AwardYear: 1998 - 1999 ChapterNumber: 1 ChapterTitle: Basic Requirements Section: Verification Exclusions PageNumber: 1 Due to certain unusual circumstances, a selected application may be exempt from some or all of the verification requirements (see below). Except in the case of the applicants death, however, none of these verification exclusions excuses you from the requirement to resolve conflicting data, as discussed earlier. Deaththe applicant dies before completing verification. If you make an interim disbursement during the verification process, and the applicant dies before verification is completed, you do not have to continue verification to justify your first disbursement. In such a case, you cannot make any additional disbursements to any of the applicants beneficiaries, except for FWS funds already earned. Also, you cannot originate a Direct Loan, certify a Federal Stafford Loan, or deliver proceeds from either one for the applicants beneficiaries. Incarceration A selected application does not have to be verified if the applicant is in jail or prison at the time of verification. Immigration Statusthe applicant is a recent immigrant For the 1998-99 award year, a selected application does not have to be verified if the applicant is an immigrant who arrived in the United States during calendar years 1998 or 1999. Certain Spouse or Parent Statusspouse or parent(s) unavailable You are not required to verify spouse and/or parent information (or to obtain the appropriate signature[s] for verification purposes) if any of the following conditions apply: The spouse or parent is deceased. The spouse or parent is mentally or physically incapacitated. The spouse or parent is residing in a country other than the United States and cannot be contacted by normal means. The spouse or parent cannot be located because the address is unknown, and the applicant cannot obtain it. You should document the basis for this exclusion in the students file. Note that this exclusion does not affect any other aspect of required verification; the selected application must still be verified according to all other requirements. Further, if only one parent of a dependent student meets any of these conditions, the other parent is still subject to all verification requirements. Completed Verificationthe application was verified at a previously attended school You are not required to verify the selected application of a student who completed verification for the current award year at another school before transferring to your school. To document a students eligibility for this exclusion, you must obtain a letter from the school that completed the verification. The letter must include a statement that the students application data have been verified, the transaction number of the verified application, and if relevant, the reasons why the school was not required to recalculate the students EFC (for example, the application errors may have been within the allowable tolerancesee Chapter 3 of this guide). A financial aid transcript alone is not acceptable documentation for allowing an applicant this exclusion. Pacific Island Residency Statusthe applicant is a resident/citizen of the former Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands You are not required to verify the selected application of a student who is either a legal resident of Guam, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (to qualify for this exclusion, a dependent students parents must also be legal residents of one of these former territories) a citizen of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau (to qualify for this exclusion, a dependent students parents must also be citizens of one of these former territories) To document the basis for this exclusion, you should note the permanent mailing address(es) in the students file. No Funds Disbursedapplicant does not receive student aid If an applicant will not receive federal student aid for reasons other than his or her failure to complete verification, you are not required to complete verification. This category includes students ineligible for federal student aid or those who withdraw without receiving aid. |