Why hasn't my ex received the FAFSA parent invitation email yet?
I'm helping my daughter with her 2025-2026 FAFSA application and we're stuck at an annoying point. She submitted her part last Thursday and used the parent invitation feature to add me and her father (we're divorced). I got my invitation email within an hour, but her dad still hasn't received anything 5 days later! We've checked his spam folder, verified the email address is correct, and even tried resending the invitation twice. Nothing. Her SAI score obviously won't be calculated until both parents complete their sections. Does anyone know how long these invitation emails typically take? Is there something we're missing? Her dad isn't the most tech-savvy person, so I'm worried we're messing something up on our end.
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Keisha Williams
same thing happened with my son's application! my ex didn't get the email for almost 2 weeks. dunno why it takes so long sometimes
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NebulaNova
•Two weeks?! That's ridiculous. Did you end up doing anything special to make it work, or it just randomly showed up eventually?
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Paolo Conti
I had this issue with my kid's FAFSA too. A few things to check: 1) Make sure the email address is EXACTLY correct - even a tiny typo will cause problems 2) Check if your ex has any email filters that might be blocking emails from studentaid.gov 3) Try having your daughter log back in and resend the invitation 4) Your ex should check ALL email folders, not just spam (sometimes they end up in 'Promotions' or 'Updates' tabs) If none of that works, you might need to contact Federal Student Aid directly. The parent contribution portion is essential for the SAI calculation.
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NebulaNova
•Thanks for the suggestions! We've done 1, 3, and 4 already. I'll ask him about email filters - that's a good point I hadn't considered. If that doesn't work, I guess we'll have to contact FSA directly... ugh.
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Amina Diallo
WAIT there's actually a known glitch with the parent invites on the new FAFSA!!!! My daughter's financial aid counselor told us about this last month. Sometimes the system marks the emails as sent but they never actually go out. You should probably just have your ex create his own FSA ID and then manually log in and look up your daughter's application using her personal info. He'll be able to access it that way without needing the email invite!
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NebulaNova
•Really? That's so frustrating but also helpful to know! I'll tell him to set up his FSA ID tonight and try that approach. Thank you!!!
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Oliver Schulz
The whole new FAFSA system is a MESS! My daughter applied in October and we're STILL dealing with verification issues. I've called the Federal Student Aid hotline like 30 times and can never get through. Just sits on hold forever then disconnects me. This invitation email thing is just one more example of how broken the whole system is.
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Natasha Kuznetsova
•I had similar issues reaching FSA agents until I found Claimyr. It basically holds your place in the phone queue and calls you back when an agent is available. Saved me hours of hold time. I used it last week to get our parent contribution issue sorted out. Their video demo explains it better than I can: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ and their site is claimyr.com if you want to check it out.
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AstroAdventurer
Just to add another perspective - sometimes it's not an email issue but a processing delay. The system gets overloaded during peak application periods (which we're in right now for 2025-2026). In my experience as a college financial aid advisor, I've seen parent invitations take anywhere from minutes to 10+ days to process, especially if there are any verification flags on the student's application. One important thing to note: make sure your daughter's application doesn't have any errors that need to be fixed before it will process the parent invitations. Sometimes there are verification issues that need to be resolved first.
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NebulaNova
•That's really helpful insight, thank you. I didn't consider that there might be verification issues already. I'll have my daughter log in and check if there are any alerts or messages on her dashboard that might explain the delay.
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Javier Mendoza
have u tried having ur ex check his FSA ID email? sometimes people use different emails for the FSA ID vs what the student puts in. my stepson put in my husbands work email but his FSA ID was connected to his personal email so the invite went to the wrong place
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NebulaNova
•Oh that's a really good point! I'll double-check with my daughter what email she entered for him, and also ask my ex what email he used for his FSA ID. Maybe that's the issue!
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Natasha Kuznetsova
This is a common issue with the new FAFSA system. Here's what I recommend: 1. First, confirm the email is correct in the system 2. Have your ex create an FSA ID if he doesn't already have one 3. Have your daughter go to her FAFSA dashboard and check if there are any alerts about parent information being incomplete 4. Try the manual connection method someone mentioned above If all else fails, your ex can call Federal Student Aid directly at 1-800-433-3243. They can manually link him to your daughter's application. Just be prepared for a potentially long wait time. The good news is that this won't necessarily delay her financial aid package as long as everything gets completed before the school's priority deadline.
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NebulaNova
•Thank you! This is super helpful. I'm going to try all these steps in order. Good to know it won't necessarily delay her aid package - that was my biggest worry. The priority deadline for her top choice school is March 1st, so we still have a little time.
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Paolo Conti
Any update? Were you able to get this resolved?
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NebulaNova
•Yes! Turns out it was two issues combined. First, my daughter had entered his email with a typo (.con instead of .com). But even after fixing that, we still had problems. We finally had him create his FSA ID and manually link to her application. Worked immediately! Thanks everyone for your help!
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