Financial Aid Forms

Verification is a process used by the Department of Education and colleges to ensure that information reported on a student's FAFSA is accurate. Because students sometimes make errors on their application, there is a process for verifying applications and making corrections. Institutions that participate in Federal Title IV aid programs are REQUIRED by federal regulations to perform verifications on selected students.

Students can be randomly selected for verification by the U.S. Department of Education's Central Processing System (CPS). Other students may be selected by the school, if conflicting information or discrepancies are present on their FAFSA.

• CPS will notify the student on his/her Student Aid Report (SAR).
• Duquesne University Financial Aid Office will send email notification to the student's email address explaining the required documentation

Students selected for verification will be required to submit certain documents and forms to the Financial Aid Office before financial aid eligibility can be determined. For timely processing, requested documents MUST be received by the established priority deadline posted in the email notifications.

1. Documents received by the Financial Aid Office will be processed and updated within 7-10 business days. Please do not send multiple submissions of your documents if you don't see an update to your account within this time.
2. Once documents submitted are updated into the system, our Financial Aid Staff Members will review all documents received against FAFSA information reported to ensure accuracy and completeness. File review may result in the following two options:

• If updates are required, the Financial Aid Office will submit an updated FAFSA with corrections to the Department of Education Central Processing System (CPS) for processing. It may take up to 3-5 business days to receive a corrected FAFSA response from the Central Processing System.
  OR
• If conflicting information is detected during the review, additional documentation from the student will be required to resolve the discrepancies. Notifications will be sent via e-mail and/or phone call. Another review will be performed when additional documentation is received from the student.

1. When all corrections, updates, and conflicting information have been resolved, students will be notified of any changes to their Expected Family Contribution (EFC) as well as notification of a generated Award Package (if student is eligible) is sent to student.

Please allow 2-3 weeks for processing. If additional documentation is needed to resolve discrepant and conflicting information, processing time can increase to 4-6 weeks.

Verification may include, but is not limited to, review of the following data:

• Tax Filers (From IRS Data Retrieval or Tax Return Transcript)
  • Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)
  • Taxes Paid
  • Specific untaxed income items from tax return
  • Untaxed IRA distributions
  • Untaxed pensions
  • Education credits
  • IRA deductions
  • Tax exempt Interest
• Nontax Filers
  • Income earned from work (W-2)
  • Confirmation on Non-filing from IRS, or written statement explaining that the student attempted to obtain a Confirmation from the IRS but was unable to do so.
• Nontax Filers who are only Independent due to selecting that they have children in the household size
  • Student who are Independent due only to selecting that they have children for whom they provide more than 50% of the financial support, yet report $0 income on the FAFSA, must submit a Low-Income Statement along with their verification documentation.
• All Applicants
  • Number in Household
  • Number in College
• Custom Verification
  • High School Completion Status
  • Identity/Educational Purpose Statement

**Upon review of verification documents, additional documentation may be required.

Documentation must be secured by the Financial Aid Office before further processing can continue. For timely processing of your student financial aid, please submit all requested documentation by the following PRIORITY deadlines:

Enrollment Semester	Required Documentation Submission Date
Fall Semester	July 1st
Spring Semester	November 1st
Summer Semester	April 1st

Note: If the date listed above falls on a weekend or holiday, the documentation is due on the next business day.

Please keep in mind that due to heavy volume in the summer and early fall, there may be a delay in the review of verification materials submitted.

If your financial aid eligibility has not been determined or your documentation has not been submitted by the dates listed above, you will be responsible for payment of your tuition, fees, and charges. Please visit the Business Office for payment dates. Please regularly check your Duquesne University email address for updates about your financial aid eligibility.

Individuals who have purposely misreported information or altered documentation to fraudulently obtain financial aid funds will be reported to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General.