Maintained for Historical Purposes

This resource is being maintained for historical purposes only and is not currently applicable.

Applications that Must Be Verified

AwardYear: 1996-1997
ChapterNumber: 1
ChapterTitle: Basic Requirements
Section: Applications that Must Be Verified
PageNumber:


When verification is required for an application, that application is
said to have been "selected" for verification.

[[The "Selected Applications" on page 3 is currently unavailable
for viewing. Please reference your paper document for
additional information.]]

Under certain circumstances, a selected application may be excluded
from required verification (see the "30% Verification Option" and
"Verification Exclusions" sections later in this chapter).


Edit-Selected Applications

Students apply for ED's student aid programs using one of
several methods:

- completing a paper Free Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA) or paper Renewal Free Application for Federal Student
Aid (Renewal FAFSA);

- filing an electronic FAFSA or Renewal FAFSA through a
school participating in Electronic Data Exchange (EDE);

[[FAFSA Express is a new filing option--see “Dear Colleague”
GEN-96-2]]
- filing through FAFSA Express, ED's new software package
that allows students to complete and transmit a FAFSA using
a PC and a modem

Regardless of the filing option used, the FAFSA is always processed
in the same way, and the verification procedures are also the same.

[[Processing and edit checks]]
One of two FAFSA processors will enter the FAFSA data and
transmit it to the Central Processing System (CPS). The CPS
calculates a student's eligibility and checks the application, using
several editing criteria designed to detect possible inconsistencies
and mistakes. For instance, if a dependent student reported the
parents' marital status as married but also reported the household size
as "2," the processing system's edit checks would catch the
inconsistency and report it. As a result of this edit procedure, certain
student aid applications are flagged for verification.

[[Defining "output document"]]
Each applicant who applies for federal student aid will receive an
"output document," which contains the calculation of the applicant's
official Expected Family Contribution (EFC). If the applicant applied
using the FAFSA or FAFSA Express, he or she will receive a
Student Aid Report (SAR). An applicant who applied electronically
through his or her school will receive a SAR Information
Acknowledgment; in this case, the applicant's school will also
receive an output document, the Institutional Student Information
Record (ISIR). The school receives the ISIR either electronically
through the EDE system or by tape or cartridge.

[[The graphic "Output Document" on page 4 is currently unavailable
for viewing. Please reference you paper document for additional
information.]]

[[FAFSA processors no longer produce output documents]]
Note that beginning with the 1996-97 award year, FAFSA processors
will no longer send their own output documents containing CPS data
to applicants and schools. The only output document will come from
the Central Processing System (CPS).

[[The graphic on page 5 is currently unavailable for viewing.
Please reference you paper document for additional information.]]

The output document indicates whether the CPS has selected a
student's application for verification. For example, on the SAR, the
processor prints an asterisk (*) to the right of the EFC and includes,
in the comments portion of the SAR, verification instructions for the
student. Verification selection is also shown on the ISIR.

In the FAA Information Section on the SAR, the verification
selection codes (1-25) are numbered in order of importance. If you
are verifying no more than 30 percent of the total number of your
school's federal student aid applicants, you might want to select those
applications with higher priority verification numbers. For example,
reasons 2, 5, 8, and 10 have greater significance than reasons 13, 15,
19, and 24. NOTE THAT SELECTING APPLICATIONS WITH
HIGHER PRIORITY NUMBERS IS A SUGGESTION, NOT A
REQUIREMENT.

[[Database matches]]
The CPS "matches" the application data to several databases to flag
certain applicants such as those who have defaulted on federal
student loans or who owe repayments on federal grants. Such
students may still be eligible for federal aid, but their federal output
document will note the questionable items. You must resolve those
items before delivering any funds to the student.


School-Selected Applications

Your school may also select applications to be verified, as long as
your selection procedures are in accordance with consistently applied
institutional policies. THE VERIFICATION RULES APPLY
EQUALLY to applications the CPS selects and applications your
school selects, except that students your school selects are required to
verify only the items your school chooses.