Are we supposed to log in with last years info and add 2016-2017? Or do we just start a new application with new log in info?
start a new one for 16-17 and it asks if you want to pre-populate with relevant fields from prior fafsa.
Great Thank you!
No, it won’t work quite that way. Last year a PIN system was used. This year the parent and student have to create a FSA ID (username/password). When you create the FSA ID and know your PIN then enter it where it prompts you.
Your information will be verified with SSA. And you will be emailed a secure code.
When you sign in there should be an option for FAFSA renewal. Then choose year 2016-17.
@mommdc are you saying that you need to do this username and password…and then you will get an email with the code…and THEN you can do your FAFSA?
Is this for new users of the username password option? My kid used it last year.
@kelsmom could you answer?
I did my youngest’s a couple of weeks ago. Had to set up the FAFSA ID for both of us as last year we had PINS. I did not get a secure code emailed or have to enter one anyway. The process worked for me as described by @lz57c4 .
Thank you…I was hoping that was how a renewal for someone who already has the username and password went!
As far as I remember when I set up the FSA ID it asked for name, address, birthdate, soc sec number, PIN. Then it had me set up my security questions and anwers. Then I guess it had to verify email address and it said to keep window open at the place where you had enter the secure code and I accessed my email in another window and then copied the code in the email into the verification page. That was it.
D had to do the same.
We did not try to submit the FAFSA then, we set up our FSA ID during Christmas break ahead of time.
I had heard that it might take a few days for SSA verification.
@thumper1, the change to FSA ID from PIN signature happened last May, so if your D was getting a loan and set up a FSA ID for that then she should be able to use that now, she would already have a FSA ID.
My daughter does have the new ID and password. She got it last year.
This was all verified then.
So her renewal process should be as @ordinarylives noted. No new verification process again this year!
ETA…my daughter needed the new protocol and got it ASAP. It’s the same log in protocol for her undergrad Direct loans, I believe, so she can look at that info as well.
If you go to the link in post #7 and read the 5th question in the FAQ, “how to get a FSA ID”, it explains all the steps in setting up the FSA ID and I guess it says that the email verification is optional.
Your info in post 12 is contradictory to what @ordinarylives posted.
He indicated clearly that no verification was required if the applicant already HAD their username, and password.
ETA…I’m hoping others who have already renewed will come in with what their experience was. Did you need to wait for a verification if you already HAVE your username and password…or is this just for folks who have not gotten that yet.
as for our experience, some of us already had the fsaid and some didn’t. we just followed the instructions that were sent by the fafsa folks to get the id’s in order. no big deal, but fsaid does need to be used this year.
once you start filling out the fafsa, regardless of whether last year’s form was using fsaid or not, you can choose to pre-populate data using last year’s app or to just start from scratch. this is because fafsa knows who you are by name and ssn regardless of fsaid situation.
Kid already has ID and password…we aren’t involved anymore!
Will,she have to wait for a verification which was already done when she got the new ID/password?
@Thumper1, My son and I completed his 2nd FAFSA a few weeks ago. Our process was like the one described above. There were no emailed codes or verifications for us either but we already had usernames and passwords, so maybe that’s why.
My daughter and I filed the FAFSA last year for 2015-2016. At the end of December this year, I received an email from Federal Student Aid that said the following:
We have changed the way parents sign the FAFSA®!
Earlier this year, your child submitted a 2015-16 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®). If your child will be submitting a FAFSA for the 2016-17 school year after January 1, you will need to create an FSA ID - a username and password - in order to sign your child’s FAFSA. The FSA ID has replaced the Federal Student Aid PIN.
Our records indicate that you may not have yet created an FSA ID. To avoid delays in processing your child’s FAFSA, you should create an FSA ID now. Do not wait until the FAFSA becomes available in January.
Your child will also need to create his or her own FSA ID. Because the FSA ID serves as a legal signature, you and your child cannot share an FSA ID, and you are not permitted to create an FSA ID for your child. Doing so could cause problems with his or her financial aid.
For security reasons, you and your child cannot use the same e-mail address when creating FSA IDs.
You will be able to use your FSA ID immediately to sign your child’s FAFSA.
Note: When filling out the FAFSA, you will make a “Save Key” that allows you and your child to work on the same application without using each other’s FSA IDs.
For more information about the FSA ID, visit Federal Student Aid.
Sincerely,
Federal Student Aid
@thumper1, yes, I realize that.
I wanted to point out that if you have used a PIN for last year’s FAFSA and now want to do a renewal FAFSA to use some of the info already provided, then you need to sign up for a FSA ID (if you don’t have one yet).
I described how it worked for us. Apparently we chose to have our email verified because we were prompted for a verification code. We were setting up a FSA ID for the first time (during Christmas break when my D was home from college).
@ordinarylives must not have verified their email. As I mentioned above, question 5 in the FAQ explains that verification of email is optional.
The above link explains the FSA ID setup and related questions very well. If you have an existing PIN from last year, link it to your FSA ID and it should speed up the process of how quickly you can use your FSA ID.
^^^ i don’t recall the specifics. things went as described in the doco. but parent(s) will have to have a fsaid and sign it too.