JB Pritzker, Governor, State of Illinois

Verification

2025-26 Verification Information
Confined or Incarcerated Students
Overview
Required Verification Items
Required Documentation
Suggested Text
Updating Information
Resources

2025-26 Verification Information

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) GEN-24-10 on September 4, 2024, announcing the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) items to be verified and the acceptable documentation for those items. DCL GEN-24-10 supplements information provided in the Federal Register notice (89 FR 71893) that was also published on September 04, 2024.

Confined or Incarcerated Students

DCL GEN-24-10 also confirms that, for confined or incarcerated students, the same verification requirements that applied for the 2024-2025 award year also will apply for the 2025-2026 award year.

For the 2025-26 award year:

  • a confined or incarcerated student is indicated through an incarcerated applicant flag (refer to Volume 7 – Comment Codes of the 2025-26 FAFSA Specifications Guide for further details).
  • incarcerated students selected for Verification Tracking Groups V4 or V5 will only be required to verify their identity and submit a statement of educational purpose.
  • institutions are not required to verify a confined or incarcerated student selected under Verification Tracking Flag V1.

Overview

Because students sometimes make errors when reporting application information, procedures are in place for verifying the information reported on the FAFSA. Maintaining the integrity of the student aid programs and minimizing improper payments is a major objective of all partners in the financial aid process.

Applications may be selected for verification either randomly, by the FAFSA Processing System (FPS), or by the postsecondary school. Schools are required to have written polices about the verification process at their school.

ED's goal is for a customized approach to verification. Students who are selected for verification are placed in one of three tracking groups. The tracking group determines which FAFSA information must be verified. The FAFSA output document (FAFSA Submission Summary) will display one of the verification flags, and an asterisk is printed next to the Student Aid Index (SAI), to identify students who have been selected for verification by the FPS. A checked box in the Application Status section of the output document tells the applicant they may need to provide documentation to their school.

Refer to the FSA Handbook (Application and Verification Guide, Chapter 4) and DCL GEN-24-10 for detailed information about the required policies and procedures, information to be verified, exclusions to verification, an explanation of acceptable documentation for each tracking group, and guidance regarding updating information and making disbursements.

Required Verification Items

Applicants selected for verification are placed in one of three tracking groups (V1, V4, or V5). The tracking group determines which FAFSA information must be verified for the applicant. The items that must be verified when an application is selected for verification by the FPS are those listed below. Tracking Groups V2, V3 and V6 are reserved by the Department of Education. Refer to the September 04, 2024 Federal Register, DCL GEN-24-10, and the "Applications and Information to be Verified" and "Documentation" portions of the 2025-26 FSA Handbook (once posted by ED) for details regarding items to be verified and acceptable documentation in the 2025-26 academic year.

V1 Standard Verification Group

Tax Filers
Adjusted Gross Income
Income Earned from Work
U.S. Income Tax Paid
Untaxed Portions of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) Distributions
Untaxed Portions of Pensions
IRA Deductions and Payments
Tax Exempt Interest Income
Education Tax Credits
Foreign Income Exempt from Federal Taxation

Nontax Filers
Income Earned from Work

Tax Filers and Nontax Filers
Family Size

V4 Custom Verification Group

Identity/Statement of Educational Purpose (institutions must use the exact language as provided in Appendix A: 2025-26 Suggested Verification Text of DCL GEN-24-10)

V5 Aggregate Verification Group

Tax Filers
Adjusted Gross Income
Income Earned From Work
U.S. Income Tax Paid
Untaxed Portions of IRA Distributions
Untaxed Portions of Pensions
IRA Deductions and Payments
Tax Exempt Interest Income
Education Tax Credits
Foreign Income Exempt from Federal Taxation

Nontax Filers
Income Earned from Work

Tax Filers and Nontax Filers
Family Size
Identity/Statement of Educational Purpose (institutions must use the exact language as provided in Appendix A: 2025-26 Suggested Verification Text of DCL GEN-24-10)

Schools may select applicants for verification other than those selected by the FPS. A school is not required to verify any or all of the FAFSA information for applicants it selects for verification. A school may identify acceptable documentation for school-selected applicants in accordance with consistently applied school policies but they must use the documentation required by the Department of Education for applicants selected by the FPS. School-selected applications are considered selected for verification and, therefore, the same rules for FPS-selected applications apply regarding deadlines, tolerances and disbursements.

Required Documentation

Refer to the September 04, 2024 Federal Register for information about documentation that may be accepted for verification.

Suggested Text

ED provides suggested text for each of the required verification items. A school may use the suggestions or create their own worksheet and text to collect documentation. However, the exact language provided in Appendix A: 2025-26 Suggested Verification Text of DCL GEN-24-10 is required for the Statement of Educational Purpose for applicants selected for Verification Groups V4 and V5.

Updating Information

Applicants selected for verification must update information as of the date the application was submitted. Applicants not selected for verification cannot update FAFSA information concerning income or assets for changes occurring after the filing of the original application.

  • All applicants must update dependency status and FAFSA information throughout the award year except when the update is caused by a change in the student’s marital status. (See the FSA Handbook for guidance on Professional Judgment.)
  • All applicants selected by the FPS for verification must update the household size and number in college to be correct as of the date of verification unless the change is due to a change in the student's marital status.
  • Financial aid administrators ONLY can make changes to data provided directly from the IRS.

Any conflicting information about which the school becomes aware must be resolved and verified. Schools must complete verification before exercising Professional Judgment to adjust any values that are used to calculate the SAI. Using Professional Judgment does not require the school to verify applications that have not been selected.

Resources

The FSA Partner Connect – Knowledge Center website includes links to information and guidance related to the administration and processing of Title IV programs. The following verification-related links are just a few resources available at the Knowledge Center. Users can filter electronic announcements and Dear Colleague Letters by calendar year.