FAFSA requiring spouse's info despite using joint filing - changed from previous years?

ya same thing happened to me! i was like why do they need my husbands info now when they didnt before?? so annoying cuz he had to make a whole account just to do the contributor thing. took us an extra week to get it done

This is definitely due to the FAFSA Simplification Act changes. Even with married filing jointly status, both spouses now need to provide information and consent as contributors. Each contributor needs their own FSA ID and must complete the contributor portion separately. The system is designed to get more accurate financial information for calculating the Student Aid Index (SAI). The change affects all parent/spouse contributors for the 2025-2026 application cycle. It's not just you - everyone is dealing with this new requirement. The best approach is to have your spouse create an FSA ID now and complete his portion as soon as possible.

When I filled out the FAFSA last month, my wife and I were so confused about this too!! Apparently the "Better FAFSA" is actually the "More Complicated FAFSA" lol. The most frustrating part is you can see all the same tax info on one return but they still make both spouses do everything separately.

As a financial aid advisor, I can confirm this is a new requirement under the FAFSA Simplification Act. Both spouses must now provide authorization even when filing jointly. Your husband will need to: 1. Create his own FSA ID at studentaid.gov 2. Wait for identity verification (1-3 days) 3. Accept the contributor invitation sent to his email 4. Complete his portion of the FAFSA While it seems redundant, the Department of Education implemented this to ensure proper consent from all contributors. The information requested will be similar to yours, but each spouse must authorize data retrieval from the IRS separately.

Update: I tried logging back in today and realized there's a specific "Contributor" section where I can invite my husband via email. The system generates an invitation code that he needs to use. So he DOES need his own FSA ID after all. This is so much more complicated than previous years!

One more thing to watch out for: make sure your husband completes his portion well before any school priority deadlines. Many schools have March 1st or earlier priority deadlines for aid, and your FAFSA isn't considered complete until ALL contributors finish their sections. I've seen many families miss priority deadlines because one parent delayed completing their portion, thinking it wasn't urgent.

Also my wife got frustrated and just tried to create the FSA ID for me but that caused HUGE problems!!! The system knew something was fishy and locked both our accounts for like 2 weeks. Make sure your husband creates his own account with his own email address.

As someone who just went through this exact same situation last month, I can totally relate to your frustration! The new FAFSA requirements definitely caught us off guard too. What helped us was setting aside a dedicated evening to walk through the whole process together. My husband was also not tech-savvy, but the FSA ID creation is actually pretty straightforward - just make sure he uses his own email address and has his Social Security card handy for verification. The contributor invitation process worked smoothly once we both understood our separate roles. Don't let the stress get to you - thousands of families are figuring this out for the first time this year!

I'm dealing with this exact same issue right now! My spouse and I have been married for 15 years and always filed jointly, but this is our first time doing FAFSA and we had no idea both of us would need separate accounts. The whole "contributor" concept is so confusing when you're used to handling everything as one financial unit. I've been putting off having the conversation with my husband about creating his FSA ID because I know he's going to be frustrated about the extra steps. Reading through everyone's experiences here is really helpful though - at least now I know what to expect and can prepare him for the process. Has anyone found any good tutorials or step-by-step guides that are spouse-friendly for walking through the FSA ID creation?

This is straight from the FAFSA website in an article for the 25-26 FAFSA: is-my-parent-a-contributor.jpg (5000×7133) It says if your parents are married filing jointly then only 1 parent needs a FAFSA account and needs to contribute. Is this wrong?

I'm a newcomer to FAFSA and this whole discussion is both terrifying and helpful! My spouse and I are just starting this process for our oldest child's college applications. After reading through everyone's experiences, it sounds like we definitely need to plan for both of us to create FSA IDs and go through the contributor process, despite what some of the official documentation might suggest. Can someone confirm - if we're married filing jointly, do we BOTH absolutely need to complete the contributor sections, or is there any scenario where one spouse can handle everything? I want to make sure I set the right expectations with my husband before we dive into this. Also, for those who've completed it successfully, roughly how long did the entire process take once both spouses had their FSA IDs set up?

I'm a newcomer here and this thread has been incredibly eye-opening! My wife and I are about to start our first FAFSA for our daughter's college applications, and honestly, I had no idea about these new contributor requirements. We've been married for 12 years and always handle our finances together, so the idea that we both need separate FSA IDs and have to complete different sections seems unnecessarily complicated. But after reading everyone's experiences, it's clear this is just the new reality. I'm definitely going to show this thread to my wife so we can plan accordingly and set aside time for both of us to go through the process. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences - it's really helping families like us prepare for what's ahead!

I'm new to this community and going through my first FAFSA experience with my spouse. This thread has been incredibly helpful! We're married filing jointly and I initially thought only one of us would need to be involved based on some of the official documentation, but it's clear from everyone's experiences that we both need FSA IDs and must complete contributor sections separately. The confusion around the official guidance versus the actual system requirements seems to be causing a lot of stress for families. For other newcomers like me - it sounds like the key takeaways are: 1) Both spouses need their own FSA IDs with separate email addresses, 2) Plan for 1-3 days for identity verification, 3) Don't try to create accounts for each other, and 4) Start early to avoid missing school priority deadlines. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences - it's making this learning curve much more manageable!

I'm completely new to FAFSA and this whole thread has been a lifesaver! My husband and I are just starting this process for our twins who will be college freshmen next year. Like many others here, we assumed that filing taxes jointly meant we could handle the FAFSA as one unit, but clearly that's not the case anymore. Reading through everyone's experiences, it seems like the Department of Education really didn't do a great job communicating these changes - there's so much conflicting information out there! I'm definitely going to have my husband create his FSA ID this weekend so we can get ahead of the verification timeline. Quick question for those who've been through this - do both contributors need to be available at the same time to complete their sections, or can we do them separately once the invitations are sent? Thanks to this community for making such a confusing process feel more manageable!