FAFSA won't accept husband's SSA info even though SSA confirms it's correct!

omg this EXACT thing happened with my wife's info last month!! so frustrating!!! we had to try like 20 times before it magically worked. make sure the name is EXACTLY as it appears on the ss card, even middle names and suffixes. sometimes the system is just glitchy

This is a common FAFSA verification issue. The mismatch could be coming from several places: 1. Make sure ALL names are entered exactly as on the SS card (including hyphens, spaces, etc.) 2. Check if his name has legally changed and wasn't updated with SSA 3. Verify his immigration/citizenship status is correctly entered 4. Make sure birth date format is MM/DD/YYYY exactly If you've confirmed everything with SSA, you might need to request a special override. The financial aid office at your school can sometimes process a manual override with documentation.

have u tried putting in his info without any middle name or initial at all? sometmes the system gets confused by middle names even if they ARE on the ss card

The FAFSA system is a NIGHTMARE this year! I work in our campus financial aid office and we're seeing this EXACT problem constantly. The new system has major bugs with the SSA verification step. Your husband's info is probably 100% correct - it's the system that's broken. Two workarounds we've found: 1. Try completing this step between 2-4am when server traffic is lower (seriously) 2. Sometimes a paper signature page can bypass the electronic signature verification If those don't work, your school's financial aid office can process a signature override with proper documentation. Don't wait though - get this started ASAP because these overrides are taking 3-4 weeks to process this year.

I had this same horrible experience trying to help my son with his FAFSA. I literally spent HOURS on hold with Federal Student Aid trying to get this fixed. Tried for 3 days straight and kept getting disconnected. Finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real human at FSA in like 10 minutes. The agent was able to see that there was a system flag on my account causing the SSA verification to fail, and they removed it manually. Definitely worth checking their video demo if you're struggling: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ After that, my husband's info went through immediately. Might save you some headache!

This is a technical issue with how the FAFSA system interfaces with the Social Security database. I've seen this happen when: 1. There's a spacing issue (like two spaces between names) 2. Special characters in names (apostrophes, hyphens) 3. Recent name changes that haven't fully propagated 4. System maintenance windows (yes, really) One technical fix: Try entering ALL CAPS for his name. The SSA database stores names in uppercase, and sometimes the comparison fails with mixed case. Another trick is to try an entirely different device - sometimes browser/cookie issues cause this.

Quick update from the financial aid office perspective: We just got a bulletin that FSA is rolling out a patch for the SSA verification issues next Tuesday. If you can wait until then, it might resolve automatically. They're aware of a major bug affecting contributor verification for certain name patterns.

UPDATE: IT WORKED!!! I tried two things that I think fixed it: 1) Entered his name in ALL CAPS as someone suggested, and 2) Tried submitting at 3am when server traffic was lower. The verification went through immediately! His contribution section is now completed, and I was able to submit my FAFSA application. THANK YOU to everyone who offered advice! I'm so relieved to have this resolved before my aid deadline.

Congratulations on getting it resolved! This thread is going to be so helpful for other people facing the same issue. The ALL CAPS + late night submission combo seems to be the magic formula. I'm bookmarking this for future reference since I'll probably need to help other students with FAFSA issues. Thanks for sharing your success story!