Home » Departments » Educational Services and Technology » Financial Aid » Verification Process
The District fully complies with federal and state guidelines regarding verification. The District will provide a consistent verification process for all student financial aid programs.
Not all students are selected for verification; the District will verify those students who were selected by the Department of Education for verification. Students are notified of this process in the eSAR that a student receives when the file has been processed by the Department of Education. The District will send a verification email to your District email account regarding the process and the documentation that is needed. The District reserves the right to verify students who may have conflicting information that has been received through the FAFSA, the admission application, and other documents that may have been submitted to the District.
Typically the verification process will take 5-14 days depending on the documentation that is required. During peak processing times, this process may take longer.
Verification Deadlines (subject to change by the Department of Education)
The following deadlines, published by the U.S. Department of Education, will be followed:
Students who fail to turn in all documents required to complete verification by the June 30 deadline, will be ineligible for student financial aid for that award year.
Students who fail to turn in all documents required to complete verification by the May 31 priority processing deadline, may not be processed in time to receive campus based funds (Federal Work Study, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunities Grant) as these funds are limited and typically are exhausted by May 31, for the upcoming award year. Example: for 2016-2017, the date would be May 31, 2016.
If discrepancies are found between the documents submitted for verification and the information on the SAR or ISIR, corrections will be made through PowerFaids. and submitted to the Department of Education for processing. The institution reserves the right to verify any information that has been submitted through the FAFSA or documents submitted by the student.
It is the responsibility of the Student Financial Aid Office staff to ensure that students are eligible for Cal Grant at the time of disbursement of the award. Changes or corrections made during the verification process for new and renewal Cal Grant recipients must be analyzed to determine if the student continues to meet the income and asset criteria for Cal Grant.
If there is a change in the student's federal student financial aid the information will be updated on the Student Financial Aid Portal at the respective colleges through the MySites - MyCCC, MyGWC, or MyOCC.
Students will be notified of the documents which must be submitted to the Student Financial Aid Office in order to complete the verification by use of the "tracking email" and the student financial aid portal. The "tracking email" will list the required verification items, any other actions required to complete verification, and any other items required by the Student Financial Aid Office. Students who fail to bring in the documents after the deadline dates will lose their priority standing for campus‐based awards (FWS, FSEOG, FPL).
Base Year AGI (Adjusted Gross Income)
Income tax transcripts for the preceding base year (i.e., for award year 13-14, the base year would be 2012) must be submitted for students selected for verification; this document will be on the documents tab of the student financial aid portal and will guide the student to the appropriate web site for ordering the transcripts. If a student was required to file taxes and did not, verification cannot proceed until the student completes the appropriate tax form. Required filing limits are based upon the filing requirements established by the IRS for the base year.
Dependent Child
If a student or parent has filed a request for tax filing extension, a copy of IRS form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, must be submitted to the Financial Aid Office. This form will be acceptable for first‐priority status, but no funds will be disbursed to the student until the actual tax transcript has been submitted.
Child Support
Child support will be verified by self‐certification on the Verification Worksheet (independent or dependent) unless there is a discrepancy in the information submitted. In such a case, the student (or the students' parent, the case of a dependent student) may be required to provide the Financial Aid Office with a copy of the divorce decree, or other appropriate documentation. Unless there is evidence to the contrary, it will be assumed that anyone on TANF/CalWorks is not receiving child support.
Other Untaxed Income
Other untaxed income will be verified as required on the Student Financial Aid Verification Guide.
Household Size
Household size will be verified by self‐certification on the Verification Worksheet.
Number in College
Number in college will be verified by self‐certification on the Verification Worksheet.
Discretionary Verification Items
The following sources of untaxed income will not be verified unless there is evidence of a discrepancy:
In the case of TANF / CalWorks / General Relief, other welfare grants, and SSI, because the amounts of these benefits are standard amounts, if the financial aid advisor needs to verify the amount that the student is receiving, the financial aid advisor may do so with a chart of benefits published by the appropriate agency.
Assets will not be verified unless there is evidence of a discrepancy.
Verification Chart that identifies the Department of Education verification groups and documents requested: Tracking Groups Comparison Chart
