse Information" section. Sometimes it only sends one invitation even if both are listed. 2. Check if your husband received a proper email invitation with a link. If he just created an FSA ID but didn't click through the email link, the system won't recognize him as a contributor. If neither works, he should try the "Add Yourself as a Contributor" option from the main studentaid.gov dashboard instead of waiting for an invitation.
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Paolo Rizzo
•Thank you for these detailed suggestions! We did get the email invitation and clicked through it, but I don't think we tried the "Add Yourself as a Contributor" option. Will try that next.
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GalaxyGlider
I had this exact issue two weeks ago trying to submit for my twins! After calling FSA for THREE DAYS (constant busy signals or disconnects), I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to a human. The agent explained that there's a bug affecting second contributors - the fix was for my daughter to remove and then re-add her dad as a contributor, but using his SSN instead of just email during the invitation process. Fixed it immediately! Check out their video demo if you want to see how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ
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Paolo Rizzo
•Thank you!! We're on day 2 of trying to call with no luck. I'll check out that service if we can't fix it with the suggestions here. The SSN tip is really helpful - my daughter probably just used his email.
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Javier Morales
Have u tried loging out completely and deelting cookies? Sometimes the website gets stuck in weird loop. My son had similar issue last month.
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Paolo Rizzo
•Not yet - worth a try! Thanks for the suggestion.
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Amina Sy
Did you fix this? I'm curious what ended up working because we might run into the same problem soon.
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Paolo Rizzo
•Yes!! It was exactly what @helpful_parent suggested - my daughter had checked "No" for my husband providing financial support. Once she fixed that and sent a new invitation with his SSN included, he got all the questions. Such a relief!
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QuantumQuest
the new fafsa is so bad lol. took me 5 tries just to get logged in yesterday. good luck!
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