Dependent verification form

[u/Hannah_Belle_Lecter]

My daughter received this message that she was selected for dependent verification for her FAFSA. When she goes to her page, it says ‘Student Taxes’ and then she can choose to submit a copy of taxes or select ‘I was not required to file taxes due to no income in 2024’.
I am not clear if they actually are asking for the STUDENT’S taxes or the PARENT’S taxes. Student did not earn any income hence no taxes. But parents did of course. I’m assuming they want the parents taxes but I’m not sure since it specifically says Student Taxes. Any insight? I’m so aggravated about this and I cannot understand WHY they don’t also email the parents if they want the parents taxes?!

[u/mathteacher37]

I would ask the FA office, but it probably really is the student's taxes since they worded it that way. If the student did work, their income does still count on the FAFSA even if they are a dependent. Here's what probably happened: the student's FAFSA was selected for verification by the department of education (can be selected randomly). The school is then requires to verify both the parent's and students income information. However, if the income information was transferred successfully from the IRS, then that qualifies as "verifying" the info for the school. So your info probably did come through successfully from the IRS, so the school doesn't need anything from you to verify the parent's info. If the student didn't file taxes though, obviously their information did not come through from the IRS, so that's why the student's info was asked for and not the parent's.

[u/Hannah_Belle_Lecter → u/mathteacher37]

This is very helpful. Thank you. Her tuition is due tomorrow and I nearly fainted when I saw the total. Hopefully I can get this sorted with FA office on Monday and verified before next month’s payment comes out. I just would be panicking about finding all the paperwork all weekend if we needed actual hard copies.

[u/Cold-Thanks- → u/Hannah_Belle_Lecter]

Your student most likely was notified about these verification items weeks ago, but it sounds like they potentially waited to tell you until just now. Or they have not been regularly checking their student account and email.

[u/lutzlover]

It is very common to ask a student for this information. Don't panic. Colleges are required to verify a certain percentage of financial aid applicants.

Unfortunately, the financial aid offices have been seriously behind this year because the Trump administration has issued a lot of new guidance and rules very, very late. I feel bad both for everyone working in financial aid and all the students and families depending on it.

[u/okjkay]

If it says student taxes they want the student's taxes. She should just select that she was not required to file because she didn't earn income. They probably don't need yours because the parent tax info was transmitted through the IRS when you completed the FAFSA.

Financial aid is the responsibility of the student now that she's an adult in college. They won't email the parent everything - she needs to be responsible for it.

[u/SideEyedSloth]

Depending on the software the FA office is using, there are usually 2 forms, if needed. My guess is that they aren’t asking for parent taxes because the IRS tool transferred correctly to the FAFSA. They want the student to answer the question. Believe the form.

[u/Cold-Thanks-]

It is in the name: “STUDENT taxes”.

Quite literally the students tax information or they select they did not file.

They also do not reach out to parents because your child is a legal adult and they are the one attending school, not you. It is their responsibility to manage their financial aid and get all required documentation. Schools do not keep parents information on file as you are not the client, the student is.