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What is verification & who is selected?
Verification is the process of confirming that the information reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is accurate. You can get selected for verification either by the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships at MSU Denver or by the U.S. Department of Education.
If selected, you will be required to complete the verification process by submitting all requested documentation. You will be notified of the documentation that you will be required to submit through your MSU Denver email and through your Student Hub.
In accordance with the Department of Education’s guidelines, you will not be offered financial aid until verification is completed. In some cases, you may be institutionally selected or selected by the Department of Education after you have been offered or received aid. Typically, this may happen if any corrections or updates to your FAFSA are made after you have been initially awarded aid.
If during the verification process it is determined that corrections need to be made to your FAFSA, the Office of Financial and Scholarships will make those corrections on your behalf and submit your FAFSA for reprocessing. This may cause a change to your EFC which will be used to determine your aid offer. If you have already been offered or received aid and were selected for verification afterwards, your current aid offer may be adjusted after verification is completed. The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships will notify you of any changes to your awards through a Revised Award Letter sent to your MSU email account.
The deadlines to submit verification documents are as follows:
If selected for verification, all documents you will be required to submit will be listed on your Student Hub.
Please review the requested documents carefully. Submitting an incomplete document will delay processing time.
If selected for verification, most students will typically be required to submit:
Tax Filers
How To Obtain A Tax Return Transcript From The IRS
Go to the IRS website.
Click “Get Your Tax Record”
Click “Get Transcript Online”
Individuals Filing An Extension
Joint Filers Who Are No Longer Married
Non-Tax Filers
Residents of The Freely Associated States (Republic of Marshall Islands, The Republic of Palau, or The Federated States of Micronesia)
Individuals Who Can’t Get A Verified Nonfiling Letter (VNF) From The IRS or Other Tax Authority
Filers of Non-IRS Tax Returns
Filers of Amended Returns
Victims of Identity Theft
Failure to submit verification documents by the deadlines may result in certain aid not being offered or a cancellation in some aid you have already received. This may cause a balance on your student account in which you would be liable to pay.
The U.S. Department of Education has established regulations to prevent fraud and abuse in the Federal Student Aid program by identifying students with unusual enrollment histories. Some students who have an unusual enrollment history have legitimate reasons for their enrollment at multiple institutions. However, such an enrollment history requires our office to review your file in order to determine future federal financial aid eligibility. If selected by the Department of Education, this must be resolved before you will receive financial aid.
At times, students are selected for unusual enrollment history after their financial aid has already been awarded. In these cases future financial aid disbursements will be held until your file is reviewed and resolved. If it is determined that you are ineligible for financial aid based on unusual enrollment history, any previous awarded and disbursed financial aid for the academic year will be returned to the appropriate sources and future disbursements will be cancelled. You will be provided with the opportunity to complete a semester of 6+ hours out of pocket to demonstrate your ability to earn academic credit successfully, at which point your unusual enrollment history can be re-appealed.
The specific pattern the Department of Education uses to select students includes those students who have received a Federal Pell Grant and/or Federal Direct Loans at multiple institutions during the past four academic years. Once the Department of Education has indicated that a student has an unusual enrollment history, the Financial Aid Office must take action and review the academic history prior to determining federal financial aid eligibility for that student.
If selected to complete an Unusual Enrollment History Appeal (UEHAP), our office will notify you of what is required via a Missing Information Email sent to your msudenver.edu student email account. You are required to have received academic credit at any institution you received the Federal Pell grant or Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized loan while attending in those relevant academic years. If you are uncertain which schools will be relevant to your appeal you may review your Federal financial aid history at studentaid.gov.
Students that have been denied federal student aid based on an Unusual Enrollment History Appeal have the ability to regain financial aid eligibility by successfully completing one semester of at least 6 credits with at least a 2.0 semester GPA (2.25 GPA for students who do not have a good SAP status). Students can also obtain at least half time credit receiving at least a 2.0 GPA at another institution, at which point you may submit another UEHAP. If credit was obtained at a college other than MSU Denver, you must submit a transcript for review.
Bankruptcy cannot include student loans, however our system still notifies us & students currently. If this is the case, we will update this as DEFAULT to confirm that your student loans are in good standing.
Default occurs when a student who is required to repay their student loans fails to do so for several months and becomes delinquent. If the loan delinquency exceeds 270 days the student is considered to be in default. Default makes the loan due in full immediately. Default appears on the student’s NSLDS record and prevents the student from receiving any federal aid until the default is cleared. Clearing default requires communication between the company holding the loans and the student. It typically requires a nine (9) month consecutive payment plan.
Note: Default is damaging to a student’s credit and it can lead to the garnishment of wages, withholding of tax refunds and possible legal action.
Be sure to select Satisfactory Academic Progress on the drop down. Processing times may vary.
Submit a SAPAP Here!SAP status is calculated at the end of each term. All credit hours (including transfer credit hours) are used in this calculation.
“GOOD STANDING”
You are in Good Standing if you meet the following:
“WARNING”
You will be placed on warning status which will not affect your financial aid for your next term of enrollment if:
“FINANCIAL AID SUSPENSION” (FORMERLY SAP)
You will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension and will not be eligible to receive financial aid at MSU Denver if you do not meet the following terms for two consecutive semesters:
“MAXIMUM TIMEFRAME”
You will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension and will not be eligible to receive financial aid at MSU Denver if:
Note: Your entire academic record, including all transfer credits, are counted toward the 180 credit hour maximum. undergraduate degree.
“PROBATION”
You will be placed in a probation status for one term (which makes you eligible for financial aid) if:
While on Probation, you have one semester to achieve Good Standing, or you must complete and meet all terms of an Academic Plan until you are back in Good Standing.
If you are in a SAP or Maximum Timeframe status, you have the right to submit a written appeal to our office.
If you are a Freshman or Sophomore, you will be required to submit an Academic Plan (APLAN) along with your Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal (SAPAP). An academic plan must be completed with your advisor. You can schedule an appointment with your advisor in Navigate Student. The SAP Appeal will not be reviewed without the academic plan and vice versa.
If you are a Junior or Senior, we will run a calculation upon receipt of your appeal to insure that you can achieve a 2.0 cumulative GPA prior to graduation, and that you can graduate within 150% of your program length (usually 180 credit hours total). If you meet these standards and your appeal is successful, you must meet the academic standards listed in your Appeal Approval each semester until you once again meet the 2.0 GPA and 67% completion requirements to be in “Good Standing”.
Once you have an Approved Appeal, you must exactly follow the terms of your APlan or Appeal Approval. To change the APlan or terms of Appeal Approval, you must submit an appeal with an explanation of why the change is necessary. Failure to follow the plan or submit an appropriate appeal for change places you back on SAP the following semester. Any future appeals after failure to follow your plan will be reviewed more thoroughly by the committee and requires new circumstances that prevented you from meeting terms of your original appeal / plan.
Financial aid eligibility will be restored once you are back in Good Standing – 2.0 cumulative GPA and a 67% completion rate. There are options to help you pay for school on your own until you are back in Good Standing for financial aid.
To continue taking classes at MSU Denver, please work with your Academic Advisor to ensure you have a plan to get back into Good Standing. You also have the following options for paying for college:
NOTE: SAP policy is for FINANCIAL AID ONLY & is independent of Academic Probation.
If you are working on a first degree at MSU Denver and are classified as TLIC – you MAY be approved up to 195 attempted credits as long as you are completing 100% of attempted courses with a GPA of 2.20 each semester.
For both appeals, students are required to submit a Degree Works report to show successful completion of courses, as well as any remaining coursework. Also, the OFAS will review course selection per term to ensure that all courses attempted are pertinent to your selected degree program.
If you have received your first MSU Denver degree and have now come back to get a second undergraduate MSU Denver degree you MAY BE ELIGIBLE for up to 240 attempted credits.
For both appeals, students are required to submit a Degree Works report to show successful completion of courses, as well as any remaining coursework. Also, the OFAS will review course selection per semester to ensure that all courses attempted are pertinent to your selected degree program.
Your financial aid will likely be delayed the semester following your study abroad term. The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships cannot calculate your SAP status until your official academic transcript from the study abroad program has been received and reviewed by the University. All financial aid will be held until this transcript has been evaluated. You may submit an unofficial transcript to our office but that does not guarantee that we can update your status and release your financial aid.
Aid administrators are allowed to consider certain special financial situations a family may be currently experiencing on a case-by-case basis and consider adjusting either the Cost of Attendance or the data elements that make up the need formula on the FAFSA. If you have been selected for Verification, you must complete the Verification process before your appeal will be considered or reviewed. Below are some examples of special circumstances although this is not an exhaustive list.
You have the right to appeal based on your family’s special circumstances and be consider for additional aid or additional costs considered in your Cost of Attendance. An approved appeal may or may not result in additional aid. You must submit the appropriate form and required documentation to be considered.
Aid administrators have the authority to consider unusual circumstances for a student who does not qualify for independent status on the FAFSA but whose unusual circumstances may allow the student to be considered independent anyway.
Examples of Unusual Circumstances:
Unusual Circumstances Do Not Include:
You must submit a Dependency Override Appeal (DEPFAM) and required documentation for consideration. If approved, the unusual circumstances will qualify you for independent status and only your information will be needed on the FAFSA and you will be awarded independent based aid if eligible.