FAFSA submission error - signed before dependent student completed their section - still valid?

Don't panic! This is actually a common misunderstanding. When you signed and submitted your portion, you only completed the parent contribution section. Your daughter still needs to log in with her own FSA ID to complete her section and submit the final application. Until she does that, the FAFSA isn't actually fully submitted to schools.

omg i did the EXACT same thing last year lol. the wording is so misleading!!

To add to what others have said, when you get the 'successfully completed' message, it only means your parent contribution section was submitted successfully. Your daughter needs to: 1. Log in with her own FSA ID (not yours) 2. She'll see the application is waiting for her portion 3. She completes her student information section 4. She signs and submits with her own electronic signature Only after both signatures are on the application will it be fully processed and sent to schools. Your SAI (Student Aid Index) won't be calculated until both portions are complete.

wait so when it says 'completed' it doesnt mean completed?? wow the whole fafsa system is so badly designed

I've been trying to reach someone at the Federal Student Aid office for days to fix a similar issue and kept getting disconnected. Finally found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual person in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. I was skeptical but it saved me hours of frustration. The agent confirmed that parent submissions just complete that section, not the whole application.

Just to clarify another point - nothing is wasted. All the information you entered is saved in the system. Your daughter just needs to complete her portion. If you're worried, you can log back in with your FSA ID and check the status, which should show as 'Parent section completed, waiting for student completion' or something similar.

make sure ur daughter uses HER fsaid not yours. my son tried to use mine and it caused a huge mess we had to call to fix

One more important thing to note: There are strict deadlines for FAFSA completion that vary by state and institution. Make sure your daughter completes her portion well before any priority deadlines for the schools she's applying to. Some schools award aid on a first-come, first-served basis, so you don't want to delay completion.

UPDATE: My daughter logged in and completed her portion last night! The status now shows fully completed and we got a confirmation email with our SAI calculation. Thank you everyone for your help and for calming me down! The FAFSA really needs to make their process and wording clearer.