Is anyone else having trouble getting into their FAFSA or their kid’s FAFSA account? It’s like they’ve added a secret password I know nothing about. I’m not the only one having trouble.
Thanks for any help.
FSA ID see https://fsaid.ed.gov/npas/index.htm
Is this new? I don’t remember this from before mid-year.
Thanks.
Yes. This changed this year…and everyone needs to make the change.
Lots of people are running into trouble with this. Tips include: No two people can have the same email address (seriously, this is so dumb - it is causing huge issues for people - and when you change email addresses, I am sure it will be a pain). Parents should NOT set up their kids’ FAFSA ID’s (your kid needs to be able to remember his/her password and secret question answers - and your kid needs to use an email address he/she plans to keep).
I was trying to help a friend who says he has one day to update FAFSA. If you all have any ideas to help, please share. This is what he said:
Yes I attempted that but it says the student already has an id. Neither of us created the FSA id after May 10 and we don’t know how to retrieve it. And they are unreachable by phone or livechat. I feel like I should only need my id etc to update the fafsa but the process keeps taking me to the student fields and i don’t have the right info to log on there. So one more day to figure it out but Im out of ideas.
I have had a FAFSA PIN before, so should I be able to set up my own FAFSA account by creating my own ID and password? (using my own email) And when I do that, should I be able to access my kids’ information?
I think the student FSA ID needs to be entered to view or update the info.
I tried; it’s a no go. It just took me to the student page again, so I guess the student has to do this. So I guess for my friend, his son will have to create an ID, etc. and login.
I don’t have a need to login; however, I am worried that the IRS is going to ask for a data retrieval after tomorrow’s deadline. Do you think they can? And if so, then what?
My oldest son is going into his senior year at MIT, and I spoke with his f. aid officer. She said I could opt to do data retrieval or just wait to see if they ask for it. I never did it because of this issue, and now I am wondering what will happen after the FAFSA closes tomorrow. Or do you think that because the FAFSA is closing, the IRS won’t ask for the data retrieval? I did it for my other son, but since this son filed his taxes so late, we never did the retrieval.
Thanks again.
The 2014-2015 fafsa closes tomorrow. If your son is a senior in college in the fall, he would have needed to complete the 2015-2016 fafsa…which doesn’t close until June 2016.
Oh!! So why did my friend think he had to correct changes to his son’s FAFSA by tomorrow? His son will be a freshman this fall.
I have no idea. Was your friends son selected for verification? If so, he would need to do whatever ASAP.
Maybe that’s the deadline the school wants the update by.
I’ll ask him. His son’s going to UCSD, so I’ll check the deadline on their website. He’s been trying to get through, but he works during the day and can’t sit on the phone all day, and apparently, he kept getting disconnected/dropped anyhow.
I agree with annoyingdad. It is likely that the school,has a deadline for receipt of the updated fafsa in order to process an accurate financial aid award for the upcoming year…in a timely fashion.
This kind of a deadline probably isn’t on the website. It was probably given in an email and/or on the student portal. Or maybe the friend is confused by which fafsa is closing like you were.
Maybe the school wants to finalize the financial aid award for the upcoming school year…and updating that fafsa needs to happen.
Your friend can contact the college to ask what he should do.
I am still seeing FSA Id’s getting hung up for a few days for Social Security verification. While you’re in that status, you can’t even login to your existing FAFSA, much less use the DRT.
Meanwhile, I’d send an email to the financial aid office: I am trying to use the Data Retrieval Tool, but my FSA ID is not yet allowing me to access my FAFSA. Would you prefer that I request a tax transcript from the IRS, or just wait and try the FSA ID login again later this week?
You won’t be in the first fifty students who’ve told them that spring from what I’ve heard.
I tried to do mine about 10 days ago, and even though I had my correct pin and email, it said it had to go to SSA to verify. Three days later it came back unable to verify. I then did it again, it asked my PIN and then I have no idea what happened or if it works. So DD2 tried, and suddenly she was trying to fill out FAFSA again, it said she had no 2015 on file. So we logged in again and she tried for another ID and it said we can’t use it for 3 days.
We had absolutely no problems last year. Both kids have been selected for verification. I’ve ordered and received my tax transcripts but didn’t do theirs because I didn’t think they needed them. Both need corrections to the tax section of the FAFSA (mine is pretty close, just a few $$ less in paid taxes).
I’m pretty frustrated.