<p>I was selected for verification and by trying to make things easier for the school I made corrections to my FAFSA, but it was not until recently that I found that I was suppose to leave my fafsa as is that they correct for you. I never lied about my FAFSA but I kept getting confused and changed a couple of stuff. Now im sure it is correct but Will they penalized me for that? does it mean i wont get any aid? I have not sent the verification letters back.</p>
<p>I made a mistake too and corrected it. Im sure you will be ok. We all make mistakes.</p>
<p>You will not get aid if you do not send the verification information in.</p>
<p>Being selected for verification does not mean they think you lied. Schools are required to verify a minimum of 30% of FAFSAs they receive. Some schools verify more than that (my son’s school verified 100%)…</p>
<p>I made corrections and submitted and hope there isnt a problem!</p>
<p>When do folks get asked to verify? We sent FAFSA in Jan 2.</p>
<p>No, that is exactly what you are supposed to do (though asset figures are not supposed to be changed). If you are selected for verification, just send in the requested documents as soon as possible. When and if will depend on the school. My daughter’s last year of school it was mid to late March (I remember as we were away for Spring break and they posted the verification request on her student account and we had no idea).</p>
<p>What do you mean by asset figures?</p>
<p>If you reported assets (not everyone has to), you are not supposed to change them as they are supposed to be a “snapshot” of assets on the day of filing and it should be possible to report them accurately at the time of filing FAFSA. Income, on the other hand, is expected to be corrected as people often file before their tax returns are finalized.</p>
<p>What if assets have changed appreciably since one filed? Any ideas?</p>
<p>The assets are not supposed to be changed to reflect changes since you filed FAFSA. They are supposed to be what they were on the day you filed FAFSA. Changing assets is likely to trigger verification, and you would have to prove you changed the figure because it was an error as of the day you originally reported it and not because of a subsequent change in assets.</p>
<p>Dowz…your assets on the FAFSA and Profile are reported the date of your initial filing. They are NOT changed in subsequent filings even if you win the lottery. The only reason asset numbers can be changed is if you made an error the first time. For example, we put an account that was ours under DDs assets one year by mistake. We DID have to make that correction when we updated.</p>
<p>But if your assets go up or down, you do NOT change them when updating the financial aid forms.</p>
<p>Do not worry about the changes you made (although it is correct that asset info should not be changed). You aren’t the first & won’t be the last to do that. Just relax, make sure you watch for whatever it is the school requests, and comply quickly. If you don’t understand what they are requesting, ask. You will be fine.</p>
<p>So, we need to keep checking the school FA website for verification requests? I know that we were flagged for verification, so should I tell my son to keep checking just to make sure that we comply in a timely manner?</p>
<p>If it were me, I would check.</p>
<p>Most importantly, did you send in exactly what was requested in that verification letter? For right now, forget that you made a mistake in correcting the FAFSA. The big question is whether you have done exactly as you have been asked, item by item in the letter. If you don’t understand some of the requests, call financial aid and go over the request and understand what you need to get to them and do, then do it.</p>