| Publication Date: April 23, 2008 Author: William Leith, Acting General Manager, Application, Operations and Delivery Services, Federal Student Aid Summary: 2007-2008 Verification Reporting and Verification Status Code “W” Warning Message Posted on 04-23-2008 The regulations that govern the verification of Title IV Federal student aid application information are set forth in 34 CFR Part 668 Subpart E (34 CFR 668.51-668.61). In accordance with these regulations, a school is required to complete verification of information submitted by an applicant on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in connection with the calculation of the applicant's expected family contribution (EFC) for the Title IV Federal student aid programs if the applicant has been selected for verification. For each Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) award disbursed to a student who was selected for verification, a school must report the student’s verification status to us via the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System. To do this, the school includes a verification status code in the Common Record document it submits to the COD System via batch processing or when it creates the award online via the COD Web site. As explained in a September 28, 2007 Electronic Announcement posted on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site, the verification status codes are “V”, “W”, and “S”. The September 28th Electronic Announcement outlines the conditions under which each verification status should be used. Generally, for each 2007-2008 Pell Grant recipient selected for verification, a school should have reported a verification status code of “V” or “S”. If verification was not completed and the student is not exempt from verification, the Pell Grant must be adjusted to a zero dollar amount ($0.00). 2007-2008 Verification Status Code “W” Warning Message Processed on April 22, 2008 A school that has made an interim Pell Grant disbursement to a student selected for verification should be concluding verification activities and changing a student's verification status code from “W” to “V” or “S”, as appropriate. In the following two cases, it is acceptable for the verification status code field to be blank:
We will send the April 22, 2008 warning message to schools' Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailboxes in the message class PGTX08OP. Additionally, we will send a file of 2007-2008 student records reported to the COD System with a verification status code of “W” in the Reconciliation Report message class PGRC08OP. A school that receives the warning message should review the accompanying Reconciliation Report and submit appropriate changes to the verification status codes for affected students before May 22, 2008. Note Regarding Verification Deadline: Some of the student records included in the Reconciliation Report may be for students who are still within the allowable timeframe for submitting verification documentation/completing the verification process as will be specified in a forthcoming “Notice of Deadline Dates for Receipt of Applications, Reports, and Other Records for the 2007-2008 Award Year.” This notice will be published in the Federal Register (and subsequently posted on the IFAP Web site). Following the May 22, 2008 reduction, if a school needs additional time to complete verification for an individual student in accordance with the allowable timeframe in the Federal Register notice, the school may resubmit a disbursement record with a value greater than zero ($0.00) until September 30, 2008. After September 30, 2008, the COD System will no longer accept “W” as a valid verification status code for 2007-2008 Pell Grant awards. Contact Information |