Reject Code 68 may show up on FAFSA without rejecting the application, but it signals a blank SAI and can leave families puzzled. The U.S. Department of Education is now reclassifying the underlying causes of this issue and offering targeted steps to resolve them in the near term, while a longer-term technical fix is under development.
Context
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.
Reject Code 68 Scenarios and Suggested Steps for Remediation
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).
Identification:
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.
Potential Solution:
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
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.
Identification:
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.
-
Potential Solution:
The user should call the Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC) at 1-800-4-FED-AID to recover the account.
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.
Identification:
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.
Potential Solution:
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 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.
Identification
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?
Potential Solution
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.
Questions & Support
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 they handle these errors and will provide further guidance about ways to resolve each issue. The Department appreciates our patience throughout this process.