FAFSA renewal - do I need my child to send contributor invitation again?
This is our second year filing the FAFSA, and I'm not sure about the contributor invitation process for renewals. Last year my child created their studentaid.gov account first, then sent us an invitation to be a contributor. Is the process the same for the renewal FAFSA? Do we need a new invitation, or does the previous year's connection still work? Just trying to avoid messing anything up with the 2025-2026 application since I know they made some changes to the system.
15 comments
Join the conversation
Carmen Reyes
Yes, your student needs to send you a new contributor invitation each year. The system resets contributor access annually, so even though you're a returning user, your child will need to invite you again through their studentaid.gov account for the 2025-2026 FAFSA. It's a security feature to ensure only authorized people have access each application cycle.
0 coins
StarSurfer
•Thank you! I wasn't sure if the system maintained the connection or not. That makes sense for security reasons.
0 coins
Andre Moreau
We just went through this last week! You definitely need a new invitation each year. My daughter actually forgot to send it and I was sitting there waiting to do my part while she was wondering why I hadn't completed my section yet lol. Took us a couple days to figure out what went wrong.
0 coins
StarSurfer
•That's exactly what I wanted to avoid! Thanks for sharing your experience - I'll make sure to remind my son to send the invitation right away.
0 coins
Zoe Christodoulou
wait i thought the SAI score carries over from year to year? why do we have to do the whole process again
0 coins
Carmen Reyes
•The SAI (Student Aid Index) is recalculated each year based on your current financial information. While your previous FAFSA information might pre-populate some fields, you still need to submit a new application with updated income and asset information for each academic year.
0 coins
Jamal Thompson
To add some clarity: For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, the process is similar to last year but with some improvements. Your student must initiate the FAFSA first, then specifically invite any contributors (typically parents) through their studentaid.gov dashboard. The invitation grants temporary access limited to that specific FAFSA cycle. One important note - make sure both you and your student have FSA IDs set up before starting. And if you contributed last year, your FSA ID is still valid, you just need a new invitation for this specific application cycle.
0 coins
StarSurfer
•This is extremely helpful, thank you! I have my FSA ID from last year, so I'll just wait for my son to send the new invitation. I appreciate you breaking down the process so clearly.
0 coins
Mei Chen
I had SO MUCH TROUBLE with this last month! My daughter sent the invitation but it never came through to my email. Called FSA and waited on hold for 2+ HOURS only to get disconnected. Finally figured out the invitation went to my spam folder. Check there if you don't see it right away!
0 coins
CosmicCadet
•If you need to reach the FSA helpline without the ridiculous wait times, try using Claimyr (claimyr.com). I used it last week when we were having issues with our contributor access and got through in about 10 minutes instead of waiting for hours. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. Saved us a ton of frustration during the renewal process.
0 coins
Liam O'Connor
OMG yes they need to invite u again every year and make sure ur using the EXACT same email address as last year!!! We made that mistake where my daughter invited me with my gmail instead of my work email that I used before and it created this WHOLE mess where I had two different contributor profiles and the system got all confused and we had to start over 😫
0 coins
StarSurfer
•Thank you for the warning! I'll double-check which email I used last year to make sure we use the same one. Definitely don't want to deal with that kind of headache.
0 coins
Carmen Reyes
Just to clarify one more thing - when your student sends the contributor invitation this year, you'll have 14 days to complete your section before the invitation expires. They can always resend it if needed, but it's good to be aware of that timeline.
0 coins
StarSurfer
•I didn't know about the 14-day limit! Definitely good information to have. I'll make sure to complete it promptly once I get the invitation. Thanks again for all your help!
0 coins
Andre Moreau
•And sometimes the emails are slow to arrive! My daughter sent the invitation and it took almost 24 hours for me to receive it. Just another thing to be aware of.
0 coins