<p>Ok - I'm helping a relative and I want to make sure I understand everything correctly.</p>
<p>My relative and her mother have filled out the FAFSA and filled out their income taxes.</p>
<p>I have suggested that they go ahead and LINK the FAFSA to their 2012 tax return form even though the information they provided is "accurate" and matches their tax forms.</p>
<p>I understand if they link - that they probably won't be chosen to "verify" and therefore won't get held up. Is this correct?</p>
<p>Does Pell money run out? I know our state grant money does run out - so wanting to make sure my relative is in line and ready to get the grants. She has an EFC of zero.</p>
<p>You’re basically correct. You need to e-file the tax return. Wait a few business days for it to process. Then you’ll be able to go into the FAFSA, choose ‘have filed’ taxes, and then you’ll be able to link from IRS info to the FAFSA, if your relatives deserve a refund. If they owe taxes, they will have to pay (I believe) before the data retrieval can be done.</p>
<p>And yes, the purpose of the IRS Data Retrieval is to reduce/eliminate the need for verifications. Can’t speak to your question about Pell grants running out, but generally in financial aid sooner is better, money does run out, so don’t delay.</p>
<p>I understand if they link - that they probably won’t be chosen to “verify” and therefore won’t get held up. Is this correct?</p>
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<p>Since this is the first year for the new targeted verification, I am not so sure simply linking will result in not being chosen for verification. It will reduce the chance of incorrectly entering income/tax info, which in turn may reduce the chance of selection for income items. However, with targeted verification, students may be chosen for verification of non-income items … and the IRS link won’t reduce the chance of selection for non-income items. If you link and then are asked to verify income items, you will already have that part done (as long as you don’t change anything).</p>
<p>I have just started importing FAFSA info at my school, and I have noticed an increase in those selected for income verification - they did not do the transfer. What surprises me is that they are not 0 EFC, and they are grad students - it’s unsub loans only, no sub loans or Pell grants for grad students - so I think it’s weird.</p>
<p>My kid was verified for four years of undergrad school. He didn’t get ONE penny of federally funded need based aid…he had an unsubsidized stafford. We thought THAT was weird too!</p>
<p>It seemed that grad students were being verified less frequently for a couple years - but we will see if the small sample I saw today means I will see more overall this coming year.</p>
<p>So I was wrong about the possibility of eliminating verification. It would only eliminate verification of the items actually transferred from the IRS.</p>
<p>The * on your Student Aid Report means you are selected for verification. Beginning in 2013-14, you won’t necessarily need to give income info if you are selected … you might be asked for something different. This is because of something new called “targeted verification,” in which only the elements that tripped verification are actually required to be verified. Wait until the school tells you what is needed!!!</p>
<p>IDOC does not cover federal verification requirements - it is for institutional use. In the past, the tax documents submitted to IDOC could be used for federal verification. Now, the feds require direct tax transfer from the IRS to the FAFSA or an IRS tax transcript; the tax form is not acceptable documentation anymore.</p>
<p>@kelsmom - do you know what the time frame is for verification? Sorry if you already answered that elsewhere. Oh, how I want this to be over! I actually made copies of everything, bank statements, 401k statements etc so that I have them ready to go. I’ll scan everything into one folder, save it on a flash drive and then shred. Boy, am I looking forward to “shred day”! :)</p>
<p>TIming is different for each school. I worked at a very large school, and we started verification for prospective freshmen in mid-March. We did estimated award letters for all freshmen, though, even if verification was not complete - we just indicated that the awards could change as the result of verificaiton. I wouldn’t think a school would request federal verification documents prior to the student being admitted.</p>
<p>No, it shouldn’t. Verification is an expected thing in the financial aid business. Send in the household and untaxed income info right away, and do the DRT as soon as you can. You will be fine.</p>
<p>Mom1006…I believe you are the parent who files a separate return from your husband. You cannot use the DRT…you need to request tax transcripts for both you and your husband. Do this ASAP.</p>
<p>In answer to the original question, Pell grants do not run out in their national funding, but you need to meet all deadlines. I believe the deadline is later for community college students than for other students.</p>
<p>In the case of grants given out by my state, there is a fixed amount of funding statewide. If the need exceeds the budget, they decrease everyone’s “estimated” grant.</p>
<p>Many colleges will not guarantee any of their own aid funds if you miss their deadlines. For people applying to colleges - keep in mind that many colleges require you to apply for aid before you are accepted.</p>
<p>Don’t let the linkage between Fafsa and the IRS cause you to miss a deadline to apply. Sometimes, it can take a number of days for that linkage to happen. If you don’t have perfect information available, file the financial aid forms with the best estimates you have, before the deadline, and then provide a correction later.</p>