We are still in the process of deciding on a college for my son . He has recieved 5 acceptances and is waiting on decisions from 3 more colleges. Out of the 5 we heard from, one of the schools has recently sent the financial aid package and has requested additional info for verification. The other 4 schools we have had the financial aid package for awhile already. My question is will all the colleges Financial Aid office request from us additional info. or is it up to the discretion of the college? As as side note, do not qualify for any financial aid other than the $5500 in government loans.
I feel your pain. DS was selected for verification for all four years of undergrad…and all he got was an unsubsidized loan every year.
We sent the school everything they asked for. Every year.
Just send the schools what they ask for.
If you aren’t likely to get any financial aid and don’t need few thousand loans then what’s the point in filing FAFSA? This is a general question, not directed at OP. He already applied so he is irrelevant.
We were selected once as well. I agree with @thumper1 that the best thing to do is just send them what they want. We never even took a loan for D.
@“Yalie 2011”
We wanted our kids to take that Direct Loan…so we complied with the verification requests.
@Yalie -
At my D’s school, some of the internal scholarships in her department and EC’s required the FAFSA. We were trying to avoid the loans so we complied in the hopes of getting her the scholarships.
Right now, it’s still mostly random, but the possibility exists that others may ask. If he likes the college, just pull the info together- and then you have it ready, should it come up again.
My daughter’s scholarships also required the FAFSA. Freshman year she didn’t take the federal loans but she has since then.
Just get in the habit of keeping a file of everything they could want and it won’t phase you next time.
We’ve verified in spite of taking no fed aid most years (one year took the unsub loan). It’s a simple processs, worksheet and DRT for us. Kids were at fafsa only schools, so the institution is using these numbers for their own aid and stats and required we filed in order to receive their money, too. It won’t hurt just to give them what they’re asking for
Schools are required by the federal government to pull a small percentage of all FAFSA forms for audit/verification.
The percentage requirement actually went away a few years ago. Schools must verify those who are selected by the federal processor before disbursing any aid (including unsub loans and FWS), but they no longer have to verify additional, non-selected applications if they don’t have a certain percentage selected. Some schools choose to verify a certain percentage, or they may choose to verify based on certain criteria that they set. All schools must resolve conflicting information, although that may not necessarily translate to full verification. If the SAR generated from filing a FAFSA has an asterisk next to the EFC, you will be required to complete verification before you can receive any federal aid (and the school will probably require it before disbursing their own aid, even if you don’t accept any federal aid).
Can I ask what is the “Direct Loan?” I’ve seen this on a few Threads now.
Direct Loan and Stafford Loans are the same thing.
That is, they’re the student loans a college can disburse.
It’s up to the university. Normally, if you use the IRS data retrieval tool your FAFSA won’t be chosen.
While the DRT reduces the chances of being selected for verification, this is mainly because it reduces common errors that may lead to selection. However, there are other factors that influence selection, and DRT use does not mitigate these factors. It does, however, make the process of verification a bit simpler - because that step of the process is complete.