| AwardYear: 1995-1996 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. **[A graphic "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 "Exclusions From Verification" sections later in this chapter). Edit-selected Applications All students apply for the federal student aid programs by completing either a paper Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or paper Renewal Free Application for Federal Student Aid (Renewal FAFSA), or by filing an electronic FAFSA or Renewal FAFSA through a school participating in the Electronic Data Exchange (EDE) system. Regardless of the filing option used, the FAFSA is always processed in the same way, and the verification procedures are also the same. The FAFSA will be processed by one of four FAFSA processors, which input and transmit the data to the Central Processing System (CPS). In addition to calculating a student's eligibility, the CPS checks the application, using several editing criteria that are specifically 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. Each applicant who applies for federal student aid will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) or similar output document (paper or electronic).*3* For the purposes of this guide, the term "output document" specifies any official federal output from the CPS, resulting from a student's application for federal student aid. This federal output document could be a paper SAR, an electronic Institutional Student Information Report (ISIR) received through the EDE system, or ISIR data received directly on tape, cartridge, or paper (applicant data roster). **[A graphic "Output Document" on page 4 is currently unavailable for viewing. Please reference your paper document for additional information.]** The federal output document provides a detailed description of aid eligibility and the calculation of the applicant's official Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The federal output document will indicate if a student's application has been selected 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 indicated on the ISIR. **[A graphic on page 4 is currently unavailable for viewing. Please reference your paper document for additional information.]** The CPS also "matches" the application data to several databases, to catch and flag certain applicants such as those who have defaulted on a federal student loan or who owe a repayment on a federal grant. 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. Applications Selected by the School You may select any other application to be verified, as long as your selection procedures are in accordance with consistently applied institutional policies. If you select a student's application for verification, THE STUDENT IS SUBJECT TO ALL THE RULES AND REQUIREMENTS OF VERIFICATION as they apply to students whose applications were edit-selected (except that these students are required to verify only the items required by the school). The verification tolerance option also applies to these students. |