FAFSA spouse contributor access problem - can't see daughter's application
I'm beyond frustrated with this spouse contributor situation on my daughter's FAFSA. My daughter successfully added both me and my wife as contributors, and we both have our own studentaid.gov accounts. I completed my section fine, but when my wife clicks the email link and logs in, my daughter's application doesn't show up anywhere in her "My Activity" section. We've tried removing her as a contributor and re-adding her at least 4 times now with the same result every time. The email comes, she clicks, logs in, and... nothing. No trace of our daughter's application. Would it help if I completely delete my wife from my contributor section and have my daughter start fresh adding her again? Is there some weird glitch where having both parents added is causing problems? Really don't want to spend 3 hours on hold with the Dept of Ed tomorrow, but I'm running out of ideas. Our daughter's school priority deadline is coming up fast and we need to get this submitted.
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Amina Diallo
ugh same thing happened with me and my husband last week!! so annoying. we ended up having to use the same computer and just log in/out of our separate accounts to complete each part. not ideal but it worked
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Connor O'Brien
•Interesting workaround! Did you have to do anything special when switching accounts? Did you clear browser cache between logins or anything like that?
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Amina Diallo
•nope just closed browser completely between logins. sometimes these gov sites are just broken lol
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GamerGirl99
Have your wife try using a different browser. Chrome worked for me when Firefox kept showing nothing in My Activity. Also make sure she's not confusing the 2024-2025 vs 2025-2026 FAFSA years - they display separately.
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Connor O'Brien
•We've tried Chrome, Edge, and even her phone - same issue on all devices. And we're definitely looking at 2025-2026. Thanks for the suggestions though.
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Hiroshi Nakamura
This is a known issue with the new FAFSA system when dealing with multiple contributors. There are a few technical solutions you can try: 1. Make sure your wife is using the exact email address that was entered when your daughter added her as a contributor. Even a small difference will cause this problem. 2. Have your wife check her spam folder for an additional verification email that might be required. 3. Sometimes there's a timing issue - the system needs 24-48 hours to properly link accounts even though the email comes sooner. 4. Try having your wife go directly to studentaid.gov/fafsa/ instead of using the email link, then logging in there. 5. If all else fails, your daughter can actually submit without your wife's contributor section complete, then have your wife complete it afterward through an update/correction.
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Connor O'Brien
•Thank you for these detailed suggestions! We've verified it's the same email, and we've waited multiple days between attempts. I didn't know about submitting and then updating later - that might be our fallback option if we can't get this fixed. I'll have her try logging in directly through the main site tonight.
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Isabella Costa
WHY is it so HARD?!? The new FAFSA system is a DISASTER! We had same problem with my son's application. Spent FIVE HOURS trying different things. Finally gave up & waited on hold with FSA for 2+ hrs. They couldn't even fix it & said "try again in a few days" 🤬
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Malik Jenkins
•Did you ever get it resolved? I've also been dealing with similar issues for my twins' applications. One works perfectly, the other one has this exact contributor problem with my husband's account.
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Isabella Costa
•eventually worked after like a week. no idea why. just suddenly appeared in my wife's account. TOTAL GARBAGE SYSTEM
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Freya Andersen
I work in financial aid and we're seeing this issue frequently with the new FAFSA. The most reliable fix is to have your daughter remove both parents completely, then add just one parent first (you), have you complete your section, then add your wife after your section is complete. The system seems to have trouble with multiple pending contributors sometimes. Also, double-check that your wife is using her FSA ID to log in, not just her email. And verify the exact spelling of her name matches between your daughter's FAFSA and your wife's FSA ID account.
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Connor O'Brien
•Oh, that's interesting! We'll try the sequential parent approach. And yes, she's definitely using her FSA ID, and we've triple-checked the name spelling. I appreciate your insider perspective.
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Eduardo Silva
Have you tried using Claimyr to get through to an actual FSA agent? I was dealing with a similar contributor issue last month and was dreading the hours-long wait times. Someone here recommended claimyr.com and it was a game-changer. You can see how it works in their video demo: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ They got me connected to a real FSA agent in about 15 minutes who fixed our contributor problem on the spot. Saved me literally hours of frustration.
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Connor O'Brien
•I hadn't heard of that service before. Thanks for sharing - if our next attempt doesn't work, I might give that a try rather than spending half my workday on hold.
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Leila Haddad
•does that actually work? seems sketchy to me but im desperate at this point. been trying to reach someone at FSA for DAYS
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Eduardo Silva
•It's legit - they just call and wait on hold for you then connect you when a real person answers. Totally worth it for anyone with complicated FAFSA situations.
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Hiroshi Nakamura
Did you ever get this resolved? I'm curious if any of the suggestions worked for you. This is becoming one of the most common issues with the new FAFSA system, and I'd like to know what's actually working for people.
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Connor O'Brien
•Yes! We solved it following the suggestion to remove both parents and add us sequentially. Removed both of us, added me first, I completed my section, then my daughter added my wife second. For some reason, that worked - my wife's email came through and when she clicked it, she could see the application right away. Must be some kind of bug in their system with handling multiple pending contributors simultaneously. Thanks for checking back!
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