Can a student find out what parent put down for FAFSA?

Paying for College
1

<p>My son came to me about a family friend's concern. The friend is afraid that her dad put in false info on her FAFSA.</p>

<p>This is the situation.</p>

<p>Parents married (absolutely NOT separated - ever!),
dad is an engineer, makes about $100k
mom works part time, makes about $15-20k
unprotected savings in excess of $400k (this I know for a fact because of what parents told me when they were recently shopping for a vacation home which they would pay cash for....they haven't purchased that vacation home yet.)
2 kids in college.
3 kids in family.</p>

<p>Dad filed FAFSA for both college kids (did not involve kids AT ALL) and voila...full Pell Grants appeared for both kids after EFC 0 was given for both kids. </p>

<p>The student KNOWS there's no way she'd legally qualify for this Pell Grant. She's asked her dad about it and he won't let her see what he put on FAFSA. </p>

<p>I'm guessing that the dad filed and said that the parents are separated and only used mom's income. That seems like the only logical explanation for the 0 EFC. I can't think of another way he could fill it out to get a 0 EFC with their income/assets. Since he's not self-employed, he couldn't "cook the books" in any way....he had to have left his income off.</p>

<p>What other way could this have happened? </p>

<p>Is there any legit way that a family with an earned income of - say $110k with 2 kids in college could have a 0 EFC?</p>

<p>The student is very concerned that she could get into some kind of trouble if this were discovered. It's not like her dad could claim an innocent mistake...like forgetting to include a forgotten savings acct or something. </p>

<p>What could happen to **her **if this is discovered?</p>

<p>I realize that her parents would have to repay the Pell grants if discovered, but what else would happen.</p>

<p>If it is discovered, can she claim that she had no involvement? </p>

<p>Is there a way for her to see what was filed? Will the school show her? </p>

<p>She is a very sweet girl and is quite upset about this.</p>

2

<p>The student should have her own PIN, wouldn’t she be able to sign in to her acct?</p>

3

<p>Since I know my (student) PIN, I can enter that to see how my parents filled out my FAFSA.</p>

4

<p>All the student needs to access the FAFSA is the STUDENT PIN number. That’s it. With that, the student can log in and check anything on the FAFSA.</p>

<p>If the father got a student PIN, that is another story. Not supposed to happen, but probably can.</p>

5

<p>If the father got the PIN for the student, the student can retrieve the PIN on the FAFSA website <a href=“https://pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/PINServlet?state=100[/url]”>https://pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/PINServlet?state=100&lt;/a&gt; using the student’s SS#, last name and birthdate. I don’t know if there are security questions involved with the retrieval though.</p>

6

<p>Mom2…even if the father put only HIS income for the FAFSA, he would not have been gotten a $0 EFC…I don’t think.</p>

7

<p>Thumper, I think mom2 thinks only the moms income was put, not dads.</p>

8

<p>The father created the student’s PIN, so she has no idea what it is. The father did the entire FAFSA with no input from his 2 college kids at all…the kids did not create PINs…the dad did that part as well.</p>

<p>I don’t think the dad listed HIS income at all…I think he claimed that the parents are separated and only put his wife’s very low income. He probably put all the savings in HIS name only and then claimed that the mom is the custodial parent. That’s the only logical explanation. </p>

<p>so, can she retrieve her PIN someway? If so, she’ll do that. edit…ok Hoosiermom says she can retrieve it…she’ll try that.</p>

<p>Unbelievable. :/</p>

<p>So, could she get into trouble for this? She’s so worried.</p>

9

<p>Actually she should be worried for her father. Falsifying federal documents comes with stiff penalties.</p>

10

<p>The problem would be if the school asks the mother to verify her separation from the father. They would need to show something that actually proves this is the case. Also, my understanding is that schools scrutinize those $0 efc FAFSA forms more carefully than others.</p>

<p>Of course the biggest issue is that IF this was knowingly completed incorrectly it is considered fraud…and the student runs the risk of losing financial aid and admissions to the school. I believe that fraudulently completing
the FAFSA also carries a heft fine.</p>

11

<p>The father lied when he got PINs for the kids - the PIN website is very clear about this. The student could attempt to retrieve her PIN, which requires correctly answering a security question. If she gets locked out, she can request a new PIN. I would be a bit concerned about doing this, though, because the father would know she had obtained a new PIN. </p>

<p>This situation is a real problem. The student could lose all of her aid if the fraud is exposed. If she tries to fix this, though, there may be other issues … the father sounds like he is controlling & manipulative. Butting heads with him on this one might give rise to even more problems (although at least they are not criminal problems …).</p>

<p>Wow. If a student came to me as a financial aid officer & explained her dilemma, I would select the FAFSA for verification. An aid officer can select any FAFSA to be verified - the parent would have no way of knowing that it was not a coincidence. I would then verify the heck out of the entire situation, including requiring proof of separation if only mom’s income is reported. If I found out they were not actually separated, though, I would also have to verify the current year FAFSA because I would have conflicting info that must be resolved. It is a very difficult situation the parent has put his child in … how unfair to her!</p>

<p>My advice is to always be honest. Honesty does come with its own issues, of course …</p>

12

<p>Mom2…you mention that two kids are in college which would mean ONE is already a college student. Does that OLDER student have his/her PIN? If they took the Stafford loan, they would need that PIN to do the master promissory note…and the intake counseling stuff for the loan. THAT student could gain access to the FAFSA assuming dad didn’t lie and get a new Pin for that student.</p>

13

<p>How are these kids supposed to sign their MPN’s if they don’t know their own PINs? Or is Dad going to pry open the checkbook to pay whatever the taxpayers don’t pick up for him? Unbelievable…where is the mom in this ridiculous situation?</p>

14

<p>Dad probably did the entrance counseling and the MPN …</p>

15

<p>Dad probably did as Kelsmom said. I have known young people who were completely unaware that they were racking up student loan debt until they graduated (having assumed the parents took care of everything - and boy did they).</p>

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<p>I find that very disturbing…wouldn’t that be tantamount to identity theft? What happens if the kids refuses to pay those loans since they didn’t agree to them in the first place? I think this e-MPN thing is great, but obviously opens up a whole can of worms when unethical parents take matters into their own hands.</p>

17

<p>“Is there any legit way that a family with an earned income of - say $110k with 2 kids in college could have a 0 EFC?”</p>

<p>Pretty unlikely… EFC would probably be somewhere between 5k and 10k with everything else assumed to be minimal.</p>

<p>Now the $400,000 in savings would change things a bit, obviously.</p>

<p>But she/her father has little chance of getting “exposed”… There’s practically no way this will ever be investigated and determined to be fraud. Honestly the most they’ll probably do is ask for a few additional documents, and if those check out, well. Dad is home free.</p>

18

<p>I thought FAFSA was linked to the IRS site now.</p>

19

<p>I suspect the Dad has been lying to the IRS as well.</p>

20

<p>FAFSA is not linked to the IRS … the only way to link is for the taxpayer to request the link (SSN needed). They also have to request that the data be downloaded to the FAFSA after the link is made (some link, then decide not to download … there is a code the aid administrator can see that tells her that … and also, it tells if the info was downloaded and then changed!!). It doesn’t go back & forth.</p>