Financial Aid

What is verification?

Verification is a process to confirm the information you provided on the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).

Verification selection can be random or because your FAFSA data was incomplete, estimated or inconsistent. The U.S. Department of Education selects students for the verification process. Our office may select others if we find conflicting information.

If you are selected for verification, we are required to ask you to provide documentation to confirm the information on your FAFSA. This will include a verification worksheet and may include your tax transcript, return, or additional information. If you are a dependent student, we may also request a copy of your parent's tax transcript, return, or additional information. Under the financial aid program rules (CFR Title 34, Part 668), the college has the right and obligation to ask you for this information before we can award you financial aid. Students cannot be awarded financial aid until the requested documentation is submitted and the student’s file has been verified.

What you need to do:

For the 2011-2012 Academic Year:

If a student is selected for verification, the student (and parent if a dependent) must submit:

• Complete verification worksheet.
• SIGNED tax return for student and if married, your spouse’s information or parent’s if dependant.
• All 2010 W-2 information
• Any additional information as requested by the Office of Financial Aid

Students will be able to track the status of submitted documents, as well as, see if any additional information is required through their WebAdvisor Account.

Any required documentation can be dropped off, faxed in (734-462-4527) or emailed as an attachment to finaid@schoolcraft.edu.

For the 2012-2013 Academic Year:

All students applying for financial aid for the 2012-2013 school year should be informed of the following changes involving FAFSA and the Verification process:

IRS Data Retrieval – When filling out the FAFSA, Schoolcraft College strongly recommends all students parents, and spouses (if applicable) to upload the 2011 income tax information to their FAFSA using the IRS Data Retrieval tool. In order to do so, all parties must have already filed 2011 taxes, at least two weeks prior to filling out the FAFSA. The IRS Data Retrieval tool will be available February 1, 2012.

Verification: Students who are selected for verification and DID NOT use the IRS Data Retrieval tool will be required to:

• ✓ Complete and submit the Verification Worksheet
• ✓ Submit an OFFICIAL Tax Return Transcript, obtainable from IRS after the 2011 Tax Return has been filed by calling 1-800-908-9946 or you may request the transcript on line at www.irs.gov, under "tools," click on "Order a Tax Return or Account Transcript."
• ✓ Submit Tax Return Transcripts for students or parents spouse’s who are married (not separated) but file income tax separately.

NOTE: For 2012-2013, Schoolcraft College will no longer accept sign copies of Federal Tax Returns (IRS 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ) to complete the verification process. Please do not send 2011 Tax Returns to the Office of Financial Aid. All paper copies of 2011 tax returns will be shredded.

Students will be able to track the status of submitted documents, as well as, see if any additional information is required through their WebAdvisor Account.

Any required documentation can be dropped off, faxed in (734-462-4527) or emailed as an attachment to finaid@schoolcraft.edu.