Verification policy

Students selected for verification are required to submit any combination of the following, with each student’s specific requirements listed on the LOUIE To Do List:

•  Verification form
  • Based on their dependency status on the FAFSA, the LOUIE to do list may ask students to submit one of these forms:
    • Dependent or Independent Verification Form
    • Dependent, Independent or Parent Income Form
    • Dependent of Independent Family Size Form
• Student tax return transcript (and tax account transcript if an amended return was filed) for the applicable tax year
  • • If you are unable to obtain a tax transcript, a signed and dated tax return is acceptable. Include all schedules that were filed with your return.
• Student W2(s) and/or 1099(s) for the applicable tax year
• Parent tax return transcript (and tax account transcript if an amended return was filed) for the applicable tax year
  • If you are unable to obtain a tax transcript, a signed and dated tax return is acceptable. Include all schedules that were filed with your return.
• Parent W2(s) and/or 1099(s) for the applicable tax year
• Verification of Non-Filing Letter (VONF) for the applicable tax year: parents and independent students only

Tax return transcripts are different from copies of a federal tax return; transcripts are an official record of the information on file with the IRS. Tax return transcripts must be obtained from the IRS through one of the following methods:

• Get transcript online: Go to IRS and click “Get My Tax Record.” Click “Get Transcript Online.” Create an online account or log in with your current account. Make sure to request the “IRS Tax Return Transcript” and NOT the “IRS Tax Account Transcript.”
• Get transcript by mail: Go to IRS, click “Get My Tax Record.” Click “Get Transcript by Mail.” Provide your SSN, date of birth, and street address. Make sure to request the “IRS Tax Return Transcript” and NOT the “IRS Tax Account Transcript.”
• Request by phone: 1-800-908-9946
• Request paper form: IRS Form 4506T-EZ (for Individual Tax Return Transcript) or IRS 4506-T (for Tax Return Transcript, Verification of Non-Filing, or W2s)

Tax return transcripts are preferred, but if you’re unable to obtain them, a signed tax return will suffice.

Verification documents should be submitted in one submission to OSFA via the secure document upload (preferred), financial.aid@nau.edu, through the mail, or in person. Incomplete documents will not be processed and will be shredded for security purposes.

• The Department of Education selects students for verification; once NAU receives students’ FAFSAs, OSFA updates their respective LOUIE To Do Lists with items they must submit to OSFA. Students receive an email and a letter with this information. They will also receive reminder notifications every two weeks.
• Selection: Not all students are selected for verification, nor are the same students selected each year. Students may never be selected, may be selected only one year, or may be selected every year. This is out of NAU’s control.
• Professional judgment: NAU is mandated to complete verification for a selected student before exercising professional judgment to adjust any values that are used to calculate the SAI, i.e., before reviewing a student/parent contribution appeal. However, making a professional judgment does not require OSFA to verify an application that is not selected. Throughout the verification process, OSFA staff may find that additional information is required beyond what was previously requested. This new request will be emailed to the student and added to his/her LOUIE To Do List.
• OSFA requests that students submit the necessary documentation (listed above) within 30 days of receipt of the first notification. Once received, documents can take 3-5 business days to be logged into a student’s account, or up to 15 business days during peak times.
• Submission deadline: Students must submit all verification documents by 120 days after the last day of enrollment or by the deadline published in the Federal Register (generally mid-September following the end of the aid year). Verification is considered complete when all requested documentation has been received, all errors corrected, and a valid FAFSA is on file. If required verification documentation is not submitted by the deadline, the student will not be eligible for any Title IV aid for the period of time the FAFSA was used to determine eligibility.
• Late disbursement: The student may still submit verification documentation (by the deadline above) and receive a late disbursement if, during the period of enrollment, the US Department of Education had processed a non-rejected FAFSA with an official Student Aid Index (SAI). The student must also have completed their classes in order to receive a late disbursement for the semester/award year. If the SAI changes based on the documentation received, any Pell Grant award will be based on the higher SAI. Pell Grant recipients are subject to certain Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) restrictions.
• Once all verification documents are received, NAU will review each student’s file in the order in which it was completed. The verification process can take up to 30 business days, including if corrections are made. If corrections to the FAFSA must be made, a final file will come back from the Department of Education before verification is completed. Students will receive an email if corrections result in a change to their financial aid awards.
• Once the FAFSA is finalized, awarding and disbursement can take place.
• Awarding for incoming freshmen: Incoming freshmen who are selected for verification will not be packaged for financial aid until verification is complete. Awarding begins in December for the following academic year and continues every Friday. Once verification is complete, awards may be adjusted depending on corrections made to each student’s file. Students will receive an email if corrections result in a change to their financial aid awards.
• Awarding for transfers and continuing students: Transfers will be awarded starting in early spring, and continuing students will be awarded in early-to-mid June, after spring grades post, and after verification is complete.
• Disbursement of funds occurs no sooner than 10 days before the start of each term. Disbursements are never made until verification is complete.

A common error when filing the FAFSA is to report incorrect amounts in the student, spouse, and/or parent assets. Here’s what should and should not be reported for each of the asset questions:

Total balance of cash, savings, and checking accounts

Do not include: student financial aid, private alternative loans, Coverdell savings accounts, 529 college savings plans, and the refund value of 529 prepaid tuition plans.

Net worth of investments

Include: real estate, rental property (includes a unit within a family home that has its own entrance, kitchen, and bath rented to someone other than a family member), installment and land sale contracts (including mortgages held), trust funds, mutual funds, money market funds, Uniform Gifts and Uniform Transfers to Minors (UGMA and UTMA) accounts, certificates of deposit, stocks, stock options, bonds, other securities, commodities, precious metals etc. Investments also include qualified educational benefits or education savings accounts (e.g., Coverdell savings accounts, 529 college savings plans, and the refund value of 529 prepaid tuition plans).

Note for qualified education benefits or education savings accounts: For an independent student, the accounts owned by the student (and/or the student’s spouse) are reported as student investments. For a dependent student, an account is reported as a parental investment if the account is designated for the dependent student (accounts designated for other children in the family are not included). If the student is the beneficiary (but not the owner) of the account, the value is not reported as a student asset.

Do not include: the home you live in, the value of life insurance, retirement plans (401[k] plans, pension funds, annuities, non-education IRAs, Keogh plans, etc.), or cash, savings, and checking accounts already reported in the previous question on this form. Investments also do not include UGMA and UTMA accounts for which parents are the custodian but not the owner.

Net worth of current businesses and/or investment farms

Include: net worth of land, buildings, machinery, equipment, inventory, livestock, unharvested crops etc. Business and/or investment farm debt means only those debts for which the business or investment farm was used for collateral.

Do not include: The value of a family’s primary residence, even if the residence is on the farm property or used to run the business. You should determine the total net value of all farm assets and subtract the net value of the residence to determine the final value of your farm assets.

An individual who is required to file a  IRS income tax return and has been granted a filing extension by the IRS, must provide:

• a copy of the IRS’s approval of an extension beyond the automatic six-month extension if the individual requested an additional extension of the filing time for the applicable tax year;
• a copy of IRS Form W-2 for each source of employment income received for the applicable tax year; and
• if self-employed, a signed statement listing the sources of income and amount of income from each source, and the amount of the individual’s estimated Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and the US income tax paid for the applicable tax year.

An individual who was the victim of IRS tax-related identity theft must provide:

• A signed copy of their Federal Tax Return for the applicable year including schedules that they filed with the IRS, and;
• an IRS 4674C letter (a letter from the IRS acknowledging the identity theft) or a statement signed and dated by the tax filer indicating that he or she was a victim of IRS tax-related identity theft, and the IRS is aware of it.

Many students and parents have tax returns from US territories or foreign countries.

• A tax filer who filed an income tax return with Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands may provide a signed copy of his or her income tax return that was filed with the relevant tax authority. However, if the accuracy of the information on the signed copy of the income tax return is questioned, the tax filer must provide OSFA with a copy of the tax account information issued by the relevant tax authority before verification can be completed.
• A tax filer who filed an income tax return with the tax authority for American Samoa must provide a copy of his or her tax account information.
• A tax filer who filed an income tax return with tax authorities not mentioned above, i.e., a foreign tax authority, and who indicates that he or she is unable to obtain the tax account information free of charge, must provide documentation that the tax authority charges a fee to obtain that information, along with a signed copy of his or her income tax return that was filed with the relevant tax authority.

The FAFSA asks for untaxed income as a way to gather relevant income information which may not appear on a federal tax return. This helps to determine a student’s Student Aid Index. Use this information to complete the FAFSA, or, if requested from our office, the Unreported Income Confirmation form:

• Pension Rollover: rolling over funds is the process of moving funds from one retirement account to another. If you received a pension distribution but some or all of the funds were put into another retirement account, the amount put into another retirement account is your pension rollover amount.
• IRA Rollover: rolling over funds is the process of moving funds from one retirement account to another. If you received an IRA distribution but some or all of the funds were put into another retirement account, the amount put into another retirement account is your IRA rollover amount.
• Grant and scholarship aid reported to the IRS as income and included in your Adjustable Gross Income, including AmeriCorps benefits (awards, living allowances, and interest accrual payments), as well as grant and scholarship portions of fellowships and assistantships.
• Foreign Income Exclusion is a U.S. tax benefit that allows eligible individuals living and working abroad to exclude a portion of their foreign-earned income from U.S. federal income tax. Not all individuals who earn foreign income have foreign income exclusion. If you are unsure, review your 2023 Federal Tax Return. The foreign income exclusion is reported on Form 2555 and Schedule 1 Line 8d.
• Child support received for any children: don’t include foster care or adoption payments.
• Information for cash, savings, checking amounts, net worth of investments, and net worth of business/investment farms, is located under the Errors when reporting assets section.