Financial aid in a limbo

It’s been pending for more than 3 months,
First I applied to a community college closer to where I live, I got really tired of them and realized this school is bad for me.
They ask me for financial aid information when I told them I cannot send them verification because Irs won’t send me the papers I need due to covid, I enrolled in that school then dropped out only for them to charge me application fee, sigh.

Now another school I’m enrolled need the same,
My financial aid is in the limbo, they wanted my ex spouse tax information, he always file his tax separately and I did separate mine this year but they’ve ask me to send his tax information for the 2018 year.
This school hasn’t called me and there is no appointment at all.
I’m getting frustrated.

They want me to verify my identity.
They want me to send that I’m independent student
They want me to send my ex spouse I have nothing to do his tax information!

I cannot believe this.

For now I’ve paid my tuition with my credit card, but I believe the grant should be given to me because I’m awarded with it.

I don’t know what to do with this covid-19 happening it’s stressful not to be able to sort anything.

The requests are due to the fact that the federal processor selected your FAFSA for verification. You were selected for verification of income & miscellaneous information, as well as for verification of identity. You must submit the required documentation to ANY school in order to receive aid (verification is required at all schools, if the federal processor selects you).

The need for ex-spouse information might be able to be waived, since you are no longer married. Did you file separately in 2018? If so, I don’t understand why they would need his income information. If you filed jointly, they want it to separate out your income from his. However, if you explain to them that you are now divorced, they may be able to find an alternate way to verify your income.

You cannot receive any federal aid if you do not comply with requests for documentation. Period. That is federal regulations.

If you filed jointly in 2018, you can ask the financial aid office if they will accept a Wage and Income Transript from you to prove your portion of the income on your Tax Transcript (which you will also need to provide, if you didn’t use the IRS Data Retrieval when you did your FAFSA). You can download & print: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-return-transcript-types-and-ways-to-order-them.

I’ve talked with the other school and they even sent me a form in the mail and I mailed it back for them to verify that information.
Up to know they said they didn’t received it on the mail.

This other school doesn’t answer the phone.
I have told them that we have been separated for a long time and the last time we have filed a tax (joint tax) was 2010 the last year of our marriage though we haven’t got divorce he never give me a dime of his income.

In 2018 I was not even in the USA, I didn’t have a job so no need for me to file tax and he as usual filed his tax separately.

Oh well it looks like I won’t be receiving the aid and just have to pay for it out of pocket due to this corona virus can’t go to campus to sort it out

@classof2026

If you didn’t file taxes in 2018, you need a non-filers statement for that year. I’m not sure if you can get those right now .

What sort of aid were you anticipating? The full Pell Grant? The Direct Loan?

Were you anticipating school based aid.

On your FAFSA, did you put “separated or Divorced” as your marital status?

There are now allowable alternatives if you are unable to obtain a nonfiler statement from the IRS. You should be able to submit a written, manually signed statement (that means it can’t just be an email - you’d have to sign & mail, or attach to an email, if the school allows attachments).

I also wonder about what was indicated on the FAFSA for marital status. If you put divorced/separated, why would they ask for the ex’s information? They should only have done that if you put married, or if you had filed jointly in 2018 (to be able to verify your portion of the income).

Things don’t make sense. You can get aid, but it would be helpful if you answered @thumper1 ‘s questions so we can try to help.