2008-2009 Financial Aid Award Guide

Understanding the Verification Process

Federal regulations require the Office of Student Financial Aid (OSFA) to review the data submitted on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid for a percentage of students to ensure the accuracy of application data. This process is known as verification. During this review, the OSFA may request documentation from the student or parent. The submitted documentation is then compared to the data submitted on the FAFSA. Any conflict in data is then electronically submitted to the federal processor as a correction. The verification process is designed to ensure the integrity of the federal student aid program.

If you are selected for verification, you will be asked to submit specific documents. For processing ease it is important that you --the student -- include your name and your University Student ID on all documents and that you double check to make sure the document is legible.

Once a student submits all requested documents, our office will review -- or verify -- the data and compare it to the data supplied on the FAFSA. Once the data is reviewed, any changes or corrections are then electronically sent to the federal processor and a new Student Aid Report (SAR) is generated. The updated SAR will have the recalculated expected family contribution which then allows our office to award financial aid. This process may take up to two weeks. Please note that the OSFA will not award financial aid to students selected for verification until the review and correction processes has been completed.

Students may access our website – http://www.financialaid.umd.edu -- at any point along the process to find out the status of their financial aid file. If it becomes necessary to request additional information during the verification process, the office will contact the student via email or phone. If you have questions, please feel free to contact our office at 301-314-9000 and ask for “verification”.