FAFSA spouse invitation disappeared - Required for joint tax filers?

Yes, your husband absolutely needs to create his own Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID before he can access any FAFSA invitations. The system doesn't automatically set up accounts - each contributor needs their own separate login credentials. Since you filed jointly, both tax filers are required to provide information even though the financial data is the same. The invite doesn't actually go to email - it's linked in the system once he creates his FSA ID and logs in. He'll see it in his dashboard under 'Tasks' or 'Action Items.

Thank you! So even though we filed jointly and all our income information is already in my portion, he still has to create an account and complete his section? That's so inefficient... Will his section just ask for demographic information or will he need to re-enter all our tax info too?

same thing just happened to my wife!!! the invite went nowhere and we waited 2 weeks thinking it would show up. turns out you gotta create seperate fafsa accounts for each parent. stupid system if u ask me especially since we already put all our tax info in together.

This new FAFSA system is a DISASTER!! It's like they intentionally make it confusing. My daughter's financial aid is delayed by MONTHS because of these ridiculous

Financial aid advisor here. This is definitely one of the most common issues with the new FAFSA. To clarify a few points:\n\n1. Yes, your spouse needs his own FSA ID account first. The invitation doesn't actually go to email - it appears in his FSA account once created.\n\n2. For joint tax filers, both contributors are required to submit their portions separately, even though it's the same tax information. This is for identity verification purposes.\n\n3. His section will mainly ask for demographic info and electronic signature, not full re-entry of tax data.\n\n4. Your daughter's SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation can't be completed until all required contributors finish their sections, so this could potentially delay her aid processing.\n\nThe most important step is having him create his FSA ID account. Once he logs in, the system should recognize him as an invited contributor based on the SSN and other identifiers.

Thank you for the detailed explanation! Do you know approximately how long it takes for the system to connect his new FSA ID to my daughter's application after he creates his account? Should it be immediate or is there processing time?

I had the exact same issue with my husband's invite last month. After days of frustration, I found a solution that worked for us. Have your husband create his own FSA ID at studentaid.gov first. Once he has that set up, YOU need to log back into your FAFSA parent portal and resend the invitation. Then he should be able to log in with his new FSA ID and see the application waiting for him under the

this is what worked for us too! had to resend the invite after my husband made his account

If ur trying to call Fed Student Aid good luck lol. I spent 3 days trying before giving up. My sister told me about this service called Claimyr that got her through to a FAFSA agent in like 10 minutes. It basically holds your place in line and calls you when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration. You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ and their site is claimyr.com - totally worth it for FAFSA issues that need an actual human to fix.

Thanks for the tip! At this point I'm desperate enough to try anything that might help. Did you actually get someone who could help with the spouse invite issue?

Yeah they connected me to someone who actually knew what they were talking about. Turns out there was a glitch with my husband's SSN in the system (it had an extra digit somehow). The agent fixed it right away and the invite started working. Much better than the endless hold music!

am i the only one who thinks its weird that they ask for both parents info when they filed jointly?? like they already have all the tax info so whats the point? just another hoop to jump thru i guess

It's actually for identity verification and consent purposes. Both parents need to electronically sign that they agree to have their tax information used for financial aid calculations. Also, while the financial information is the same, they collect different demographic information from each parent that can affect the SAI calculation in certain circumstances.

Update: We finally figured it out! My husband created his FSA ID, but the invite still wasn't showing up. I logged back into my FAFSA parent portal and noticed there's actually a \

Great to hear you resolved it! For anyone else reading this in the future - this is the correct process. The system requires both spouses to sign electronically when joint tax returns are used, but the second spouse generally only needs to provide demographic information and consent, not re-enter all the financial data.

congrats! wish the fafsa people would make this clearer on their website instead of us having to figure it out through trial and error