Frequently Asked Questions - Verification, Consent, Taxes, and Financial Data

What is verification and why was I selected?

How will I know if I was selected for verification?

When do verification documents need to be turned in?

How do I prepare and submit my documents?

What are the next steps after submitting verification documents?

Why did my financial aid offer change after verification?

My income changed and I want to request a review of my financial circumstances. Do I still need to submit my verification documents?

What is consent, and why do I have to provide it when completing the FAFSA 2024-25?

What happens if I, as a student, or a spouse or parent, don't want to provide consent on the FAFSA?

What if I had a low income and was not required to file taxes?

Will students still be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval tool?

Will non-custodial parents be contributors if they have not claimed the child on their taxes?

If parents that are remarried provide more support to the child than a biological parent, does the stepparent have to provide their taxes information?

What if my parent or stepparent does not want to provide their tax information for my FAFSA?

How do I report small business or farm value as assets on the FAFSA?

My parent is self-employed -- do they still need to say they own a business?

I – and/or my parents or spouse – amended our taxes. Will my Federal Tax Information (FTI) be transferred, or do I have to provide a 1040X later to the school?

Can I self-report my income on FAFSA?

If a parent of a dependent student or an independent student is a non-filer and has zero wages, do they have to provide consent?

What happens if a contributor provides consent but doesn't sign the application?

In what situations will there be a match with IRS, but IRS wouldn't provide information?

What is verification and why was I selected?

• Verification is the process schools are required to use to confirm the data reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is accurate. If selected for verification, this does not necessarily mean there are mistakes, or you have done something wrong. Roughly one third of all FAFSAs filed may be selected for verification. Any contributor on your FAFSA may be selected for verification.

How will I know if I was selected for verification?

• If you are selected for verification, the Financial Aid Office (FAO) will notify you via email after you submit your FAFSA and add a verification checklist item to your MyCWU To-Do list. This notification will outline the next steps and actions needed to complete verification.
• Once all necessary documentation is provided to the FAO, we will use the information provided to confirm that the data reported on the FAFSA matches the documentation provided. If it does not match, our office will correct the information on the FAFSA and submit the updated information to Federal Student Aid for processing.
• If there is incomplete or conflicting information, we may reach out to you requesting clarification or additional documentation.

When do verification documents need to be turned in?

• There is no FAFSA/WASFA submission deadline. Required documentation deadline is June 1. If you have outstanding verification requirements, you will not be eligible to receive financial aid until the requirements are processed, this can take up to three to four weeks during our busiest times.
• While verification documents can be submitted after the deadline, certain funds are limited and failure and may no longer be available if you submit documents past the priority deadline.
• Verification documents should be submitted to our office within 30 days of receiving notification of outstanding requirements. Any documents turned in after August 1 may not be reviewed before the start of the quarter.
• Once you are no longer enrolled or the aid year is over, it may be too late to disburse any financial aid. To avoid any delays in your financial aid, please complete your verification requirements in a timely manner.

How do I prepare and submit my documents?

• Students- if you are providing information for only yourself, you may complete forms online and upload to your MyCWU account. A wet signature is not required if the information is for the student only.
• Contributors- if a contributor on your FAFSA is required to verify their information, they must print and sign all forms with a wet signature. The forms can still be uploaded through the student’s MyCWU To-Do list or emailed to financialaid@cwu.edu.
• Always make sure:
• Are you submitting the proper forms requested?
• Are the documents and forms for the correct aid year?
• Are your forms complete?
• Is the student’s name and CWU ID number included on all documents?
• Are your documents signed? (Typed or auto-generated electronic signatures are not accepted for contributors)
• Avoid making corrections to your FAFSA unless directed. We will make any changes to your FAFSA on your behalf.

What are the next steps after submitting verification documents?

• The initial review of documents can take 2-4 weeks after submission of all documents. Incomplete or missing documents may delay timely processing. Our team will reach out to you via email if we require any additional information.
• Tips for Success
  • Use the Direct Data Exchange (FADDX) to transfer tax information
  • Need a copy of your tax forms? You can request a tax return transcriptor non-filer letter from the IRS.
  • Submit documents as soon as possible. Since the FAFSA uses ‘prior-prior’ year tax information, almost all applicants will have actual income information available to use when completing the FAFSA and be able to provide a copy to the financial aid office, if requested.
  • Be as accurate as possible; incomplete submissions extend the process
  • Contact us if you have any questions or you would like to discuss any unusual circumstances

Why did my financial aid offer change after verification?

• Current and returning students who are selected for verification will not receive a financial aid offer until verification is complete. However, some students may be selected for verification after they have received a financial aid offer. In those cases, we are required to complete verification prior to making any future disbursements. We may be required to return financial aid that was already disbursed if it is determined that a student was ineligible for financial aid after verification is complete. If your financial aid eligibility changes, we will revise your financial aid offer accordingly and notify you via email of the revision.

My income changed and I want to request a review of my financial circumstances. Do I still need to submit my verification documents?

• Yes, if your application was selected for verification. All applications selected for verification must complete the verification process prior to our office reviewing special circumstance requests.
• Referrals of Fraud
  • After conducting a review, if any credible information indicates that an applicant may have engaged in fraud or other criminal misconduct in connection with their application (including, but not limited to verification) for federal student aid, we will refer the relevant information for further investigation to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) within the U.S. Department of Education. Purposely giving false or misleading information may be a student conduct violation and a crime under state or federal law.

What is consent, and why do I have to provide it when completing the FAFSA 2024-25?

• The Future Act requires that every contributor on the FAFSA provide consent to share their taxes information in the application so that the IRS can share this information with Federal Student Aid (FSA). All parties whose Federal Tax Information (FTI) is included on a student's FAFSA form must consent annually. 
• The consent will be required when a student submits a FAFSA, chooses Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) when starting loan repayment, or submits the Total and Permanent Disability discharge (TPD) within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for totally and permanently disabled students. 
• The consent is necessary not only for the Department of Education to request federal tax information from the IRS but also to use that FTI in the federal student aid application process, as well as do other things such as redisclose that information to certain eligible entities, such as higher education institutions.

What happens if I, as a student, or a spouse or parent, don't want to provide consent on the FAFSA?

• If a student, spouse, or parent doesn't provide consent on the FAFSA, the Student Aid Index (SAI) will not be calculated, and the student will not be eligible for any federal aid, WA state aid, or CWU need based aid. 

What if I had a low income and was not required to file taxes?

• According to the IRS tax year 2022, these are the thresholds by filing status. If an independent student (and spouse, if married), or a parent of a dependent student, were not required to file a federal income tax return for 2022, then the student will automatically receive a Student Aid Index (SAI) equal to –1500 (negative 1,500).
• They still need to provide consent when submitting the FAFSA, so the IRS can confirm to Federal Student Aid (FSA) the student, parents, and spouse didn't file taxes.

Will students still be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval tool?

• Starting FAFSA 2024-25, the DRT will no longer exist. After the student, spouse, and/or parent provides consent to the Direct Data Exchange (FADDX), the Federal Tax Information (FTI) will be linked to the application contributor. Federal Student Aid (FSA) will now directly transfer Federal Tax Information (FTI) from the IRS into the FAFSA form as long as the user has provided FSA with the consent to do so. 
• All users identified as required contributors on a particular FAFSA form will be prompted to provide consent for the IRS to use their Federal Tax Information (FTI). This consent is required to retrieve FTI from the IRS to calculate the student's aid eligibility. If any party to the FAFSA form does not provide consent, submission of the form will still be allowed. However, a Student Aid Index (SAI), which replaces the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), will not be calculated, and the student will not be eligible for any federal student aid, WA state aid, or CWU need based aid.

Will non-custodial parents be contributors if they have not claimed the child on their taxes?

• Starting with the Simplified FAFSA, students will determine which parent to report based on which one provides the most financial support. It is ok if the parent or parents reported do not claim the student on their taxes. The reported parents will provide consent to transfer their taxes data even if they do not claim the student on their taxes.

If parents that are remarried provide more support to the child than a biological parent, does the stepparent have to provide their taxes information?

• If the parent providing more financial support is remarried, the stepparent's tax information is required. 

What if my parent or stepparent does not want to provide their tax information for my FAFSA?

• Our financial aid staff can offer to talk directly with the parent or stepparent to explain why that information is needed and answer any questions, which sometimes puts them at ease about how their sensitive info will be used. However, we cannot provide tax advice. ‘

How do I report small business or farm value as assets on the FAFSA?

• Independent students or parents are the best sources for this estimate; they can also consult their accountant or other financial professional if they have access to one to estimate the amounts to report.

My parent is self-employed -- do they still need to say they own a business?

• Being self-employed does end up showing business income on tax returns. But it depends on the type of work whether or not they will have to report any assets associated with their business.

I – and/or my parents or spouse – amended our taxes. Will my Federal Tax Information (FTI) be transferred, or do I have to provide a 1040X later to the school?

• Starting with the 2024-25 FAFSA, when the student, spouse, parent, and/or stepparent provide consent, the IRS's Federal Tax Information (FTI) will include the information from an amended tax return.  

Can I self-report my income on FAFSA?

• After you provide consent on the FAFSA, if the IRS cannot transfer your Federal Tax Information (FTI) to your FAFSA application, the application will allow you to self-report it. Self-reporting one's tax information on the FAFSA does not override the requirement for each required contributor to provide consent on the FAFSA form. 
• Two items are required:
  • Each contributor needs to provide consent, and
  • Each contributor needs to provide their income or tax information, either directly from the IRS or self-reported manually on the FAFSA form

If a parent of a dependent student or an independent student is a non-filer and has zero wages, do they have to provide consent?

• Any individual who is a contributor to the FAFSA application must provide consent. This includes parents, and independent students, regardless of their tax filing status. Generally, the parents of independent students are not contributors and would, therefore, not need to provide consent.  

What happens if a contributor provides consent but doesn't sign the application?

• Starting with the 2024-25 FAFSA, there will be only two options for filing a FAFSA form:
  • Electronically, through StudentAid.gov,
  • The option to file on paper which will also be available.
• However, once an application is started online, all parties must complete it online. So that means that if a signature is missing, the parent or the contributor that needs to complete their section and/or sign the application must obtain an FSA ID and get into the application and complete their section. 
• There is no option to print a signature page any longer. For this reason, financial aid administrators will not be able to submit complete FAFSA forms because of the consent provision that all contributors must provide and sign. 
• Students and parents will be required to have an FSA ID to complete the FAFSA application online. If they choose to mail a paper FAFSA, both will need to provide consent on the paper FAFSA, and both will need to provide wet signatures and mail the application to the Department of Education address on the paper application. This method is not recommended due to complexity and increased processing time.

In what situations will there be a match with IRS, but IRS wouldn't provide information?

• Fraud or identity theft are the most likely reasons for the IRS not providing tax information to the applicant or the contributor. If the contributor has been flagged by the IRS, possibly due to identity theft or a breach of some sort to their information, then the IRS response code will be IRS enabled to provide information.