FAFSA stuck on parent information since January - documents sent but still showing incomplete

same thing happened with my daughter's FAFSA!!! the parent contribution stuff is ALWAYS where they mess up. took us 3 months to get past that screen and by then she almost lost her housing slot. the whole system is designed to fail first-gen families tbh

3 months?! That's terrible! Did you end up doing anything specific that finally fixed it? I'm worried about housing deadlines too.

I work in financial aid at a university, and unfortunately this is a common issue with the new FAFSA system. A few things to check:\n\n1. Make sure your tax information matches EXACTLY what's on your 2023 tax return \n2. Verify all parent SSNs and DOBs are entered correctly\n3. Check if you received an email confirmation when uploading documents (if not, they didn't go through)\n4. Ask if your son's college financial aid office can check the status on their end\n\nThe new FAFSA rollout has been problematic, especially with parent contributor verification. Many schools are accepting provisional aid packages with incomplete FAFSAs because of these widespread issues.

Thank you for this detailed response! We've triple-checked the tax info and all SSNs/DOBs. I never received email confirmations for uploads - that might be the issue! Will call his college financial aid office tomorrow.

have u tried using a difrent browser?? my sons FAFSA kept saying incomplete but the problem was we were using safari and it doesnt work right. switched to chrome and could see all the errors that werent showing up b4!

No, I've been using the same browser (Firefox) this whole time! I'll definitely try Chrome instead. Such a simple thing but it could make all the difference. Thank you!

The parent information section is notorious for technical issues in the 2025-2026 FAFSA. I've found that many applicants who are stuck in this state often have discrepancies between their tax information and what the IRS has on file. When you upload documents, are you including:\n\n- Complete 2023 tax return (all schedules)\n- W-2 forms from ALL employers\n- Any 1099 forms\n- Signed certification statement\n\nAlso, if you have unique circumstances like foreign income, amended returns, or filing extensions, those require special handling and often get flagged in the system.

We did include all of those except maybe the signed certification statement - I'm not sure what that is? We do have some foreign income (we lived abroad for part of 2023) so maybe that's causing the issue. Where would we explain that circumstance?

For foreign income, you need to fill out the Foreign Income Verification Form (it's not well advertised). You can find it under \

I was in this exact situation last month trying to help my niece! After 6 weeks of trying, I finally got through to an actual FSA specialist (not just a frontline rep) who could see that our documents were actually there but had a \

¡Gracias por el consejo! I've never heard of this service before but I'm going to try it tomorrow. At this point I'd try anything to get past this roadblock. Did you have to do anything special to get connected to a specialist instead of a regular rep?

When they connect you, immediately ask to speak with a \

the new fafsa is so stupid why did they even change it?? the old one worked fine. my cousin still hasnt gotten his SAI score and he submitted in december!!!!!

A few things that might help with your FAFSA parent information issue:\n\n1. Double-check that both parents (if applicable) created their own FSA IDs and properly linked them to the student's application\n\n2. Make sure you're using the correct FSA ID when uploading parent documents\n\n3. Call your son's college financial aid office directly - many schools now have workarounds for incomplete FAFSAs due to the widespread system issues\n\n4. Submit a special circumstances form explaining the situation \n\nRemember that colleges understand these FAFSA problems are happening everywhere. Most have extended their priority deadlines for the 2025-2026 academic year because of these issues.

These are really helpful tips, thank you! I just realized we might have been using my son's FSA ID when uploading the parent documents. Could that be causing the problem?

Yes! That's actually one of the most common errors. Parent documents should be uploaded using the parent's FSA ID, not the student's. Each parent needs their own separate FSA ID linked to their social security number. Try logging in with your FSA ID and see if it gives you different upload options.

I had the EXACT same problem but for me it turned out to be that I had accidentally checked a box saying I was a dislocated worker (which I'm not). That tiny error triggered a whole verification process that kept saying incomplete no matter what we uploaded. Have you double-checked EVERY answer on the parent section?

Hmm, I don't remember checking anything like that, but honestly we've gone through this form so many times I might have clicked something wrong. Is there a way to review all our answers without starting over?

Yes! Log in to studentaid.gov, go to your FAFSA application, and click on \

Just wanted to follow up - were you able to resolve this? If you're still having issues, I'd recommend calling your state's higher education assistance authority. Many have dedicated FAFSA support teams that can help with verification issues specifically. They often have direct lines to the FSA's technical team that regular callers can't access.

We made some progress! We tried multiple suggestions here - switched browsers, resubmitted using my FSA ID instead of my son's, and used Claimyr to finally reach someone helpful. They found that our foreign income was flagging the system and helped us submit the right documentation. The status now shows \