All About FAFSA

High school seniors, current college students, and adults (re)entering college are all encouraged to file the FAFSA as soon as it becomes available. Any student filing the 2027-28 FAFSA will use 2025 tax information for themselves and their parent(s) if necessary. The FAFSA can be filed at https://studentaid.gov.

The first step is for the student and their parent(s) to create a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID, or StudentAid.gov account, which is a username and password. Any individual who is required to provide information on a FAFSA will be known as a contributor and each contributor will be required to have an FSA ID. Contributors can include the student, their parent, other parent, or spouse.

These IDs are used to access Federal Student Aid’s website securely and are used by individuals to provide approval of use of their federal tax information (FTI) on a FAFSA and serve as a legally binding electronic signature. Please see our FSA ID recommendations as you begin this process. FSA IDs can be created here.

FAFSA Requirements

Students planning to file or renew a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, for the 2027-28 financial aid year will have the opportunity to do so beginning October 1st, 2026. Eligible high school seniors, current college students, and adults (re) entering college are all encouraged to file the FAFSA as soon as possible once it becomes available. Some financial aid is first-come, first-served, and many colleges have priority deadlines for FAFSA submission. Any student filing the 2027-28 FAFSA will use tax information from 2025 for themselves and their parent(s) if necessary. The FAFSA can be filed at https://studentaid.gov.

NOTE: Students who are not eligible to file the FAFSA, or unsure about their eligibility, are encouraged to contact The Scholarship Foundation for assistance, including support in applying to the Foundation’s scholarship grant and interest-free loan programs.

Necessary Documents and Information

In addition to the items listed below, all students and their parent(s) should have access to a personal email address and, if they have one, a cell phone for multi-factor authentication. Students who have an unexpired, government-issued photo identification (e.g., driver’s license or state ID, passport, tribal identification card, permanent resident/green card) are strongly advised to have that on them and available when they file the FAFSA, just in case they need ID to complete real-time identity verification*. Finally, real-time identity verification will also require a cell phone or tablet with a working camera, so students are advised to have a device with a working camera too.

Students and families will need to have information on hand when they sit down to complete the FAFSA. The following list is intended to be comprehensive of what may be required; if something does not apply to you or your circumstances, please disregard.

Student FSA ID
Parent(s) FSA ID
Student SSN
Parent(s) SSN(s) or Parent(s) ITIN(s)
Student Full Legal Name
Parent(s) Full Legal Name
Student Date of Birth
Parent(s) Date(s) of Birth
Student Federal 2025 Taxes
Parent(s) Federal 2025 Taxes
Parent(s) Marriage and/or Divorce/Separation/Widow Date(s)
Student 2025 W2(s) and/or 1099(s)
Parent(s) 2025 W2(s) and/or 1099(s)
Student cash/checking/savings account balances
Parent(s) cash/checking/savings account balances
Net worth of investments, if applicable
Net worth of farms, small businesses, if applicable

Students considered dependent are required to include parent(s) information on their FAFSA. Students may review dependency questions HERE to determine dependency status.

*Real-time identity verification is when students will be asked to come on camera, with a photo ID, to verify their identity. This can occur at any point in the form; if a student is selected, they will receive instructions on how to complete this process. Students who are unable to complete the process for any reason will be able to proceed with their application but will need to complete the identity verification with their prospective school(s). If you have questions or concerns about this process, please contact The Scholarship Foundation.

Additional Information

It may also be necessary to know whether you and/or your parent(s) receive any of the following:

Free or Reduced-Price Lunch
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
Supplemental Social Security (SSI)
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

If you have any questions or wish to schedule a 1:1 appointment with a Student Advisor for help with the FAFSA, please contact our offices at (314) 725-7990 or info@sfstl.org.

FSA ID Problem Solving

This resource is intended to help troubleshoot challenges when it comes to creating and using your FSA ID. If you would like guidance on creating an FSA ID check out this resource. If further support is needed, contact one of our Student Advisors at info@sfstl.org or 314-725-7990.

Make sure the personal information is accurate and matches what is on your Social Security card.
If you are a parent or spouse contributor without a Social Security number, be sure to check the box indicating that you do not have one.
Try deleting the address on the Create an Account page.
Be sure you are using one of the following browsers Mozilla Firefox (Version 68 and above), Apple Safari (Version 9 and above), Google Chrome (Version 76 and above). If you are using any other browser, you may encounter problems.

You are likely seeing this message because someone who previously had your phone number has an FSA ID. You will need to contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC) to verify that you are the new owner of the cell phone number. Alternatively, you can create your FSA ID without using a cell phone number and only entering your email address. The second option will be the quickest. You can return to enter and verify the mobile number at a later date.

Parent and spouse contributors can create an FSA ID without a Social Security number. However, students without a Social Security number are not eligible to file a FAFSA and should not attempt to create an FSA ID. If you have questions about FAFSA eligibility, please contact The Scholarship Foundation for guidance.

Note: The ability for parent and spouse contributors without a social security number to create an FSA ID is a new feature, if you are having trouble creating an FSA ID please contact The Scholarship Foundation for assistance.

All student eligible, who would like to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) should create an FSA ID at least 3-5 days before filing a FAFSA. Eligible students include citizens, legal permanent residents, or green card holders. Additionally, a student spouse, biological/ adoptive parent(s), or stepparent of a student contributor should create an FSA ID 3 -5 days before starting their section regardless of whether the spouse, biological/ adoptive parent(s), or stepparent has a Social Security number.

Any parent who is required to contribute to the student’s FAFSA is required to create an FSA ID. Even if you do not need to create an FSA ID it is not a bad idea to create one for convenience. Below are a few scenarios where both parents are required to create an FSA ID and contribute to a student’s FAFSA.

Biological or adoptive parents are married but filed taxes separately for the tax year required on the FAFSA. This also applies to stepparents.
The biological or adoptive parents are unmarried but live together.
The biological parent recently remarried, and the parent and stepparent filed separate tax forms for the tax year reported on the FAFSA.

An individual cannot have more than one FSA ID since it is linked to your Social Security number. If you do not have access to the email address used to create your FSA ID, you will need to follow the steps outlined below to recover your account.
If you cannot log into your account, you have some options to recover After recovering your account, you may have to wait 30 minutes before you can log in.
- Submit an Account Recovery Request
- Receive Text Message with Document Upload Link
- Upload U.S. Photo ID Using Your Mobile Phone
- Receive Email with Reset Password Link
- Create a New Password and Log In
If you cannot complete either of the above options, you can call 1‑800‑433‑3243. Requests initiated by phone can take 7–10 days to complete.