FAFSA Verification

Verification is a quality-assurance measure used by the U.S. Department of Education to verify the accuracy of information submitted by students and families on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).  All schools that disburse federal Title IV funds are required to participate in the verification process. If you are selected for this process, the Financial Aid Office will provide you with detailed instructions regarding any information that is necessary to verify the results of your FAFSA.

Common information requested includes:

• A Verification Worksheet (see below)
• Federal Income Tax Return Transcripts (see instructions below)
• W-2 Earnings Statements (only if the student and/or parent(s) earned income during the tax year but were not required to file a federal tax return)

If a student is selected for verification, they are required to submit this information. Depending on a student's dependency status, parents and/or spouses (if applicable) will also be required to provide our office with the above information. Students can review the status of their verification file at any time on the MURPHY online student information system.

Your financial aid cannot be processed until your verification file is complete. To receive maximum consideration for federal and state aid programs such as grants and loans, students must complete the FAFSA verification process before April 1st.

Verification Forms

2012-2013 Verification Worksheet for Dependent Students
This worksheet should be completed by dependent students who have been selected for the verification process. Dependent students are those who are required to provide parental information when filing their FAFSA.

2012-2013 Verification Worksheet for Independent Students
This worksheet should be completed by independent students who have been selected for the verification process. Independent students are those who are required to provide only student (and spouse, if applicable) information when filing their FAFSA.

Tax Transcripts

In order to verify the tax information required on a student's FAFSA, the Financial Aid Office must collect a federal income tax return transcript from the student and/or parent(s). However, this requirement is waived if the student and/or parent(s) used the IRS data retrieval tool when filing the FAFSA on the Web as long as the parent/student did not alter any of the transferred tax data before the FAFSA was submitted.

If a FAFSA is submitted with estimated tax data and selected for verification, the student/parent(s) may submit the required tax transcripts or update the FAFSA using IRS data retrieval to provide the necessary information to the Financial Aid Office.

If the student and/or parent(s) is not able to use the IRS data retrieval tool to update the FAFSA, they may request a federal income tax return transcript online at www.irs.gov or by calling 1-800-908-9946. Tax transcripts are not available for 1-2 weeks after a tax return has been filed. Additionally, once a transcript has been requested, it will take approximately 10 days for the transcript to be mailed to the taxpayer.

For more information on the FAFSA verification process download our verification guide.