Thank you everyone for the helpful responses! I've updated my info on my son's FAFSA last night and will wait for it to process before applying for the Parent Plus loan. It's such a relief to know the credit check isn't based on a specific score number. I'll definitely borrow only what we need and keep that refund tip in mind! I've also bookmarked that Claimyr service in case I run into trouble reaching someone at FSA. You all have been so helpful!

Just wanted to chime in as someone who went through this process recently! Yes, the FAFSA is absolutely required first - learned this the hard way when I tried to apply for Parent Plus without it being complete. One thing I'd add is to double-check that your son's school participates in the Direct Loan program (most do, but it's worth confirming). Also, if you're worried about the 3-week deadline, don't stress too much - once you're approved for the Parent Plus loan, you can usually work with the school's financial aid office on the timing of disbursement even if it's after the deposit deadline. Most schools are understanding about federal loan processing times. The whole process from updating FAFSA to Parent Plus approval took me about a week total.

Don't worry at all! I'm a college financial aid advisor and I can confirm that having both parents create contributor accounts is actually very common and won't cause any problems with your FAFSA submission. The 2025-2026 FAFSA system is designed to handle multiple contributors seamlessly. Since your daughter can see both accounts linked in her dashboard, that means everything was set up correctly. You should receive your SAI within 3-5 business days if there are no other issues with the application. The only time multiple contributor accounts cause delays is if there are significant discrepancies in the financial information provided, but that would trigger an immediate error during submission rather than a processing delay later. Since your application went through successfully, you're in good shape! Keep an eye on your email for the SAI notification, and don't hesitate to contact your daughter's school's financial aid office if you have any questions once you receive it. They can help interpret the results and guide you through next steps for aid applications.

I just went through this exact same situation a few weeks ago! Both my husband and I created contributor accounts and I was absolutely panicking that we'd ruined our son's application. Turns out it's totally fine - we got our SAI in 4 days and everything processed normally. The new FAFSA system actually expects multiple contributors in many cases, especially for married parents filing jointly. As long as both of your accounts show up in your daughter's dashboard (which you confirmed they do), you're all set. One thing that helped ease my anxiety was calling the school's financial aid office directly. They were able to pull up our application and confirm everything looked good on their end. Might be worth doing that if you want extra peace of mind while waiting for the SAI!

I'm new to this process but dealing with something similar - my family's income changed significantly due to medical expenses this year. From reading through all these responses, it sounds like the key steps are: 1) Fix any actual errors in your 2023 tax info through the FAFSA correction tool, 2) Contact each school's financial aid office about a Professional Judgment review for your job loss, and 3) Be prepared with tons of documentation. The advice about meeting in person really resonates with me too. Has anyone had experience with how long the Professional Judgment process typically takes? I'm worried about missing deadlines for aid disbursement.

I'm going through something similar right now! Lost my job in November and just submitted my FAFSA correction yesterday. One thing I learned from calling my school's financial aid office is that you should definitely submit the FAFSA correction first (even though it's just fixing the 2023 data) because it shows the school you're being proactive about accuracy. Then when you submit your Professional Judgment request, they can see the timeline of what you've done. My financial aid counselor also told me to include a brief cover letter with my PJ packet explaining exactly what changed and when - apparently it helps them process things faster. Still waiting to hear back but feeling more hopeful after reading everyone's success stories here!

To directly answer your question: you create ONE account, and ONE parent files the FAFSA. During the application, you'll indicate your filing status as "married filing separately," and then you'll need to enter tax information from both returns. One tip from my experience: have both tax returns and W-2s ready before starting the application. The new FAFSA for 2025-2026 will be asking for specific line items from both returns. If you use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, it may only pull information from the parent completing the form, so you'll need to manually enter the other parent's information.

Just wanted to share my experience since I went through this exact situation last year! My wife and I also file separately, and I was initially confused about the FAFSA process. We ended up having me create the single FSA ID account since my income was higher (though honestly, it probably doesn't matter which parent does it). The key thing that helped us was organizing all our documents beforehand - both of our tax returns, W-2s, and bank statements. When you get to the tax information section, the FAFSA will clearly prompt you to enter both parents' financial details separately, even though only one of you is logged in. One small heads up: the IRS Data Retrieval Tool will only auto-populate information for the parent who's logged in, so you'll need to manually type in your spouse's tax information. It's not difficult, just takes a bit longer. Good luck with your daughter's application!

Just wanted to update that I called our school's financial aid office (took three tries to get through), and they were super helpful! They confirmed they've adjusted all their timelines because of the FAFSA delay. The financial aid counselor I spoke with said they're still hoping to release aid packages by February, and she took my contact info to follow up personally once FAFSA opens. So much relief knowing they're on top of this!

As someone who went through this exact situation last year with my oldest, I can confirm that while the delays are incredibly stressful, everything does work out in the end. My daughter applied ED to her top choice school in November 2023, and despite the FAFSA chaos that followed, she still received her financial aid package in time to make an informed decision about her ED acceptance. The key things that helped us were: 1) Staying in regular contact with the school's financial aid office, 2) Completing the CSS Profile on time, and 3) gathering all our tax documents early so we could submit FAFSA the moment it opened. The schools really do understand this isn't families' fault, and they've gotten much better at managing these delays since last year's disaster. Hang in there - your daughter's dreams aren't derailed by this federal incompetence!