Weekly financial aid rant- This weeks rant is on Verification....1 out of 3 FAFSAs will be selected for this process. What is verification? Verification is the process where the Department of Education is making sure that all the information on the FAFSA is correct. This year verification has changed dramatically. There are 5 different types of verification.

Standard Verification Group. V1. (most common type of Verification)

Students/parents in this group must verify the following if they are tax filers:
o adjusted gross income
o U.S. income tax paid
o untaxed portions of IRA distributions
o untaxed portions of pensions
o IRA deductions and payments
o tax-exempt interest income
o education credits
o household size
o number in college
o Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits
o child support paid

Students/parents who are not tax filers must verify the following:
o income earned from work
o household size
o number in college
o SNAP benefits
o child support paid
SNAP Verification Group. V2. *
Students/parents in this group must verify the receipt of SNAP benefits.

• Child Support Paid Verification Group. V3. *
Students/parents must verify child support paid by them or their spouse, their parents, or
both.

• Custom Verification Group. V4. *
Students must verify high school completion status and identity/statement of educational
purpose in addition to receipt of SNAP benefits and payment of child support.

• Aggregate Verification Group. V5. *
Students must verify high school completion status and identity/statement of educational
purpose in addition to the items in the Standard Verification Group.

If this isn't enough to make your head spin just wait...if the data is conflicting with what is placed on the FAFSA then you may be required to submit additional documentation to resolve the conflict. Typically you want to submit this information early on in the process as it takes some time to complete verification and we do not want to hold up your financial aid but it cannot be disbursed until verification and your file is complete.

Thanks again for reading my weekly rant!