The FSA ID replaced the Federal Student Aid PIN on May 10, 2015. If students haven’t logged into a Federal Student Aid site yet, they will need to create an FSA ID before they can log on in the future.
Wondering why the FSA ID replaced the Federal Student Aid PIN?
The main reason was to increase security. Having a username and password is much more secure than a PIN that students, parents and borrower enter in conjunction with personally identifiable information (e.g. Social Security number, name, and date of birth). The fewer times they have to enter personally identifiable information over the Internet, the safer they are.
If students already have a PIN, they can link their information to their new FSA ID by entering their PIN while registering for their FSA ID. This will save their time when registering for their FSA ID. If students have forgotten their PIN, they should not worry because they can either enter the answer to their PIN “challenge question” during the FSA ID registration process to link their PIN, or they can just create their FSA ID from scratch. A PIN is not required to create an FSA ID.
After students get an FSA ID, will students still be required to use the Federal Student Aid PIN?
No. The FSA ID will replace the PIN as the way to confirm students’ identity when accessing financial aid information through certain ED websites. When logging in to these websites, students will be required to enter only the FSA ID username and password.
Students and parents can create an FSA ID to access the federal financial aid at
https://fsaid.ed.gov/npas/index.htm