Just wanted to chime in as someone who went through this exact nightmare last month! The spouse SSN bug is absolutely maddening. What worked for me was a variation of what others have suggested - I used Edge browser, cleared ALL cookies and cache first, then accessed the form around 6 AM when traffic was low. The key thing I discovered was to NOT use any autofill features - type everything manually, especially the SSN. Also, if you see ANY pre-populated information that looks wrong, exit immediately and try again rather than trying to correct it. The system seems to get stuck once it caches incorrect data. It took me 4 attempts over 2 weeks but I finally got through. Hang in there everyone - this system desperately needs fixing but there are workarounds!

I'm dealing with this same exact issue right now! My son is applying for college and we've been stuck on this spouse SSN error for over a week. It's so frustrating because my husband definitely has a valid SSN but the system keeps defaulting to "spouse does not have SSN" and won't let me change it. I've tried Chrome and Safari but haven't tried Firefox or Edge yet. Reading through all these suggestions gives me hope that there's a solution. Going to try the Firefox + early morning + manual entry approach tomorrow. It's really disappointing that such an important system has these kinds of bugs, especially when families are dealing with tight deadlines for financial aid. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and workarounds!

Make sure she actually submits it NOW for the 2024-2025 year! My son's friend thought he could wait until closer to his January start date and ended up missing out on a ton of departmental scholarships because those have earlier deadlines even though the FAFSA itself can be submitted later. The whole system is RIDICULOUS honestly.

Hi there! I went through this exact same situation last year with my daughter. She started her master's program in January 2024, and I was equally confused about the timing. Here's what I learned: Yes, she absolutely should submit the 2024-2025 FAFSA RIGHT NOW for Spring 2025 enrollment. Don't wait - I made that mistake initially and almost cost my daughter some funding opportunities. One thing that really helped us was creating a simple timeline: - Submit 2024-2025 FAFSA immediately (covers Spring 2025) - December 2024: Submit 2025-2026 FAFSA when it opens (covers Fall 2025 and beyond) Also, have her list ALL the grad schools she's applied to on the FAFSA - you can always remove schools later if she doesn't get accepted, but you can't go back in time if you miss a school's internal deadlines. The independent student status for grad school was actually a pleasant surprise - much simpler than when we were factoring in our family income for her undergrad applications. Good luck with the process!

One thing I'd add as a junior parent who went through this last year - don't forget about merit aid opportunities! While everyone focuses on need-based aid through FAFSA, many schools offer merit scholarships that aren't tied to financial need at all. Some merit scholarships have earlier deadlines than regular admissions (like November 1st for priority consideration), and many require separate applications or essays. Start researching merit opportunities at your daughter's target schools now, because junior year grades and test scores matter a lot for merit aid. Also, encourage your daughter to take the PSAT in October if she hasn't already - National Merit scholarships can be huge, and some states have lower cutoff scores than others. Even if she doesn't make National Merit, many schools offer automatic merit aid based on GPA/test score combinations. The beauty of merit aid is that it's renewable each year (usually with GPA requirements) and reduces your need for loans. Sometimes merit aid can actually make a more expensive private school cost less than a public school, so don't rule out schools based on sticker price alone!

As a parent of twins who are also juniors, I can't thank everyone enough for this thread! I was feeling completely overwhelmed about doing this process for TWO kids at once. The timeline and organization tips are incredibly helpful. One question I haven't seen addressed - for families with multiple kids in college at the same time, does that affect FAFSA calculations? I know it used to be a significant factor, but I heard something changed recently about how they handle multiple kids in college. Can anyone clarify this? Also, if anyone has experience with twins or multiple kids going through the FAFSA process simultaneously - any specific tips for keeping everything organized when you're dealing with double the paperwork and deadlines? The FSA ID advice is going on my to-do list for this weekend. Going to get all four of us (me, spouse, twin A, twin B) set up with our individual accounts and different email addresses. Better to tackle that now when there's no time pressure!

my daughters SAI finally got fixed this morning! went back down to the original amount. check ur accounts everyone!

I'm dealing with the exact same issue! My SAI went from around $47k to $94k overnight and I've been stressed out of my mind. After reading through all these responses, I'm feeling a bit more hopeful that it's a widespread bug rather than something wrong with my specific application. I've already reached out to my financial aid office with screenshots like someone suggested, and I'm going to mention that Dear Colleague Letter GEN-25-03 that Miguel referenced. It's so frustrating that this is happening right when we need to make crucial financial decisions about college, but at least we're not alone in this mess. Fingers crossed it gets resolved soon for all of us!

Just joined this community because I'm having the EXACT same problem! My stepdaughter submitted her FAFSA last week and my husband never got the parent invitation email. We've been panicking thinking we missed some deadline or did something wrong. Reading through all these responses is such a relief - it's clearly a widespread issue with the new FAFSA system. I'm going to try the "Manage Contributors" method that @Lincoln Ramiro explained step-by-step, and I'll definitely make sure the email addresses match exactly like @Faith Kingston warned about. If that fails, the Claimyr service @Noah Lee mentioned sounds like a great backup plan. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and solutions - this community is amazing for helping families navigate these FAFSA nightmares!

I'm a new member here but dealing with this exact same issue! My daughter submitted her FAFSA application and I never received the parent contributor invitation email. After reading through all these helpful responses, I'm relieved to know this is a widespread problem with the new system and not something we did wrong. I'm going to start with the "Manage Contributors" solution that @Lincoln Ramiro outlined, and I'll be extra careful about making sure our email addresses match exactly like @Faith Kingston mentioned. If that doesn't work, the Claimyr service sounds like a great alternative to avoid those terrible wait times. Thank you all for sharing your experiences - this community has been incredibly helpful for navigating what feels like a broken system!