School Servicing Center

After you receive notification from your school and from School Servicing Center that you have been selected for verification, you should first read any messages from the U.S. Department of Education appearing on your Student Aid Report (SAR). You should have received your SAR when you completed your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Your college and School Servicing Center may be requesting documents from you. If your college requests documents, send those documents to your college. If the School Servicing Center requests documents, send those documents to School Servicing Center.

The type of documents required will vary from student to student, and not all students selected for FAFSA verification will have to submit the same documents.

You should check your college web site and www.SSCwp.org often to determine if you have submitted all requested documents or taken a required action. Sometimes, the documents submitted may create discrepancies which may require you to submit additional documents. Discrepancies and incorrect data must be corrected by your college and/or School Servicing Center to complete the verification process.

Once the verification process has been completed and your college has confirmed that you meet all other student eligibility criteria, your college will send you a financial aid award package listing the types and amounts of financial aid for which you qualify.

What is a SAR?
The Central Processing System for the U.S. Department of Education will process your FAFSA and the results are sent electronically to the schools you listed on your application, and they send you a Student Aid Report (SAR).

The Student Aid Report (SAR) Your SAR summarizes all the information you provided on your FAFSA. It must be correct before you can receive federal aid. Read the information below to find out how and when you will receive your SAR, and what to do with it once you receive it.

How and when you will receive your SAR Generally, it takes less time to process and send the SAR to you when you submit the FAFSA online and provide a valid e-mail address. If we have your valid e-mail address, you'll get your SAR e-mail in three to five days. This e-mail contains a secure link to your SAR online. If you don't provide a valid e-mail address, it takes about seven to 10 days before you'll receive your SAR by postal mail. If you submit a paper FAFSA, you'll receive your SAR by e-mail within 2 weeks, or 3 weeks if you do not provide an e-mail address.
Note: If you have a PIN and your FAFSA has been processed, you can login at www.fafsa.gov to view SAR information regardless of whether you filed the online or paper FAFSA or provided an e-mail address or not.

What to do with your SAR When you get your SAR, review it for accuracy and review all of the comments. The comments may explain steps you must take to complete the FAFSA. For example, there may be a comment that the FAFSA was not signed with your (or a parent's) Federal Student Aid PIN.

A complete, correct SAR will contain your Expected Family Contribution (EFC), the index number used to determine your federal student aid eligibility, and Data Release Number (DRN), a four-digit number assigned to your application by the U.S. Department of Education. If you need to make corrections to your SAR, you should check with your school or with School Servicing Center. The school or School Servicing Center might be able to make them for you electronically.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE FAFSA IRS DATA RETRIEVAL TOOL

School Servicing Center (SSC) received information that the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) is currently unavailable. If you have an outstanding verification requirement to provide tax information, you may still use the IRS Get Transcript option(s) to obtain a copy of your 2015 IRS Tax Return Transcript. You may access the IRS site at https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript.

Excerpt from the US Department of Education:
To protect sensitive taxpayer data, the IRS and FSA announced today the Data Retrieval Tool on fafsa.gov and StudentLoans.gov will be unavailable until extra security protections can be added. While we are working to resolve these issues as quickly as possible, students and families should plan for the tool to be offline until the start of the next FAFSA season.

Effective May 10, 2015, the FSA ID, a username and password, has replaced the Federal Student Aid PIN and must be used to log into certain US Department of Education websites. Your FSA ID confirms your identity when you access your financial aid information and electronically signed Federal Student Aid documents. If you do not already have an FSA ID, you can create one when logging into fafsa.gov.

When you apply for federal student aid, your answers to the questions in Step 3 of the paper FAFSA or the Dependency Status section of the online FAFSA will determine whether you're considered dependent on your parents or independent. If you're considered dependent, your parents' income and assets as well as your own must be reported on the FAFSA. Students are classified as dependent or independent because federal student aid programs are based on the principle that students (and their parents or spouse, if applicable) are considered the primary source of support for post-secondary education.

If the family used the IRS Data Retrieval option and did not change the data after downloading it from the IRS to the FAFSA, the school will not need to see a federal tax transcript in most cases. If the family did not use the IRS Data Retrieval option and is selected for verification, either with the original FAFSA or when the family goes back and makes corrections to the original FAFSA, then the school will be required to see a federal tax transcript.

The FAFSA on the Web IRS Data Retrieval Process will only transfer information from an original tax return and not from an amended tax return. Similarly, the IRS Tax Return Transcript only includes information from the original tax return.

Note: An Amended Tax Return (1040X) is used to make changes after the original tax return (i.e. Form 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ) is filed.

If you have filed or will file a 2015 amended tax return (1040X), you will need to submit the following:

• A SIGNED copy of your 2015 amended tax return (1040X) as filed with the IRS, AND a copy of your 2015 Tax Return Transcript
• List the student name and Social Security Number on all documents and SUBMIT to the School Servicing Center
• Submit documents to School Servicing Center by:
  • Submitting online at www.SSCwp.org, or
  • Faxing to 866-258-8362 (allow 48-72 hours for receipt and imaging), Fax Cover Sheet or
  • Mailing to (allow 7-10 business days for receipt and imaging):
    • School Servicing Center
    • PO Box 41990
    • Raleigh, NC 27629-1990

HOW TO GET YOUR (OR YOUR PARENT) TAX INFORMATION
TO School Servicing Center

Federal regulations no longer allow students or parents to provide a copy of their IRS tax return if they are selected for verification. However, students and parents have several options for getting their tax information to School Servicing Center for FAFSA verification:

School Servicing Center (SSC) received information that the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) is currently unavailable. If you have an outstanding verification requirement to provide tax information, you may still use the IRS Get Transcript option(s) to obtain a copy of your 2015 IRS Tax Return Transcript.

A. Tax Transcript -- Web option at http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript :

ORDER ONLINE and Upload to SSC:

• NOTE: The IRS has added additional security features to the Get Transcript Online option.
• Click on Get Transcript ONLINE
• Create or log in to your IRS profile
• Select the reason you are requesting the transcript
• Select "RETURN TRANSCRIPT" and Tax Year 2015
• Save the Tax Return Transcript to your computer
• Upload to SSC as you are completing the online interview or by using the Upload Documents option

ORDER ONLINE and Receive by Mail:

• Click on Get Transcript by MAIL
• "Type of Transcript" = "Return Transcript" (be sure you do NOT select "Account Transcript" – the account form cannot be used for verification)
• "Tax Year" = "2015"
• Be sure to complete the entire process and hit submit to enter your request
• You should get a paper copy of the IRS Tax Return Transcript within 5 to 10 days if your on-line request was successfully transmitted to the IRS
• If you do not receive your IRS Tax Return Transcript within 10 days, contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 and speak directly with an IRS agent
• YOU MUST SUBMIT a copy of all pages of your IRS Tax Return Transcript to the School Servicing Center

B. How to submit a tax return transcript to CFI School Services:

• Before submitting the IRS Tax Return Transcript to School Servicing Center, write the STUDENT's FULL NAME and SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER on the top of the transcript.
• Submit the transcript to School Servicing Center by:
  • Uploading the transcript online at www.SSCwp.org, or
  • Faxing the transcript to 866-258-8362 (allow 48-72 hours for receipt and imaging), Fax Cover Sheet or
  • Mailing the transcript to (allow 7-10 business days for receipt and imaging):
    • School Servicing Center
    • PO Box 41990
    • Raleigh, NC 27629-1990

C. Moving Soon? Let the IRS Know!

• If you’ve changed your address, make sure you update your information with the IRS.
• Avoid delays in requesting your Tax Return Transcript.

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