After I completed my FAFSA, I received an EFC of a whopping 5140 and an asterisk next to it, which upon further research I found out that I am to go through the verification process…lucky me. With that EFC, for the particular college I want to attend, I get no need based aid whatsoever. I found out that although my parents had a low enough income for some need based aid, they had deferred some of their income toward their retirement because they are in their late 50s with no money invested in their retirement yet. I am really discouraged that the only thing that stood between at least a penny of aid and I was untouchable retirement income. Will verifying do anything for me, or will it only secure the college’s decision that I don’t need their money?
Be more clear about how and when they deferred some of their income toward retirement. Asset balances in formal retirement accounts aren’t supposed to be reported on fafsa. If you mean they made pre-tax contributions in 2014, that didn’t affect your EFC. Their AGI was reduced by the pre-tax contributions and then you had to report them on fafsa. If they hadn’t made the pre-tax contributions their AGI would have been that much higher to begin with.
Your EFC is $5100 or so. All that means is that you are not eligible for a Pell Grant. The Pell Grant is given by the federal government, not your college.
Your college would give you institutional need based aid, if the college has money to give. With your EFC, there are colleges where you would receive need based aid.
Are you saying that your parent contribution to retirement prevented you from getting a Pell Grant? The max Pell is $5730. How did you plan to pay the remaining costs to attend your college?
If you truly aren’t going to get any need-based financial aid, I don’t think your school will bother
verifying you. But even the student loans or work study are considered need-based financial aid.
And unless your school cost of attendance is less than your EFC, you might still get financial aid.
Like someone said above, you just don’t qualify for the federal pell grant, but your school may
have other grants to offer.
If you truly aren’t going to get any need-based financial aid, I don’t think your school will bother
verifying you.
Not true. A student selected for verification must complete verification in order to receive any aid … including unsubsidized loans (and I don’t know of any colleges that would disburse institutional aid to a student who does not complete verification). Only if the student doesn’t plan to get ANY type of aid through the school, including federal loans, will they not bother with verification.
My son didn’t qualify for a penny of need based aid at his university. He was selected for verification all four years as an undergrad. We comoleted the FAFSA annually for Direct Loan purposes.
And my son’s college asked for a ton of documents every year, all four times. We sent them every year.
As Kelsmom said, if we hadn’t completed the college verification process, our kid would not have gotten even the unsubsidized loan…which was all he got.
yes, I made that caveat in my post - schools consider loans as ‘aid’. If the OP is
truly getting no aid at all, why would the financial aid office need verification? My
point is that they probably ARE going to get some type of ‘aid’.
We were verified before my son completed the promisory note for his loan. In other words, he hadn’t received a nickel of financial aid. We were still selected for verification.
schools consider loans as ‘aid’.
Because loans ARE aid.
Schools don’t know ahead of the verification process whether students will actually “get aid” for that school year. They have to attempt to verify all submitted FAFSAs to determine that the info on the FAFSA is correct. Even if the only aid offered is the unsub loans, schools don’t know ahead of time if the student will accept or decline them, but the school has to offer them and can only offer them based on a verified FAFSA.