Required Verification Documents

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Financial Aid Overview


Required Verification Documents for Financial Aid

The details listed below explain how to find, complete, and submit requested verification documents.

>>Dependent Students

Dependent students must submit:

  1. Dependent Student Verification Worksheet

  2. Student's Federal Tax Return Transcript and/or a successful IRS data transfer using the Data Retrieval Tool (DRT)/FA-DDX

  3. Parent's Federal Tax Return Transcript and/or a successful IRS data transfer using the DRT/FA-DDX

  4. All W2s, 1099s, and supporting schedules, if applicable.

 

>>Independent Students

Independent students must submit:

  1. Independent Student Verification Worksheet

  2. Student/Spouse Federal Tax Return Transcript and/or a successful IRS data transfer using the Data Retrieval Tool (DRT)/FA-DDX

  3. All W2s, 1099s, and supporting schedules, if applicable.

Contact Info

Financial Aid

350 Spelman Lane, S.W., Atlanta, GA. 30314
Packard Hall, 1st floor

404-270-5222
financialaid@spelman.edu

Mon. - Fri. | 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Didn’t file taxes? 
If your (spouse, if applicable) and/or your parents have not and are not required to file a tax return, you will be required to confirm and document this information on the requested form. The income earned from work must also be documented by listing each employer and submitting copies of all W-2s received during the calendar year being verified.  If a W-2 is not available, submit a signed statement (preferably on letterhead) from the employer verifying the earnings and explaining the absence of the W-2.  Parents and independent students are required to also submit a Verification of Non-filing Letter obtained from the IRS.

The Office of Financial Aid at Spelman College Adheres to FERPA (The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) regulations as well as confidentiality agreements.

Ordering IRS Transcripts

There are a few ways you can obtain your IRS Federal Tax Return Transcripts. Please review the options and instructions below:

To request IRS Tax Return Transcript or Verification of Non-Filing Letter, go to the IRS website.

In order to use the Get Transcript ONLINE or Get transcript by MAIL options you must be able to provide:

  • Social security number
  • Date of birth
  • The filing status and mailing address from latest tax return
  • Access to your email account
  • Your personal account number from a credit card, mortgage, home equity loan, home equity line of credit or car loan
  • A mobile phone with your name on the account

 

Students and parents filing an amended Tax Return must submit:

  1. IRS Tax Transcript or use Data Retrieval Tool (DRT/FA-DDX)
  2. A signed copy of the IRS Form 1040x that was filed with IRS

Deadlines for Requested Documents

New First-Year students (including transfer students) financial aid eligibility will be determined regardless of whether the verification process is complete. Once verification is complete, financial aid eligibility will be reevaluated and adjusted if necessary. Verification documentation must be submitted no later than 60 days prior to the planned term of enrollment. Submitting the required documents by the due dates mentioned, facilitates the college's ability to verify all information in a timely manner, ensure that financial aid awards and reconciliation of funds are accurate, and that financial aid is posted to the student’s account in a timely manner.

When a returning student is selected for verification, written notification will be sent to the student identifying the documents required for the verification process. This notification will be sent to the student by the Financial Aid Office no later than two weeks from the time the Financial Aid Office receives official notification that the student was selected. The student must then submit all necessary documents to the Financial Aid Office. Failure to submit the required documentation will delay or eliminate the disbursement of federal, state, and institutional financial aid funds. Additionally, students who are obtaining financial assistance through federal student loans, who fail to submit documentation for verification in a timely manner, could cause the cancellation of loan assistance.

Loss of Aid Eligibility

No financial aid will be disbursed to a student’s account if the student is selected for verification and the verification process is incomplete. If financial aid has already been disbursed and the student is subsequently selected for verification, further disbursements are stopped until which time the process is complete. If a student completely withdraws from enrollment at Spelman College or the period of enrollment (i.e., semester) ends before the verification process is complete, the student loses any calculated aid eligibility as of the date of withdrawal or end of period of enrollment whichever comes first, and any disbursed aid is returned to its source.

Conflicting Information Policy for Verification

The Financial Aid Office has authority and is required to resolve any conflicting information in the student’s financial aid file or other related educational records prior to determining or disbursing financial aid funds. In most cases, additional documents will be requested from the student (or student’s family/guardian). Failure of the student (or student’s family/guardian) to resolve the conflicting information with documentation acceptable to the Financial Aid Office will eliminate financial aid eligibility. The Financial Aid Office produces tracking letters that are sent to students (or student’s family/guardians) on a regular basis requesting required documentation (such as tax transcripts, verification worksheets, etc.)

Correction of Information

The College will submit the verified corrections to the U.S. Department of Education federal processor electronically. This will ensure that corrections are made known to all parties and that the need-analysis will be updated accurately and according to federal standards.

Default or Overpayment Status

Any student identified in default on an educational loan or who owes an overpayment of Title IV financial aid funds is immediately ineligible for all financial aid at Spelman College. If aid has been disbursed during an enrollment period and the student is identified as in default during that enrollment period, all financial aid processing will stop, and no further disbursements will be made. Processing will resume at the point that the default or overpayment has been satisfied.

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