I am working with a student with a T visa. He is eligible for title 4 funding but does not have an SSN yet. Can he submit the FAFSA using a different SSN number? 999999999 etc
They should select eligible non-US citizen on the FAFSA, and put in their Alien Registration Number (ARN). Do they have that?
This is a tough one. The student needs an SSN to get an FSA ID, which is required in order to submit the FAFSA by computer. Without it, the student has to submit a paper FAFSA with signature page. The student will fail the SSN match, so the FAFSA will reject. The school’s financial aid office has to get involved, contacting federal agencies to verify the status. My suggestion is to contact the student’s first choice school to get a financial aid officer involved from the beginning.
You can read about relevant regulations for verifying this visa status on page 1-37: https://ifap.ed.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/2019-08/1920FSAHbkVol1Master.pdf.
@kelsmom I thought that T visa holders (who qualify as eligible non-citizens) could use the ARN in place of the SSN on FAFSA? That is not what it says on your reference, but here is one reference I found.
^^^ That would be worth trying.
Parents without SSNs use 000000000 and print out the request for a PIN and mail it in.
If there is a valid ARN, then yes, it can be used. I have never dealt with a T visa situation, so I am not familiar with it. I was just going by the FSA Handbook information.