Relevant to: Students, Staff.
Introduction
The US Department of Education may select a student’s FAFSA for an additional process called verification. This process confirms the accuracy of income and other related information on the FAFSA before an institution can award Title IV aid. A FAFSA may be chosen randomly for verification, or it may be chosen because it included estimated, incomplete, or inconsistent information.
If selected for verification, you will receive an email notification to check your financial aid messages.
Login to MySUNYEmpire and click on the Self Service Banner:
Click Financial Aid tab, then click My Financial Aid.
Select the appropriate aid year in the top right corner. Here on the main screen you will see what is required.
Anything marked established is information you need to provide to the Office of Financial Aid. To satisfy the Verification requirement, please provide all requested federal taxes, W2s, as well as completing the Verification Form for the aid year selected. Please be sure the taxes you provide are signed in the appropriate spaces. You can send copies of your taxes and W2s to FinancialAid@sunyempire.edu.
Click the Independent/Dependent Verification form hyperlink. It will re-direct you to the Financial Aid Online Forms page. Log in again to access forms.
ONLY create the Verification form for the specific aid year requested.
If dependent, students must complete the form with parental information and all household members, including self. For example, household size in a single parent home with one sibling is 3:
Students can electronically sign the form by clicking the appropriate box and typing name. Parents must add a wet signature after printing the form and submitting the signature to the Office of Financial Aid.
Once you have submitted the required documentation, you can monitor the status of activity by viewing your portal (as described in the opening steps above). Please allow a minimum of 2-3 weeks for the information to be reviewed by the Office of Financial Aid. The office will contact you via a portal message and/or email if additional information is needed.
Helpful hint: Some students can utilize the IRS Data Retrieval tool on the FAFSA website. If available to you, you can link your FAFSA with the correct tax year reported with the IRS. Students may go back into their FAFSA application to try this if it was not used when originally completing the application. Please take advantage of this service since it streamlines the verification process.
For more information on how to obtain the necessary tax documentation if the IRS Data Retrieval tool was not used, follow these links: How to Request your Tax Return Transcript, How to Request a Verification of Non-Filing Letter from the IRS.
Please note federal aid awards are not official and remain on hold until the verification process has concluded. When the awards are posted, this is how to view them: How to View your Financial Aid Award.