Update on FAFSA Reject Code 68

Sept. 12 Update: This announcement has been updated to include additional guidance to help financial aid administrators unblock incarcerated applicants whose accounts have been disabled.

This Electronic Announcement provides an update about Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) Reject Code 68 and guidance for resolving issues associated with this code.

FAFSA Reject Code 68, which indicates that a student’s Student Aid Index (SAI) is blank but the transaction is not rejected, can be confusing for students and financial aid administrators (FAAs). Over the past several months, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has assigned Reject Code 68 to records as it works to resolve a set of related processing issues. ED is working to better classify the issues that lead to this rejection so that FAAs have clear steps to resolve these cases in the near term and so that ED can implement a longer-term solution. In the meantime, this announcement lays out the causes and current next steps for resolving scenarios associated with Reject Code 68.

When a Reject Code 68 error occurs, it is often paired with one of two comment codes: 329 or 303. These rejections are likely due to one of the following scenarios:

Comment Code 303

Missing Tax Filing Status: When the parent answers the “Parent Tax Filing Status” question as “Did not and will not file any tax return – no earned income” and a state of residence of FC (Foreign Country).

Comment Code 329

StudentAid.gov Account is flagged: Occasionally, Federal Student Aid (FSA) may flag accounts to protect customers’ personally identifiable information. An update will be made in December to make the next steps clearer to the user.
Incarcerated applicant’s StudentAid.gov Account is disabled: If an incarcerated applicant’s account is disabled, an FAA assisting the student can take steps to reinstate the account.
Pending Match Status: The user's Social Security Administration (SSA) match status in their StudentAid.gov account is listed as PENDING. This was resolved with the Aug. 3 release of real-time matching (see APP-25-18), but there may still be lingering issues.
Parent Paper Signature on Electronic FAFSA Form: When a FAFSA form that has been submitted online is rejected for a missing parent signature, a parent who then provides that signature via a paper correction will result in a Reject Code 68.

The following tables provide a detailed overview of each issue, how to identify it, and the potential solution.

Comment Code 303

Issue

Identification

Potential Solution

Missing Tax Filing Status

When a student has a parent contributor with
a non-U.S. state of residence and the parent indicated they did not file a foreign tax return by selecting “The parent did not and will not file any tax return because they did not earn any income or they were not required to file under the Internal Revenue Code,”
the student’s FAFSA form is rejected with no SAI calculation returned and no messaging detailing any resolution steps.

The parent or FAA should start a correction and update the response on the “Parent Tax Filing Status” view from the sixth option (i.e., “The parent did not and will not file any tax return because they did not earn any income or they were not required to file under the Internal Revenue Code”) to the third option (i.e., “Either the parent earned income in a foreign country but did not and will not file a foreign tax return, or they were an employee of an international organization but not required to report their income on any tax return”).

After updating this answer, the parent will have to provide additional financial information. They should select the best choice for filing status and complete all other questions provided in the form. If the parent earned no income, they should report their adjusted gross income as “0.” The parent will then need to sign and submit the correction.

Comment Code 329

Issue	Identification	Potential Solution
StudentAid.gov account is flagged	When a user's account is flagged to protect personally identifiable information, it prevents the SAI from being calculated. When a user’s account has been flagged, they will see one of the following error messages when they attempt to log in: SIGN IN UNSUCCESSFUL: Your FSA ID is disabled. Contact customer support at 1-800-433-3243. We are unable to log you in with this username at this time. Contact customer support at 1-800-433-3243.	The user should call the Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC) at 1-800-4-FED-AID to recover the account.
Incarcerated applicant with a disabled StudentAid.gov account	If an incarcerated applicant has a Comment Code 329 on their record, the FAA should verify whether the applicant’s StudentAid.gov account is disabled. To verify, contact the FPS Help Desk at 800-330-5947 or support@fps.ed.gov, provide the transaction UUID for the student’s application, and request confirmation of the StudentAid.gov account status.	The FAA should collect the following documentation from the student and send it as a password-protected file to FSAIDAccessSupport@ed.gov. Send the password in a separate email to the same email address. A copy of the student’s prison ID A signed and dated statement that includes the student’s full legal name, Social Security number, and date of birth Signed Statement “I certify that I am incarcerated and applying for a Federal Pell Grant. I request that my StudentAid.gov account be re-enabled. I have provided a copy of my prison ID. I require this specialized process because I am not permitted to have other forms of identification while incarcerated.” Full Legal Name: Social Security number: Date of birth: Signature: Date:
Paper Parent Signature on Electronic FAFSA	When an electronic FAFSA form is rejected for a missing parent signature, a parent who then provides that signature via a paper correction will result in a Reject Code 68.	The parent should create a StudentAid.gov account online. The student should then start a correction and invite the parent to add the parent’s new online account as a contributor. If the contributor does not receive the invite, the student should ensure the information entered in the invite perfectly matches the personal information in the parent’s StudentAid.gov account. If the parent continues to not receive the invite, the student should call FSAIC and note that the parent likely has conflicting limited accounts. Resource: How do I add a contributor to the FAFSA form?
Pending SSA Match Status	A "Pending" status on StudentAid.gov means a student’s identity is being confirmed with the SSA. The student can check this status in the "Personal Information" section of "Settings" in their account. The student will receive an email once the match is successful. Resource: How do I check my StudentAid.gov account Social Security Administration (SSA) match status?	Real-time SSA matching was deployed on Aug. 3, 2025, and should solve this issue going forward. If a user is still in a “Pending” status, they should call FSAIC, which can resend the account for matching.

FAAs who have questions or continue to have issues should contact the FPS Help Desk and be ready to provide the students’ transaction IDs so that a ticket can be opened and researched further for the specific user(s).

Phone: 800-330-5947
Fax: 319-665-7662
Email: support@fps.ed.gov; for questions specific to TFA, email TFASupport@ed.gov.
Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday

ED is continuing to review how we handle these errors and will work to provide further guidance about ways to resolve each issue.

We appreciate your patience throughout this process.

(APP-25-24) Update on FAFSA Reject Code 68