How to Complete and Submit the FSA Partner Connect Access Form

The FSA Partner Connect Access Form is completed entirely online: an administrator at your organization initiates your enrollment inside the Account Access Management Center (AAMC), you receive an email link to fill in your portion, and every signature is captured through DocuSign. Since the July 2025 implementation of SAIG enrollment functionality, paper forms and mailed submissions are no longer accepted.¹

Before You Start

You cannot enroll yourself. The Primary Administrator (formerly the Primary Destination Point Administrator) or a Secondary Administrator at your organization has to log in to FSA Partner Connect and add you through the AAMC.² If your institution has never enrolled at all, that setup has to happen first; see the Primary Administrator steps further down.

Enrollment covers anyone who needs to work in the federal student aid systems: Common Origination and Disbursement (COD), the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), the FAFSA Processing System (FPS), eCDR Appeals, SAIG Mailboxes, and Total and Permanent Disability loan holder notifications.³ That includes financial aid staff at colleges and universities, employees of third-party servicers, and personnel at state and guaranty agencies.

Have these ready before you open the DocuSign link:

Your full legal name as it appears on official records.
A professional email address that goes directly to you.
Your job title.
Your institution’s eight-digit OPE ID (Office of Postsecondary Education Identification) number. Third-party servicers use their Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) instead.
The exact legal name of your organization as it appears in Department of Education records.

Abbreviations or informal branch-campus names cause mismatches that stall processing. Match the Department’s records exactly.

Filling In and Submitting Your Portion

Once an administrator adds you in the AAMC, DocuSign emails you a link to the Access Form. Open it from that email, not from a saved copy or a colleague’s forwarded message. The personal information section confirms who you are; the institutional section links you to the right organization and its OPE ID or TIN. Review everything before signing, because the form travels next to your Authorizing Official for approval.

Depending on the level of permissions being granted, the Authorizing Official (your institution’s President, CEO, or their designee) receives the form through DocuSign and signs off electronically. If any email address in the chain is wrong or outdated, the DocuSign notification never arrives and the enrollment sits idle, so confirm with your administrator that the addresses on file for the Primary Administrator, Secondary Administrator, and Authorizing Official are current.¹

After Approval: User ID, Password, and Acknowledgment

When your enrollment clears approval, you receive a follow-up email with your FSA User ID and instructions for setting a password.² Log in to FSA Partner Connect and review and acknowledge any new access permissions that appear. Skip that acknowledgment and your access to the requested systems will not activate, even though the enrollment itself shows complete.

Registering Your Two-Factor Authentication Token

Before your first login to any federal student aid system, you have to register a Two-Factor Authentication (TFA) token. Each FSA User ID can have only one token at a time, and the system accepts two kinds.

The soft token is the VIP Access app by Symantec, downloadable on iOS, Android, and Windows mobile devices. It requires a data connection. This is the option recommended for most users. The physical token is a hardware key fob issued by Federal Student Aid; if your mobile device is not compatible or you prefer not to use the app, ask your Primary Administrator to request one. You need the physical token in hand both when you register it and every time you sign in.⁴

Either token generates a one-time password valid for 30 seconds. Enter it promptly; if it expires before you submit, the login fails and a new code is generated.

If You’re the Primary Administrator Setting Up the Institution

When no one at your organization has enrolled before, the Primary Administrator handles the institutional setup before any individual user can be added. The Department of Education lays this out in four steps.²

Confirm your organization is an eligible partner (a Title IV-participating institution, approved third-party servicer, state agency, or guaranty agency) and identify who will serve as Primary Administrator and, optionally, Secondary Administrator.
Determine which batch services and systems your organization will use and how many SAIG mailboxes you need. Initiate the request in the AAMC, acknowledge the Responsibilities of FSA Partner Connect Users, and sign that acknowledgment electronically.
Submit the Authorizing Official Approval Form through DocuSign. The Authorizing Official reviews and digitally signs to confirm the enrollment and the administrator assignments.
Once approved, log back in to the AAMC, select “Add a New User,” and assign the appropriate access levels for each person you enroll.

Assigning a role broader than someone’s actual job needs creates unnecessary security exposure and can draw scrutiny in audits, so match access to duties.

Keeping Your Account From Getting Locked

Enrollment is not one-and-done. FSA Partner Connect disables accounts after 90 consecutive days without a sign-in; a disabled account can be brought back through the AIMS self-service tool. At 365 days of inactivity, the account is fully deactivated, and only your Primary or Secondary Administrator can reactivate it by calling the FSA Partner and School Relations Center.¹ Signing in to one system does not reset the clock for the others: a login to COD, for example, will not keep your NSLDS access alive.⁵

One warning worth flagging separately: if the Primary Administrator’s own account gets disabled for inactivity, every other user at that institution loses access to FSA Partner Connect.⁵ A recurring calendar reminder on the Primary Administrator’s schedule is worth the two minutes it takes to set.

Getting Help If Enrollment Stalls

If a login fails or an inactivity window closes on you, the fix depends on how far things have gone. A 90-day disabled account can be reactivated through the AIMS self-service portal. A fully deactivated account, or anything more complicated, needs your Primary or Secondary Administrator.

For issues that neither self-service nor your administrator can resolve, submit a request through the Contact Customer Support form on FSA Partner Connect and select “Account Access” from the Topic dropdown. For urgent help, call the School Relations Center at 1-800-848-0978, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.⁶ Have your FSA User ID and your institution’s OPE ID ready before you dial; the support team will ask for both.

1
Federal Student Aid. Additional Information for July 2025 Implementation of SAIG Enrollment Functionality
2
Federal Student Aid. System Enrollment Application Information
3
Federal Student Aid. Implementation of SAIG Enrollment Functionality
4
Federal Student Aid. How to Install and Register a TFA Token for New Users
5
Federal Student Aid. FSA Partner Connect User Access – Disabled or Deactivated Users
6
Federal Student Aid. Contact Customer Support