FAFSA parent contributor invite not showing up despite son completing his section

omg yes this happened to me too!! my husband spent like 2 days trying to figure out why he couldn't see our sons invite. turns out he was logging in with wrong email address! make sure ur using exact same email that ur daughter sent invite to

This is actually a known issue with the new FAFSA system. The problem is that the contributor invitations sometimes get "stuck" in the system. There are two potential solutions: 1. Have your daughter log back in, cancel the current invitation, wait 24 hours, then send a new invitation 2. Check that your FSA ID is properly verified. Even if you can log in, the system sometimes requires additional verification before showing contributor tasks. Go to your FSA ID settings and check the verification status. If neither of these work, you'll need to contact Federal Student Aid directly.

I had the exact same problem! The FAFSA system is completely broken this year with all their "improvements." I wasted TWO WEEKS trying to solve this myself. What finally worked was having my son completely delete my contributor profile and re-add me with a different email address than I originally used for my FSA ID. For some reason that made it show up. It makes no sense but it worked. Try that!

After dealing with this exact issue for my son's FAFSA, I finally got through to a Federal Student Aid agent who explained what's happening. There's a synchronization problem between the FSA ID system and the new FAFSA portal. I wasted hours on hold until I discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com). They got me connected to an actual human at FSA in about 15 minutes instead of the 3+ hour wait. They have a video demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent walked me through a solution where my son had to cancel the invitation, then I had to log out, clear browser data, wait 30 minutes, and then have him send a new invitation. It finally worked!

There's a really specific process you need to follow for this problem that isn't documented anywhere on the FAFSA site: 1. The student needs to log in and go to their FAFSA application 2. Click "Manage Contributors" 3. Cancel any pending invitations 4. Both parent and student should log out completely 5. Parent should log into studentaid.gov and check their profile settings to ensure their email is verified 6. Student logs back in (at least 1 hour later) and sends a new invitation 7. Parent should receive an email within 15 minutes 8. Parent must click the link in that email (don't just go to studentaid.gov separately) This worked for my family after struggling for days with the same issue. The system is extremely buggy this year.

Maybe try switching browsers? my daughter and i had all kinds of problems with chrome but when we switched to microsoft edge everything started working

The contributor invitation system is definitely one of the most problematic parts of the 2024-2025 FAFSA. In addition to the excellent advice already provided, I'd recommend two more things: 1. Make sure your daughter correctly selected you as a "Parent" contributor type, not as "Other" contributor type. This distinction matters in how the system processes the invitation. 2. If you have more than one child, check if you're already listed as a contributor on another child's FAFSA. The system sometimes has trouble handling multiple contributor relationships. If you still can't resolve it after trying these steps, document everything you've tried (screenshots help) before calling FSA again. This will help them troubleshoot more effectively.

did u check ur spam folder for the invitation email? sometimes it goes there

UPDATE: We finally got it working! What worked was a combination of several suggestions here. My daughter canceled the invitation, then we both logged out completely. I cleared my browser cache, and then we waited overnight. This morning she sent a new invitation, and this time when the email arrived, I clicked directly on the link in the email rather than going to studentaid.gov separately. That made all the difference! I can now see her FAFSA in my dashboard and complete the parent section. Thank you all for your help - this community saved us so much frustration!