| AwardYear: 1996-1997 Edition: PostSecondary Part: 2 - - The application process for financial aid SectionNumber: SectionTitle: Submitting an initial application PageNumbers: 29-30 Students must complete the FAFSA accurately. If a student submits a paper FAFSA, it must be legible and mailed in time for the processor to receive it by the deadline. The same deadlines apply if a student is filing the FAFSA electronically. (See page 55 for a complete list of deadlines.) The FAFSA must be mailed to the address specified in the FAFSA the student completed. 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 some programs, including the campus-based programs (Federal Perkins Loans, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, and Federal Work-Study). Students should find out their schools' deadlines well in advance of applying for financial aid. A student must also keep in mind that eligibility does not continue year to year and a FAFSA needs to be filed each year. If you could give students only one piece of advice as they complete a FAFSA, it should be to READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. This advice cannot be overemphasized; most errors are caused by students making assumptions about what information is being requested. Careless errors on the application, such as an incorrect Social Security Number, also cause delays in processing. Such delays may cause students who are otherwise eligible to miss the deadline to qualify for aid. Please note that there was a printing error on Item #85 of Section G, "Asset Information," on some FAFSAs. This item is "Cash, savings, and checking accounts." The decimal point and zeroes have been omitted from this item. The Department recommends rounding the amount to the nearest dollar and entering it in the blocks provided, flush right. Thus, for example, if the figure is $1,163.41, it should be rounded to $1,163. The 3 would be written in the block that usually contains the ".00". [[A Chart from page 29 is currently unavailable for viewing. Please reference your paper document for additional information.]] The data entry specialists have been instructed to look for a decimal point and only enter figures that appear to the left of the decimal point. If there is no decimal point, they will enter the figures reported as a whole number. It is important for students to save all records and other materials used in completing the FAFSA because they may need them later if either the Department or their schools select them for a process called verification (see page 38). Verification is the process by which students will have to confirm that what was reported on the aid application is correct. Students should keep photocopies of their completed FAFSAs. Many schools conduct their own form of verification. Most verification requires the submission of a copy of signed tax returns from the student and the parents (if applicable). Please note that there are situations in which application data may need to be modified. For example, if a student has unusual circumstances that make him or her independent, the financial aid administrator may use professional judgment to override the dependent student status determined in Section D of the application. Have the student fill out Sections A and D of a 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 red-shaded areas as a dependent student. The completed FAFSA should then be taken to the financial aid administrator. The financial aid administrator may also override dependency status using Part 2 of the SAR or through EDE. For 1996-97, the financial aid administrator will mark the dependency override oval on the FAFSA, fill in the 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. However, a school may use a SAR or EDE to cancel a dependency override performed by another financial aid administrator. Further information on dependency override procedures is provided in the "Dependency Overrides" subsection of the section of Part 2 titled "Making Changes." |