Verification

FAFSA Verification

Students may be selected for verification. If you are selected for verification you will be asked to submit a verification worksheet(s). You may be asked to submit an IRS tax transcript for self (and parents or spouse, as applicable). If you have amended your taxes or are separated, you will be asked to submit an IRS tax transcript and an IRS account transcript. You may be asked to provide W2s, evidence of receipt of SNAP payments, child support paid, proof of identity, proof of failure to earn credit or proof of earned credit at prior schools attended, and statement of educational purpose, as well as other items. Other items that may be requested can include: proof of citizenship, state ID, I-94, marital status documentation, or proof of high school diploma completion. Other items may also be requested.

It is the job of the Financial Aid Office to resolve any discrepancies in the information provided by the student in regard to data elements involved with awarding financial aid eligibility. All documentation provided is handled within the guidelines specified by FERPA and the privacy of all sensitive information is respected. If selected, please pay close attention to the documents requested by email/FA Office. Please contact the Financial Aid Office to complete the process.

Once you have applied for financial aid through the AIAM Financial Aid Office, you will receive emails notifying you of exactly what is required to complete your verification, as well as the time period specified to complete these requests. However, we will allow completion of verification after this deadline when necessary, up to deadlines specified by the Department of Education. Failing to meet verification requirements will mean no federal aid for the award year in which verification is not completed. If verification is not completed by the evening of June 30th for the award year in which it is requested, all eligibility from that award year will be lost.

Sometimes data on a FAFSA will, during the course of verification, need to be corrected. The Financial Aid Office will make corrections as necessary online and may contact the student for additional information and/or to help the student correct these data items. An email will be sent to the student from FAFSA indicating a subsequent FAFSA transaction has occurred as a result of the verification process.

Sometimes discrepant information is discovered during the course of verification and/or review of a student’s FAFSA. The Financial Aid Office will first contact the student in investigating discrepant information. Even if the conflict concerns a previous award year, all discrepant information is still investigated. The matter is considered resolved when data is considered cor­rect; this might simply be confirming that an earlier determination was the right one. All findings will be documented in the student’s file. If the Financial Aid Office suspects that a student has misreported information willfully or altered documentation to fraudulently obtain federal funds, all suspicions and evidence will be reported to the Office of Inspector General at 1-800-MIS-USED E-mail: [email protected].