Verification

Federal Verification
Verification is the process in which Student Financial Aid Services (SFAS) — as dictated by federal and state regulations — compares the financial information you reported on the FAFSA with your prior-prior-year federal tax returns/ transcripts, W-2 forms, and other financial documentation. We also verify the household information. If your application is selected for verification, you will receive an email instructing you to access your financial aid account through your Highlander Pipeline portal. From there, you can determine the specific information SFAS needs in order to verify your data. SFAS must receive all requested documentation within 14 days of the request and verification must be complete before federal and state aid can be disbursed. If there are differences between the data you supplied on your FAFSA and the verification documentation, corrections may be needed, and your application will be reprocessed. If we make any corrections to your FAFSA information, we will notify you via a message on your Highlander Pipeline portal. 

For income verification, we will request copies of signed federal tax returns and W-2s for students and parents (as applicable). In some cases, you may be asked to provide an IRS Tax Return Transcript from the Internal Revenue Service. To understand how to obtain an IRS Tax Return Transcript, please watch this video. 

Your FAFSA may have flags that would require us to confirm your financial aid eligibility. For example, you may be asked to confirm your citizenship status. We will send you an email to upload the required proof of citizenship to the document portal. Your file will remain incomplete unless all required documents are submitted. 

State Verification
If you are a New Jersey resident receiving state aid like the New Jersey Tuition Aid Grant (TAG), the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) may select your file for state verification. If you receive a request for documents or additional information from HESAA, you must forward all requested information and financial documents directly to HESAA to avoid a delay in the disbursement of funds or loss of your state aid altogether. In some cases, HESAA may request the same information that was requested by SFAS. Please make sure you have created your NJFAMS account as HESAA will post all requests and open tasks on the NJFAMS portal. 

Deadlines
It is extremely important that you respond to requests for information promptly because finalized financial aid packages are processed in the order of file completion date. To ensure that your financial aid funds disburse as scheduled at the start of the fall semester, you must submit all required documentation by April 15. You can still submit documents after the April 15 deadline, but the absolute deadline for the submittal of all documents is 30 days prior to the end of the semester or award period. The designated deadlines allow SFAS to process and authorize disbursements within the timeframes permitted under regulations set forth for administering the federal and state aid programs. We encourage you to regularly check your email and portal to provide requested documents in a timely manner to avoid delay or loss of aid.