| AwardYear: 1994-1995 Edition: PostSecondary Part: 2 - - The Application Process for Financial Aid SectionNumber: SectionTitle: Submitting An Initial Application PageNumbers: 24-26 Students must complete the application accurately and legibly, and must send it in on time to the address specified on the application. (See the last page of this Part for a complete list of deadlines.) Please caution students that there are NO EXCEPTIONS to the deadlines. It is important to note that states and schools often set earlier deadlines in awarding aid from other programs, including the federal campus-based programs (Federal Perkins Loans, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, and Federal Work- Study). School's deadlines should be made available well in advance of applying for financial aid. If you could give students only one piece of advice as they complete an application, it would be to READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. This statement cannot be overemphasized because most errors are caused by students misunderstanding what information is being requested. Errors on the application mean that corrections will have to be processed, which may mean that students who are otherwise eligible will not receive aid because their corrected information did not get to the school by the deadline, which is June 30, 1995, or the last day of enrollment for 1994-95, whichever comes first. Note that this deadline applies both to the receipt of a SAR or the day the ISIR is signed. It is important for the student to save all records and all other materials used in completing an application because the student may need them later if either the Department or the student's school selects the student for a process called "VERIFICATION." This simply means that the student will have to prove that what was reported on the application is correct. Many schools conduct their own form of verification. In most cases, the student will deal only with one processor when applying for aid. This is known as the "SINGLE-PROCESSOR ARRANGEMENT." In any case the student sends the completed FAFSA to one of the FAFSA processors, which in turn enters the information that the student has reported on an application and sends it to the CPS . Once the information is processed, that same FAFSA processor will send a SAR to the student. Note that the student only has contact with the FAFSA processor -- the CPS is invisible to the student. SINGLE PROCESSOR ARRANGEMENT In a single processor relationship, the student only has contact with the FAFSA processor. The CPS is invisible to the student. The student files the application with the FAFSA processor, and receives a Student Aid Report from that same processor. [[The illustration on page 25 is currently unavailable for viewing. Please reference your paper document for additional information.]] For 1994-95, the financial aid administrator may either use the FAFSA, the Correction FAFSA, the SAR or EDE to override the student's dependency status, for example, when circumstances make a student independent rather than dependent. The Correction FAFSA or Correction Application is identical in design to the regular FAFSA, except the word "correction" is printed on the first page of the FAFSA booklet as well as on the application form itself. If a student has unusual circumstances that make him or her independent, the financial aid administrator may use professional judgment to override the dependency status determined in Section E of the application. Have the student fill out Sections A and E of a FAFSA or a Correction FAFSA in the usual manner. However, tell the student to fill out the independent student information on the remainder of the application, even though the instructions direct the student to fill out the blue-shaded areas as a dependent student. To override dependency status, the financial aid administrator (FAA) or an authorized member of the school's financial aid staff must complete the "School Use Only" box, found in Section H. [[The illustration on page 26 is currently unavailable for viewing. Please reference your paper document for additional information.]] For 1994-95, you will enter "I" in the dependency override box, fill in your school's Title IV Institution Number and sign. Note that dependency status can only be overridden when changing the student's status from dependent to independent. |