FAFSA submission order confusion - does student submit before parents contribute?

Yes, your son needs to submit his portion first before you and your husband can complete the contributor information. After he submits, he'll need to add both of you as contributors (using your email addresses). Then you'll each receive separate emails with instructions to create your own studentaid.gov accounts (if you don't already have them) and complete your sections. The system is designed to work sequentially - student first, then contributors.

my daughter & i just did this last month. she did her part first, hit submit, then added me as a contributor. got the email like 5 mins later and did my part. make sure you both have your tax info ready!!

WAIT! Make sure your son's SSN verification is COMPLETE before he submits! My son hit submit while his was still pending and it caused major problems - we had to start all over again with a new application. The system is really finicky about this.

The new FAFSA process is so confusing! I thought I was supposed to start MY account first and then add my child. Did it completely backward and wasted 2 weeks getting it sorted out. So yes, student submits first, then parent/contributor does their part. Still don't understand why they made it so complicated compared to the old system.

Financial aid advisor here! To clarify the correct FAFSA submission sequence: 1. Student creates account and completes their portion 2. Student WAITS for SSN verification to complete (important!) 3. Student submits their portion 4. Student adds contributors (parents) with their email addresses 5. Contributors receive email invitations 6. Contributors create accounts (or log in to existing ones) 7. Contributors complete their sections 8. Final SAI calculation occurs after all contributors complete their portions One tip: If you're having trouble reaching Federal Student Aid to resolve any issues during this process, check out Claimyr (claimyr.com) - they can help you skip the wait times and connect with an agent quickly. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. Several of my advisees have used it when they got stuck with verification issues.

Just adding another voice to confirm - yes student goes first, then parents! But honestly the whole contributor system has been a mess this cycle. My husband never got his email invitation even though my daughter added him correctly. We had to call FSA three times to get it resolved.

Also worth noting: make sure your son lists both you and your husband separately as contributors if you file taxes separately or if you're not married. If you file jointly, only one of you needs to complete the contributor section. Another tip: all of you should save your work frequently - the system can time out unexpectedly.

New to this whole process but wanted to share what I learned after going through it with my oldest daughter last week. The sequence everyone mentioned is correct, but here's something I wish someone had told me: make sure to have your FSA ID ready BEFORE your kid submits their portion. I didn't realize I needed to create my own studentaid.gov account ahead of time, so when I got the contributor email, I had to go through the whole FSA ID creation process which delayed things by a few days (they have to verify your identity). If you create your FSA ID now, you'll be ready to go as soon as you get that contributor invitation!