I thought it is supposed to be submitted by parent/student, not school.
No, you GC CANNOT access your FAFSA account. The only way he/she could do so is if parent or student gives the GC their login info. This is not allowed by the terms of the FSA ID - parent/student cannot give it to GC, and GC cannot use it if he/she happens to have access to it for some strange reason.
Why do you ask?
There is no reason for a GC to have access to the FAFSA account. This is private financial information of the parent and child. The only situation I can imagine is if the parent/student needed help and asked the GC for advice. But that would not require having access. It should only be submitted by parent and student.
ABSOLUTELY NOT! You have a lot of private information there. No GC should have access!
Yes, parent/student, not GC.
Do NOT…DO NOT give your school guidance counselor access to your FAFSA. Your family finances are none of their business.
Do NOT NOT NOT give them your log in information. That is something you should NOT NOT NOT share with anyone.
@annamom, wasn’t it your kid’s GC who suggested that it was okay to pay an enrollment deposit to more than one school? And now she’s asking for FAFSA access? She doesn’t sound like she knows what she’s talking about. I’m not sure you should be taking advice from this person!
The reason I posted was because the GC asked for the login and password. Shortly after I posted, the GC said she did not need it.
DD is in a very small private school, GC is new and very efficient. From what I heard, she has been helping the kids with college application. DD told me she also helped some kids with FAFSA…I thought it was strange…then today she asked DD for her login.
@patsmom No, it was not the same GC…the one suggested to pay an enrollment deposit was last year and DD is now in PG in a new school. Given her current GC knew we went through the process last year, hence she has left some of the application process to us.
If this was my kid’s guidance counselor, alarm bells would be going off. There’s a very good reason that access to FAFSA information is password protected. I’m betting that federal student aid folks would take an extremely dim view of guidance counselors even asking for login credentials, let alone accessing the FAFSA account of any of their students.
You need to contact the school administration about this request. It is completely inappropriate.
The login information and password should NEVER NEVER be given to anyone else. That this person even suggested this is very unethical.
Contact the school administration ASAP…and just let them know that this was asked of you. They need to know…so they can tell this person to STOP asking for information that is NOT supposed to be shared with anyone.
The FAFSA is not that complicated. Now the tax return should already be filed because it asks for 2015 tax return info. The parent can use their FSA ID and link tax return to FAFSA, fill out asset information if asked for, and student and parent sign the FAFSA with their FSA IDs.
For the GC to help the kids file FAFSA, they would need both child and parent FSA ID, tax return info, asset info, soc sec numbers, that is not info that’s appropriate for them to have.
I echo the above … no, no, no. No GC should ever ask for this information. Ever. Any GC who requests it needs to be provided with the following link and asked to read the first line and the first bullet point on the page: https://fsaid.ed.gov/npas/pub/faq.htm.
Here is what it says - and this is the official Federal Student Aid (government) site::
Only the owner of an FSA ID should create or use the account. Here’s why:
The FSA ID serves as a legal signature and should not be shared with anyone, including family, school personnel, loan servicers, or contact center agents.
How would you feel if your GC asked for your E-Mail account and password? Or your Faecbook info? This is more sensitive.