FAFSA Information

Students and all contributors (student’s spouse, a biological or adoptive parent, or parent's spouse) must have a StudentAid.gov account, known as an FSA ID, to complete and sign the online FAFSA form.  When you create your account, be careful to enter your name and Social Security number (SSN) exactly as they appear on your Social Security card. Once the Social Security Administration verifies your information in one to three days, you will be able to use your FSA ID.   

 All parent and spouse contributors without an SSN can now create a StudentAid.gov account using the Department of Education's newly developed system to validate their identity against credit bureau data. Users without an SSN will be verified immediately if their data aligns. 

 Each FSA ID must have a unique email address. (You and your parent cannot use the same email address.)

The FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX) will transfer contributors' federal tax information from the IRS directly into the FAFSA form after consent and approval is given.

Even if contributors don't have an SSN, didn't file taxes, or filed taxes outside of the U.S., they will still need to provide consent and approval.

IMPORTANT: If a required contributor doesn't provide consent and approval to have their federal tax information transferred into the FAFSA form, you (the student) will not be eligible for federal student aid—even if the contributor manually enters tax information into the FAFSA form.  Note: Being a contributor on the FAFSA form does not imply financial responsibility.

To ensure the information is secure, the federal tax information won't display on the FAFSA site or the FAFSA Submission Summary.

There are several instances where the FAFSA will allow you to self-report income if federal tax information cannot be accurately transferred through the Direct Data Exchange (DDX). Examples of when self-reporting is necessary:

• Individuals who were married and filed jointly with the IRS in the prior-prior tax year and are no longer married to that spouse, or who have married a different spouse
• Individuals with foreign income or who only file foreign tax returns, as the IRS does not link to foreign tax authorities. They will instead need to manually input their income and tax data by converting foreign currency to U.S. dollars and entering the resulting amounts in the comparable fields from U.S. tax returns, such as adjusted gross income, income tax paid, and any untaxed income.
• The contributor is a victim of IRS tax-related identity theft
• The contributor indicates on the online FAFSA that they have not filed a tax return but plan to.

While manually entering tax information into the FAFSA is allowable in these and several other situations, consent must still be provided.