FAFSA parent invite showing 'processed' but student can't accept it - stuck in limbo

We had EXACTLY this issue last week! It's super annoying. What fixed it for us was having my son (the student) click on the "Application" tab first, then there should be a notification about pending invites. The system is terrible at making this clear. If that doesn't work, try having your daughter start a new FAFSA application - that sometimes triggers the invite acceptance screen to appear.

This is happening to a lot of families with the new FAFSA system. There are a few things to check: 1. Make sure both you and your daughter have verified your email addresses in the system 2. Confirm you used the exact same student information (name, DOB, SSN) when sending the invite as what's on her account 3. Sometimes the student needs to log out completely, clear browser cache, and log back in 4. Check if there's a "Contributors" section in her application where pending invites would appear If none of those work, you might need to contact Federal Student Aid directly.

Lol welcome to FAFSA hell! The new system is a complete disaster. When I finally got mine to work I had to delete the entire application and start over from scratch. Good times.

I work at a financial aid office and we're seeing this issue constantly. There's actually a glitch in the system where "processed" sometimes means the invitation was sent, but in other cases it means the student already accepted it. You should check if the SAI calculation has started or completed - if it has, then your daughter likely already accepted the invite without realizing it. Another possibility is that your email invitation never actually reached your daughter. In this case, you might need to delete the contributor invitation and send a new one. If you're still stuck, I recommend using Claimyr.com to get through to a Federal Student Aid agent quickly. They've been helping a lot of families get past this exact roadblock. They have a video demo of how it works at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ - much better than waiting on hold for hours.

have you tried just starting over?? sometimes thats easier than troubleshooting lol. i had to start over twice with mine cuz of glitches.

The FAFSA system is COMPLETELY BROKEN this year! I've had similar issues with my twins' applications. After HOURS on the phone with FSA, I learned that sometimes the "processed" status can be misleading. In our case, it turned out that: 1. The student FAFSA portal doesn't always show notifications clearly 2. If your daughter has already started her application, she needs to go to the "Contributors" section specifically 3. Sometimes the system has already accepted the invite but doesn't update properly Also, check if your daughter's SAI is already calculating - if it is, the system likely already processed your contribution even though it didn't notify either of you clearly. If all else fails, I agree with starting over, but ONLY as a last resort. The priority deadline pressure is real!

UPDATE: We finally got it working! What fixed it for us was completely counterintuitive. My daughter had to start a completely new application, then delete it, THEN log back in - and suddenly the contributor invitation appeared as a notification at the top of her dashboard. Never would have figured this out without your help. For anyone else with this issue, try these steps in order: 1. Check the Contributors section in the application 2. Log out, clear cache, log back in 3. Start a new application then delete it 4. Check if the SAI calculation has started Such a relief to finally move forward with this. Thank you all for your help!

So glad you got it figured out! That's such a weird workaround but I'm definitely saving this thread for future reference. My younger son will be applying next year and I'm already dreading dealing with this system again. The fact that starting a new application then deleting it somehow triggers the notification to appear is just... wow. The FAFSA developers really need to get their act together. Thanks for sharing the solution - I'm sure this will help other families who run into the same issue!

This is incredibly helpful! I'm just starting the FAFSA process with my daughter and honestly feeling overwhelmed by all the stories about glitches and system issues. Reading through everyone's experiences here gives me hope that even when things go wrong, there are solutions. I'm definitely going to save this thread and maybe try some of the preventative steps mentioned (like making sure emails are verified upfront) to hopefully avoid these issues altogether. Thanks to everyone who shared their workarounds - this community is amazing!