Newsroom

Important facts about the FSA ID

By Catherine Mueller

February 16, 2021

Students and parents should think of the FSA ID as the key that unlocks access to their federal financial aid.

With that in mind, there are some important facts for students and parents to remember about their FSA ID:

• The FSA ID is the student’s or the parent’s username and password.
• Only one FSA ID can be associated with a social security number. So, if a parent previously created an FSA ID when they were a student, they will use that same FSA ID when they sign their child’s FAFSA. Likewise, a parent will use their same parent FSA ID for all of their children’s FAFSAs.
• Both the student and at least one parent (of a dependent student) will need an FSA ID.
• A student will use their FSA ID to log into fafsa.gov and begin completion of a FAFSA. Remember the FAFSA belongs to the student.
• The student will use their FSA ID to sign the FAFSA and to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (if they filed a tax return and can use the DRT). The student will also use their FSA ID to log in later apply for student loans, if they want, and later to see their federal financial aid history.
• The parent will use their FSA ID to sign the FAFSA and to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (If they filed a tax return and can use the DRT). The parent will use the FSA ID to apply for Parent (PLUS) Loans if they decide to do that.
• A student and the parent cannot share an FSA ID nor can they use the same email address to create an FSA ID.
• A school or work email address should not be used to create an FSA ID. Instead, students and parents should use a personal email address that they will have access to indefinitely.
• To create a FSA ID username and password, students and parents should go to fsaid.ed.gov/.

Since the FSA ID is a key unlocking access to federal financial aid, it’s also important for the student and parent to protect the username and password and not share it with anyone. However, if FSA ID username or password is forgotten, there are links at fsaid.ed.gov/npas/index.htm (under manage my FSA ID) where a student or parent who has forgotten their user name or password can get assistance.