Academic Year 2013-2014:

The verification process has significantly changed starting with the 2012-13 academic year.  We can no longer accept a copy of your tax returns.

The Office of Student Financial Services can only accept your tax data when it is verified by the IRS. The federal government has approved two methods for you to verify this data.

1. The first method is to resubmit the 2013-14 FAFSA and use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. We recommend this option because it is the fastest option to submit your tax data to our office. For instructions on how to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, please review the 2013-14 FAFSA Offers IRS Data Retrieval document.

Please note that there are some persons who will be unable to complete this procedure.

• Persons who are recent 2012 tax return filers (persons who filed electronically within the last 3 weeks or persons who filed via paper within the last 8 weeks)
• Persons who are non-tax filers (on your Verification form, you may mark that you are not filing and we will waive the requirement)
• Persons with an extension to file
• Persons completing a Special Circumstances Appeal

2. The second method is to request your 2012 IRS Tax Return Transcript directly from the IRS and submit a copy of that document to our office. Please note that this document is different than your copy of your tax returns, which we can no longer accept for verification according to federal regulations. For instructions on how to request your Tax Return Transcript, please download How To Request IRS Tax Return Transcript Online.

Do not request a Tax Account Transcript or Record of Account because they cannot be used for financial aid verification purposes.

If you find that you are having problems with the IRS DRT or requesting a tax return because your data is not available, please contact the IRS directly at 1-800-829-1040. Then let our office know via email at financialservices@purchase.edu what information you received from the IRS as to why your data is not available and when it will become available.

Academic Year 2012-2013 Update:

The information listed above for the 2013-14 academic year is also applicable to the current academic year, as we can no longer accept a copy of your tax returns.

IMPORTANT: Per federal regulations, in order to be considered for financial aid, a complete and correct FAFSA must be received by Purchase College before either your last day of attendance for the current school year or the last day of attendance for your final semester before you graduate. If your FAFSA has been selected for verification, your FAFSA is not complete and correct until the verification process has been completed.

General Information:

Verification is a process where your school requests documentation from you to verify the data you provided on your FAFSA. The federal government selects students for verification, and requires the school to complete the process.

Per federal regulations, in order to be considered for financial aid, a complete and correct FAFSA must be received by Purchase College before either your last day of attendance for the current school year or the last day of attendance for your final semester before you graduate. If your FAFSA has been selected for verification, your FAFSA is not complete and correct until the verifiction has been completed.

Our office will send you an email request for documentation if you have been selected for verification and a financial aid advisor will review your file only after we have received all the documents. If necessary, we may request  additional documents after the initial review has been completed. If no further documents are needed, you will receive an email with your detailed Financial Aid Award letter shortly. We do not send a paper copy of this information, so please make sure you are keeping track of your email.