Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to be selected for verification?
Each year some students who apply for financial aid using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will be selected by federal standards to have their information checked for accuracy. The selection of an application by the U.S. Department of Education does not mean that they believe your information is incorrect. Some applications are selected for review on a random basis. Applications are also selected upon a set of common edits that check data for consistency and logic. In some cases, data is checked against the Social Security Administration and the Veterans Administration to ensure that these benefits are being reported correctly. This process is referred to as being selected for verification. Colleges also are allowed to choose any additional applications they wish to verify. Until the verification process is complete, no federal funds may be disbursed.
What needs to be done to complete the verification process?
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?
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.
What is the IRS Data Retrieval Tool?
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE FAFSA IRS DATA RETRIEVAL TOOL
The 2019-20 FAFSA form will require 2017 tax and income information. Students and parents will be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to transfer their 2017 tax information to the FAFSA.
Beginning with the 2019-20 FAFSA cycle, tax return information transferred from the IRS into fafsa.gov will have stronger security and privacy protections.
- As a result, the tax information transferred from the IRS will not display on the DRT web page or in the FAFSA form.
- Instead of the user's tax information being displayed, the phrase "Transferred from the IRS" will appear in the appropriate fields on fafsa.gov.
How do I create a new FSA ID for the FAFSA?
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.
Why do I have to provide my parents' information on the FAFSA?
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.
Does School Servicing Center need to see my/my family’s tax return documents?
If your family used the IRS Data Retrieval option and did not change the data after downloading from the IRS to FAFSA, School Servicing Center will not need to see a federal tax return transcript in most cases. If the IRS Data Retrieval tool was not used, either with the original FAFSA submission or when the family goes back and makes corrections to the original FAFSA, then you will be required to submit federal tax return documents or a federal tax transcript to complete the verification process.
What to do if you have amended your income tax return:
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 2017 amended tax return (1040X), you will need to submit the following:
- A SIGNED copy of your 2017 amended tax return (1040X) as filed with the IRS, AND a copy of your 2017 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 do I get tax information from the IRS to complete verification?
HOW TO GET YOUR (OR YOUR PARENT) TAX INFORMATION
TO School
Servicing Center
Federal regulations do not allow students or parents to provide a copy of their IRS tax return if they are selected for verification.
Students and parents have several options for getting their tax information to School Servicing Center for FAFSA verification:
Option A – IRS Data Retrieval ToolGo to your FAFSA at www.FAFSA.gov and transfer the tax data automatically from the IRS using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool in the student or parent income information section. This updated information will be sent to the School Servicing Center automatically.
Option B – Tax Transcript – Web option at http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-TranscriptORDER 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 2017
- 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
- 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" = "2017"
- 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
- If you’ve changed your address, make sure you update your information with the IRS.
- Avoid delays in requesting your Tax Return Transcript.
How do I get the tax information to School Servicing Center?
- Before submitting the IRS Tax Return Transcript to School Servicing Center, write the STUDENT's FULL NAME and SCHOOL ID 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
The information I provided on my interview documents is not accurate. How do I fix that?
Depending on where you are at in the process, you may be able to access the interview again and provide new information. Once the new information has been provided and the resulting forms have been successfully e-signed by all parties the updated information will be submitted to the School Servicing Center and used to proceed with your verification.
If you attempt to access the interview process again and it is not available to you, please contact School Servicing Center by calling us toll free at 855-328-4400 for next steps.
You are requesting that I submit a Verification of Non-filing form from the IRS. What if I am not able to get that form?
If you or your family has been requested to provide a Verification of Non-filing form from the IRS but you are unable to get it, we can accept a signed and dated statement in place of that form. The signed statement should state that you (or your spouse or parent) have tried but been unable to get the form from the IRS. If School Servicing Center is requesting the form for a member of your family, the statement should be signed and dated by that family member and the student.