Verification

Approximately one-third of all FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) filers are selected by the Department of Education for a process known as verification. During verification, the Financial Aid Office will collect documents to determine whether certain questions on the FAFSA were completed accurately. If selected for verification:

1. A Verification Worksheet is mailed to the applicant from the Financial Aid Office or can be downloaded from the PRINTABLE FORMS section of the Financial Aid website. Printable forms are located slightly up and to the right of this entry in a dropdown menu.
2. The worksheet should be completed and returned with appropriate signed copies (as directed on the worksheet) of the applicants and the applicant's parents Federal Income Tax return (including all schedules and W-2's) for the calendar year preceding the academic year for which you are applying (i.e.: verification of a 2006 - 2007 FAFSA will require the 2005 Federal Income Tax return).
3. If additional information/documents are needed, they will be requested.
4. If information needs to be corrected, our office will submit the corrections electronically and continue the file review after the corrections have been accepted and processed by the Central Processor. If corrections are not required, the review will continue.
5. Students should monitor their PAWS account for missing documents.

Allow approximately 4-6 weeks following receipt of your documentation for the verification process, and an additional seven to ten days if corrections are required. IMPORTANT: If you wait until the summer months to submit the documents needed for the verification process to be completed, the amount of time it takes to complete the verification process increases significantly; eight weeks is not unusual. Students are strongly encouraged to apply by March 1st, which is the priority filing date, to avoid delays in receiving both notice and disbursement of their financial aid.

NOTE:

For the Pell Grant only, verification materials must be submitted no later than 90 days after the last day of attendance, or by August 31, whichever is earlier. For all other programs, our office must receive verification materials no later than the last date of attendance