FAFSA parent section timing - create my own account now or wait for student invitation?

You need to wait for your daughter to add you as a contributor in her FAFSA application. She'll add your email address and then you'll receive an invitation email with instructions on how to create your FSA ID and complete your section. Don't create a separate application - your information needs to be linked to her application as a contributor.

I just went through this with my son last month. Here's the exact process: 1. Your daughter needs to log into studentaid.gov and start her FAFSA application 2. During the application, she'll reach a section asking to identify contributors (that's you) 3. She'll enter your name and email address 4. You'll receive an email with instructions to create your FSA ID (if you don't have one) or link your existing one 5. Once you have an FSA ID, you'll complete the parent/contributor section If you already have an FSA ID from your older son's application, you can use that same one - but you still need to wait for your daughter to send the invitation.

The new FAFSA system is driving me CRAZY! My daughter sent me the invitation THREE TIMES and I never got a single email. We finally figured out she had misspelled my email address by one letter. And then when I finally got in, the system kept timing out while I was entering tax information. Total nightmare compared to the old system!

hey dont worry about timing too much - i waited like 3 weeks after my kid started his application before doing the parent part and it was fine. just make sure u do it before any school deadlines for priority aid. the email invitation doesnt expire

One important thing to remember: your daughter needs to completely finish HER part of the application before she can add you as a contributor. A lot of students add parents before they've finished their own info, and then the parent gets confused because they can't access anything yet.

Just went through this last week. Student completes personal section → adds parent email → parent gets email → parent creates FSA ID or uses existing one → parent completes contributor section → student reviews and submits. The email invitation came within minutes for me, but my friend had to wait almost 24 hours for hers. System seems inconsistent.

dont create a new fsa id if you already have one from your son!!! i did that by accident and ended up with two accounts and it caused a huge verification headache later. just use your existing fsa id when you get the invite from your daughter

btw if ur daughter doesnt know where to add u as contributor its under the contributors tab in her fafsa application not super obvious

One last piece of advice - make sure all the personal information in your FSA ID matches your tax return EXACTLY (spelling, address, etc). The new FAFSA is automatically pulling tax data from the IRS, and even small discrepancies can cause delays in processing.