Steps for Parents: Filling Out the FAFSA® Form
Students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form to be eligible for federal student grants, work-study, and loans. As their parent, you may be required to fill out your own sections of their form.
We strongly recommend that your child (the student) start their own FAFSA form and complete their sections first to save time and prevent errors.
We know that isn’t always how it happens, though. Whether you’re starting the FAFSA form for your child or completing your section of your child’s form, follow the steps below to help your child get federal student aid.
Note: The steps below show the process for a parent starting the FAFSA form before the student. If the student starts the FAFSA form first, the process will be faster. In that case, you should complete steps 1, 4–8, and 10.
- Create an account and gather documents
- Start the FAFSA form at StudentAid.gov.
- Complete the “Student Background” section
- Provide consent and approval
- Complete the “Parent Demographics” section
- Complete the “Parent Financials” section
- Invite your spouse as a contributor (if required)
- Review and sign the FAFSA form
- Remind your child to complete their sections of the FAFSA form
- Check for next steps
Tips Before You Get Started
Before you begin, review key information about the FAFSA process.
FAFSA® Deadlines
Your child will need to complete a FAFSA form every year they’re enrolled in school to receive student aid. Schools will use your child’s FAFSA information to determine their eligibility for aid and their financial aid offer. States also use FAFSA information to award their own aid.
Schools and states set their own FAFSA deadlines. Because some have limited funds, completing the FAFSA form before the earliest deadline is the best way to ensure that your child is eligible for as much aid as possible for college, career school, or trade school.
Dependent Students
Dependent students must provide parent information on the FAFSA form. In most cases, at least one parent will be identified as a contributor on the form. A contributor refers to anyone (the student, their biological or adoptive parent, a parent’s spouse, or the student’s spouse) who’s required to provide information on the FAFSA form.
You can use the Who’s My FAFSA Parent? wizard to determine if you and/or another parent will need to provide information on your child’s FAFSA form. Using the tool takes most people less than five minutes, and you don’t need a StudentAid.gov account to access it. The Who’s My FAFSA Parent? wizard is especially helpful for divorced parents who want to understand which parent will be a required contributor.
1
Create an account and gather documents
Before you can access the FAFSA form online, you’ll need to create a StudentAid.gov account if you don’t have one already. Every contributor, including the student, must have their own account to access and complete their sections of the form. Your account username and password will serve as your legal electronic signature throughout the federal student aid process.
For step-by-step guidance on creating a StudentAid.gov account, check out our How To Create a StudentAid.gov Account infographic or watch the video. To learn how to use your account, read our “Key Facts About Your StudentAid.gov Account” article.
Your child must have their own StudentAid.gov account. You can’t create an account for your child.
Keep your StudentAid.gov account secure. Don’t share your username and password with anyone, not even your child. Similarly, your child shouldn’t share their account log-in information with you.
If you plan to start the FAFSA form on behalf of your child, we suggest that you request a printed copy or a screenshot of the “Personal Information” section of their StudentAid.gov account before you start. You’ll need to make sure the personal information you enter on the FAFSA form exactly matches the information your child provided when they created their account. To access this information, your child should log in to StudentAid.gov and select “Personal Information” in their account settings.
You may find it helpful to have these items on hand while you complete the FAFSA form:
- records of any child support received
- bank statements and records of investments
- records of businesses and income-producing farms (if applicable)
Once you have everything you need, including your StudentAid.gov account, you can start the FAFSA form. It takes most people 12 minutes or less to complete the form.
Adding your information to your child’s FAFSA® form won’t make you responsible for paying for their education costs.
If your child has already started their FAFSA form and has invited you to complete your sections, there are a few ways to accept the invitation. We recommend using the invitation email you’ll receive that includes a button to “Accept My Invite” and a unique invitation code for your child. By selecting the button in the invitation email, you can enter their form.
Alternatively, your child can share the invitation link and code with you via text message, or you can visit fafsa.gov and select the “Accept an Invitation” button on the page. Enter the invitation code to go to their form. You can then jump to step four in this article.
The FAFSA® form is the student’s application—not yours. Students are encouraged to begin their form and invite their parent.
2
Start the FAFSA® form at StudentAid.gov
Go to the FAFSA home page at fafsa.gov, and then select “Start New Form.” Next, select the school year for which the student is applying for aid.
You’ll be directed to log in to your StudentAid.gov account. Once you’re logged in, you’ll be asked to select who is starting the FAFSA form. If you’re starting the FAFSA form on behalf of your child, select “Parent.”
On the “Student Information” page, enter your child’s name, date of birth, Social Security number, and email address. If your child is a citizen of the Freely Associated States (Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Palau), they must start their own FAFSA form.
Make sure you enter your child’s personal information exactly as it appears on their StudentAid.gov account to avoid errors. Don’t enter any nicknames or suffixes—for example, don’t enter “Johnny” or include “Jr.” or “III” for the names John Paul Jr. or John Paul III.
Once you’re sure that all the information you’ve entered about your child is accurate, select “Continue” on the FAFSA form. If your child hasn’t started the FAFSA form yet, they’ll receive an email notifying them that a form was started on their behalf. They can then follow the steps included in the email to fill out their form.
Avoid an incomplete FAFSA® form. Even if you start the form on behalf of your child, they still need to complete the student sections, provide their consent and approval, and sign the form.
After entering your child’s information, you’ll need to verify it on the “Student Identity Information” page. You’ll also provide their mobile phone number and permanent mailing address. Again, be very careful that the information you enter here matches the student’s “Personal Information” section of their StudentAid.gov account settings.
Next, enter your child’s state of residence to move on to the next section of the FAFSA form.
3
Complete the “Student Background” section
In this section, you’ll respond to questions to find out whether your child is a dependent or independent student on the FAFSA form. This dependency status will determine whether your child needs to provide your information on the form. These questions include your child’s marital status and what grade level they will be for the school year. You’ll also be asked to review a list of personal circumstances and select any that apply to the student.
Next, you’ll answer questions about your child’s living situation and if they have unusual circumstances. After you’ve answered all the questions, the FAFSA form will inform you whether your child has been identified as dependent, independent, or provisionally independent.
The law sets these dependency guidelines. They are different from those used by the IRS. Even if your child doesn’t live with you, supports themselves, or files taxes separately from you, we may still refer to them as a dependent student for federal student aid purposes.
If your child is a dependent student, your information will be required on their FAFSA form. If your child is an independent student, your information won’t be required on their form, and you won’t be able to continue filling out the form for your child.
4
Provide consent and approval
You’re now entering the parent section of the FAFSA form. First, you’ll verify your own information. If you need to update your personal information, you can do so by accessing your account settings on StudentAid.gov.
Next, you’ll be asked to provide consent and approval to have your federal tax information transferred directly from the IRS into the FAFSA form. Consent and approval are required for your child to be eligible for federal student aid. Watch our What Does It Mean To Provide Consent and Approval on the FAFSA® Form? video to understand what you agree to when you provide consent and approval.
Providing consent and approval doesn’t make you financially responsible for your child’s education costs. However, if you choose to take out a Direct PLUS Loan for parents to help with your child’s education, you will take on financial responsibility for that loan.
The FAFSA® form is an application and not an obligation for loans. Signing a Master Promissory Note makes an individual financially responsible to repay the loan and any accrued interest and fees.
5
Complete the “Parent Demographics” section
The “Parent Demographics” section is where you’ll provide your own demographic information. This includes your marital status and state of residence.
When selecting your marital status, you should follow this guide:
- never married—select “Single (never married)”
- currently married—select “Married (not separated)”
- divorced or separated but currently living together or never married but living together—select “Unmarried and both legal parents living together”
- divorced and not currently living together—select “Divorced”
- separated and not currently living together—select “Separated”
- divorced, separated, or widowed from your child’s other legal parent but remarried—select “Remarried”
- previously married but now a widow—select “Widowed”
Make sure you report your marital status as of the day you fill out the FAFSA form, even if it’s different from your tax filing status.
After providing your marital status, you’ll select your state of residence and enter the date (month and year) when you became a resident.
6
Complete the “Parent Financials” section
Although providing consent and approval means your federal tax information will be transferred from the IRS into the FAFSA form, you’ll need to enter additional information about your financial situation. You can check what year’s income and tax information you’ll be required to report before starting the FAFSA form. Do not use a different year’s tax information.
The required information includes
- federal benefits you or anyone in your family received;
- your tax filing status and whether you filed jointly with your spouse;
- whether you filed an income tax return in Puerto Rico or another U.S. territory (or if you plan to);
- your family size
- how many people in your family will be in college during the school year for which your child is applying for aid;
- the dollar amount of taxable college grants, scholarships, or AmeriCorps benefits reported as income to the IRS;
- the dollar amount of Foreign Earned Income Exclusion;
- child support received;
- the total of your cash (amounts more than $1,000), checking, and savings accounts;
- the net worth of your investments, including real estate; and
- the net worth of your businesses and income-producing farms.
You may be asked to provide additional information about your tax return. If this is the case, understand where to find the requested information on your IRS Form 1040.
7
Invite your spouse (if required)
Your response to the marital status question in the “Parent Demographics” section and your tax filing status provided in the “Parent Finances” section will determine whether additional people are required to fill out sections of your child’s FAFSA form.
If you’re married (and not separated) and filed taxes jointly with your current spouse, only one parent will be required to provide information on the FAFSA form. However, you’ll need to provide your spouse’s date of birth in the parent sections of the form.
If you’re married and didn’t file taxes jointly with your current spouse, you’ll need to enter your spouse’s email address to invite them to the FAFSA form.
Your spouse will receive an email with an invitation link and code to enter your child’s FAFSA form. They can then provide the required information, along with their consent and approval, and sign the form.
Remember that every person who is required to complete sections of the FAFSA form will need their own StudentAid.gov account.
8
Review and sign the FAFSA® form
After completing the parent sections of the FAFSA form, you’ll have the chance to review all your answers and the information you provided in each section. You can select “Expand All” or the downward arrow in each section to view your responses. The questions are hyperlinked. If you notice an error, select the question to go directly to that page of the form and correct your answer.
Once you review your answers, you must confirm you understand the terms and conditions of the FAFSA form before you can sign it. Select “View Terms & Conditions,” then select “Done” when you’re finished.
To digitally sign the form, follow these two steps:
- Select the checkbox next to your name.
- Go to the bottom of the page and select “Finish Parent Section” or “Submit FAFSA Form.”
“Finish Parent Section” will display if your child’s section of the form isn’t complete. It will also display if you invited your spouse and they still need to complete their sections. “Submit FAFSA Form” will display if all required people (including the student) have completed their sections of the form.
9
Remind your child to complete their sections of the FAFSA® form
You, your child, and your spouse (if required) must each provide the necessary information, consent and approval, and signature for the FAFSA form to be considered complete.
If you start the FAFSA form on your child’s behalf, remind them to complete their form. They can do so by following the steps included in their invite email or by logging in to their StudentAid.gov account Dashboard and selecting their FAFSA form under the “My Activity” section.
Your child will need to complete all the student sections, including “Student Demographics,” “Your Finances,” and “Select Colleges and Career Schools.” To help them get started, share our “Steps for Students: Filling Out the FAFSA® Form” article with your child.
After your child provides the required information, their consent and approval, and signs the form, their form can be submitted.
Congrats, your child’s FAFSA form is complete!
10
Check for next steps
If you or your spouse completes your sections of the FAFSA form after your child and then submits the form, you’ll see a confirmation page with information about what your child can expect. You’ll also receive an email confirming that you completed your required sections of your child’s FAFSA form.
Your child will also receive an email confirmation. If their FAFSA form is processed immediately, the email will include a link to their FAFSA Submission Summary. If it isn’t processed right away, the email will let them know that they’ll receive another notification once processing is complete. Most students’ forms are processed immediately, but some take one to three days.
Once your child’s form is processed and they receive their FAFSA Submission Summary, review it carefully with them. They could be selected for verification of aid eligibility or need to make a correction to the form.
If your family has special financial circumstances, such as significant changes to your financial situation that should be considered, your child should contact their school’s financial aid office after their FAFSA form is submitted. The school may require additional documentation.
Remind your child to watch for communications from their school(s). This could include a request for additional information, forms, or signatures. Your child will also receive financial aid offers from schools they listed on their FAFSA form and were accepted to. Learn how to help your child compare aid offers, so they understand what steps to take next.
If you have more than one child applying for financial aid, don’t worry. Once you complete one child’s form, we’ll prefill some of the information on the other FAFSA® forms you’re invited to.
Remember: Your information is only used to determine your child’s eligibility for federal student aid. Completing the FAFSA form won’t make you responsible for paying for their education. Any information you provide is protected, and the U.S. Department of Education follows strict laws and regulations to handle your information responsibly.
If you choose not to complete your sections of the FAFSA form or don’t consent to have your federal tax information transferred, your child won’t be eligible for most types of federal student aid, including Federal Pell Grants, Federal Work-Study, or Direct Subsidized Loans. Many states and schools also use FAFSA information to award their own aid, so opting out could limit your child’s access to valuable student aid.
Now that you and your child have completed all sections of the FAFSA form, they are one step closer to receiving financial aid for college, career school, or trade school. Share this article with them on what to do next after submitting their form.
Published: October 2026
