Beginning with the 2024-25 FAFSA, the Department of Education will require individuals – regardless of their citizenship status – to have an StudentAid.gov account to access and sign the FAFSA form. A recent electronic announcement outlines the steps required to create a StudentAid.gov account if the individual does not have a social security number. The full announcement is below.
POSTED DATE December 22, 2023
AUTHOR Federal Student Aid
ELECTRONIC ANNOUNCEMENT ID GENERAL-23-123
SUBJECT StudentAid.gov Account Creation for Individuals without a Social Security Number Beginning with the 2024-25 FAFSA Processing Cycle
This electronic announcement outlines changes set to take effect beginning with the 2024-25 FAFSA cycle (late December), which will require individuals – regardless of their citizenship status – to have an StudentAid.gov account to access and sign the FAFSA form. This announcement describes the process for individuals without a social security number (SSN) to successfully create their StudentAid.gov account.
For several years, the Department of Education (Department) has partnered with the Social Security Administration (SSA) to verify individuals’ identity used in the StudentAid.gov account creation process. This partnership with SSA is the primary method by which the Department verifies an individual’s identity and creates a StudentAid.gov account. If SSA is unable to verify the identity of an individual (e.g., SSN does not match), the Department has created a secondary identity verification process, which requires individuals to answer knowledge-based questions through a partnership with TransUnion®.
These changes are the result of the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act (FUTURE Act) (P.L. 116-91), which amended the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (IRC), to require an applicant for federal student aid and their parent(s) or spouse (contributors) to consent to the disclosure and use of their federal tax information (FTI) for purposes of determining an applicant’s eligibility for federal student aid. The HEA was further amended by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) Simplification Act in December 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (P.L. 116-260), and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 (P.L. 117-103).
Individuals who do not possess an SSN (who fail the SSA match), as well as individuals who fail the TransUnion® verification processes will be required to complete the StudentAid.gov account creation process specifically developed for those without an SSN.
StudentAid.gov Account Creation Instructions (step-by-step) for Individuals Without a Social Security Number (SSN)
This process outlines the steps needed in order for an individual without an SSN to have their identity verified and StudentAid.gov account created.
Step 1: An individual should visit StudentAid.gov, select “Create Account” and complete all steps, including answering 1-4 knowledge-based verification questions via TransUnion®.
Step 2: Upon completing the Create Account process, the individual will see a confirmation page with the results of their identity verification. If they failed the TransUnion® process, the individual will be informed that FSA was unable to verify their information and that they must contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC) at 1-800-433-3243.
Note: The individual will also receive an email from FSA informing them to call FSAIC for next steps and verify their identity.
Step 3: Once the individual contacts FSAIC, FSA will create a case number and send them a verification email, which will include guidance on how to submit copies of unexpired acceptable documentation (listed below) to verify their identity. Individuals will also be required to submit an attestation and validation of identity form along with their approved identity documentation. This form will be available on https://studentaid.gov/forms-library.
Acceptable Documents to Establish an Individual’s Identity:
Provide one (1) of the following documents to establish identity:
- U.S. Driver’s License
- U.S. State/City Identification Card
- Foreign Passport
or
One (1) set of documents below to establish identity:
- Municipal Identification Cards + utility bill
- Community ID + utility bill
- Consular Identification Cards/Matricula Consular + utility bill
Step 4: Upon receipt of the email that FSA was unable to verify their identity, an individual is then required to submit one or a combination of their acceptable documentation from the list above and a signed attestation form to: FSAIDVerifyMe@ed.gov.
Step 5: FSA will review an individual’s submitted documentation and signed attestation form to ensure it is acceptable and matches the account information provided during the Create Account process. If there is a successful match, the Department will finalize the account creation. The individual will receive an email indicating their identity has been verified and that they may now use their account username and password (FSA ID) to log in at StudentAid.gov and complete applications for student financial assistance programs.
Training and Additional Information
We encourage our partners to attend training sessions on the implementation of the FUTURE Act and FAFSA Simplification Act. Announcements and more information on training are available on the FSA Training Center and the FSA Knowledge Center.
Contact
For information on the Department’s implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act, visit the FAFSA Simplification Information topics page, located on the Knowledge Center. If you need additional information or have specific questions about the Department’s implementation of the FUTURE Act and FAFSA Simplification Act, visit FSA’s Partner Connect Help Center. To submit a question, please enter your name, email address, topic, and question. When submitting a question related to this announcement, please select the topic “2024-25 FAFSA.”