Call financial aid at the school and ask…they might know. You will need to speak to someone higher up than the person who answers the phone.
They are asking for identity info for your son…not you. Is it possible there could be a misspelling of his name, a SS number that doesn’t match the student? Something like that?
Why is it problematic? It isn’t if this is the only school to require it. It will be if I have to rush around and get nine more done whenever they tell me about it and have them due ASAP. If I could get all of them done now, this wouldn’t be an issue but none of them are on his portals. I guess we have to wait until they either email us (like this first school did) or check the portals every day for all of the nine other schools. We have no issues with deadlines about things we know about. Right now, we just sit and wait for nine other schools.
The website at studentaid.gov says some people are selected at random.
See this link, fairly far down the page.
https://studentaid.gov/apply-for-aid/fafsa/review-and-correct
And adding…this is not a “required form”. It’s a form that is used when needed to verify something on the FAFSA. That’s different than a “required form”.
What is it verifying?
This is the statement on the form “I certify that I ___________________________________________ am the individual signing this Print Student’s Name Statement of Educational Purpose and that the Federal student financial assistance I may receive will only be used for educational purposes and to pay the cost of attending _______________for 2023-2024.”
Don’t all colleges expect that students using financial aid use it for educational purposes? Why just my kid? I just think it’s odd. Now, if they had asked for something financial to verify my income or assets, that would make sense.
@kelsmom will answer.
They are verifying that your kid is…who he says he is…and that HE will use this money for college.
And it’s not just your kid…
It could be a random thing.
Some of the colleges may still ask for this.
Is there an asterisk next to your S’s EFC in the SAR? That’s how you can tell if your S’s FAFSA has been selected for verification either randomly, or because some data doesn’t align as noted above. If so, you will have to do what each school requires from students whose FAFSAs have been selected for verification. You will need to do that to get institutional aid at these schools.
Here’s more information:
https://studentaid.gov/apply-for-aid/fafsa/review-and-correct
Yes they may use federal to adjust institutional aid. However the form itself says federal. That they’ll adjust institutional aid based on federal does not appear to be what the form is for.
Anyway it’s neither here nor there. Op has said the form is legit.
Like a lot of docs requiring notary it seems unnecessary - but I guess attesting to your integrity in writing with a verification it’s you helps them ignore fraud. Likely won’t but it’s the mechanism they are using.
I have to notarize stuff 4-6x a year. Never know y. But just because. So I do it.
That’s fair — I can see how doing 10 separate notary trips could be somewhat time consuming.
When I googled Identity/Statement of Educational Purpose a bunch of colleges had them online for downloading. If your son’s colleges don’t, I would suggest emailing or calling them to get a copy of their form that they use for this purpose (just use the title of the form “Identity/Statement of Educational Purpose”) and then you can get them all done in one visit to the notary if that is important to you.
Or do this one EA form first and if he gets in EA and wants to go there then don’t worry about the other 9.
I’m not sure why the OP thinks this is such a big deal? If this is the only blip that comes up during the application process, congratulations. And then you only have 3 more years!
Here is the source - straight from the federal government: Federal Register :: Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) Information To Be Verified for the 2022-2023 Award Year. Find “ Identity/Statement of Educational Purpose” on the left hand side. Here are the relevant regulations for verification text for 2023-24: https://fsapartners.ed.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/2022-07/APPENDIXA20232024SuggestedVerificationTextFINAL.pdf .
The in-person requirement was suspended due to Covid, so 22-23 award year verification didn’t require in-person submission: Changes to 2022-2023 Verification Requirements | Knowledge Center. I haven’t seen anything that definitively states that the in-person requirements are suspended for 2023-24. In fact, the 23-24 current verification information does not state that the in-person requirement is waived, and the required text states that it must be signed in person: 2023–2024 Award Year: FAFSA Information to be Verified and Acceptable Documentation | Knowledge Center. If there is any question about what the regulations will be, some schools may choose to hold off until regulations are published, since it’s still early. For EA, they may take a gamble that the in-person waiver will apply for 23-24 & they’ll just have students do an in person form if the rules change & the student matriculates. Just my guess. Financial aid is very much ruled by regulations, and sometimes the regulations are behind the actual processing.
And if the student is selected for verification for this reason in the future, they have to do the statement again. Makes no sense to the financial aid community, but it’s a rule that has to be followed.
Thanks for this info. I didn’t see anything on the student aid report that indicated he was selected for this. That’s why the email from one of the schools didn’t seem legit to me.
Maybe it isn’t a big deal to others but I work six days a week and unless I pay for a mobile notary or find one available on Sundays (I called 7-8 of them today and none of them work on Sundays), I can’t get this done. I happen to have off this Tuesday for election day so I will get this done then.
Thanks for everyone’s responses.
@kelsmom no asterick on the SAR? Would that be right?
There should be an asterisk next to the EFC. There may not be any explanation on the SAR, though. If there’s no asterisk, it’s possible that the school’s computer setup for generating student requirements is faulty … I can’t imagine a reason any school would choose to verify that if the processor didn’t select the student. @MDMom1975, is there an asterisk next to the EFC on the SAR (the most recent one, if any updates were made after the original was submitted)?
If I recall from when we needed to notarize documents, the ups store had some (limited) notary hours on Sundays. But we are in a large metropolitan area and of course that may vary by location.
I looked earlier and didn’t see an asterisk but I will do it anyway. I can go to the UPS store on Tuesday since they said their notary will be there until 5pm. I can just make it if I pick up my son right after school. He can skip his sport for one day.
If there’s no asterisk, it’s possible you might not be asked to do this at other schools. It’s odd that you would be asked for this by the school if there’s no asterisk, but you need to do what’s asked to get aid. In the scheme of things, it may be an annoyance … but if you get financial aid, it’s worth it.
This!