How to add a sibling to FAFSA after first child's application is already processed?

Don't worry, you absolutely don't need to correct your daughter's FAFSA! That would be risky and unnecessary. The sibling transfer option is just a convenience feature, not a requirement. Your son will need to complete a new FAFSA application from scratch, but he'll use the same FSA ID that you used as a parent on your daughter's FAFSA. The system will recognize that you're the same parent and will link the applications on the backend for determining family contribution across multiple students.

yea dont touch ur daughters fafsa!! my bro n me both in college and we did seperate applications. financial aid office said something about them calculating differently for multiple kids in school

The other comments are correct. When completing your son's FAFSA, you'll create a new student FSA ID for him, but you'll use your existing parent FSA ID. When filling out his application, be sure to accurately report the number of people in your household who will be attending college (which would now be 2). Important: Make sure the parent information (income, assets, etc.) matches EXACTLY what you entered on your daughter's FAFSA to avoid verification flags. If your financial situation has changed since filing your daughter's FAFSA, you should still enter the same information from the tax year required, then contact each school's financial aid office about special circumstances. The system will automatically adjust calculations for multiple students in college without you needing to do anything special on either application.

It's ridiculous how they make this so confusing!!! When I was trying to do this for my twins last year, I called the Federal Student Aid number SEVENTEEN TIMES before getting through to someone who could explain it clearly. The whole system is designed to frustrate parents I swear.

Hey so random question but does anyone know if community college summer classes count for the "enrollment" question? Like if the brother is just doing summer classes before his real freshman year somewhere else in the fall, does that count as 2 in college for the FAFSA? Just wondering because my sister is in a similar situation

Thank you all SO MUCH for the helpful responses! I feel much better now. I'm going to help my son complete his application this weekend using my existing parent FSA ID. Just to be 100% sure I've got this right - I won't see any kind of automatic import of my info when we're doing his application, right? I'll just need to manually enter the same parent info I used on my daughter's application?

One last tip: When your son's FAFSA is processed, the SAI will reflect having two students in college, but your daughter's SAI won't automatically update. If the schools practice professional judgment, they may adjust her aid package once they see the linked FAFSA for your son. Different schools handle this differently - some will automatically check for siblings in the federal system, others require you to notify them. I'd recommend contacting your daughter's financial aid office after your son's FAFSA is processed to make sure they're aware there's now a second student in the family.

Just want to add from personal experience - make sure you keep detailed records of both applications! I had to help my twins with their FAFSAs a few years back and keeping a spreadsheet with all the exact figures I entered for each kid was a lifesaver when verification issues came up later. Also, don't be surprised if your son's community college processes his aid much faster than a 4-year school - community colleges tend to be quicker with summer session aid. Good luck with everything!