Verification

Yes.

The U.S. Department of Education requires that you comply with our requests for financial information. If you do not complete and return all the requested information within the designated time frame, the NYU Office of Financial Aid (OFA) is required to cancel your financial aid. Completion of verification is necessary to remain eligible for both federal aid and also for most types of NYU scholarships.

The verification documents are PDF documents that are located on your Student Center “To-Do” list.  These documents must be downloaded and printed.  To access these documents, your pop-up blocker must be turned off.  Please note it is best to view the Student Center using Internet Explorer or Firefox web browser.

Be sure that all forms are complete and that you have included all requested information and documents (e.g. signed federal tax returns, W-2 forms, etc.) before you submit the paperwork to the OFA.

You may e-mail them to our office: financial.aid@nyu.edu

You may fax the documents to: 212-995-4661.  Please be sure to fax both sides, and include your University I.D. number (UID) on all faxed pages.

Or, if you prefer you may mail or deliver personally to:

Office of Financial Aid
Student Services Center
New York University
25 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10012-1119

The U.S. Department of Education requires that NYU verify a certain percentage of our students.  Students and families must provide the Office of Financial Aid (OFA) with the financial information necessary to complete the verification.

The purpose of the process is to allow the OFA to collect the documents necessary to verify that the information reported on the FAFSA is correct.  If any information is incorrect, the OFA must make corrections and submit the corrections to the Department of Education for reprocessing.

You and your family agreed to provide financial information when you completed the FAFSA.  Everyone who signs the FAFSA agrees to "If asked, provide information that will verify the accuracy of your completed form."

Yes; all of your financial information, including your federal tax returns, will be kept confidential.  However, if corrections are necessary, the Office of Financial Aid will transmit them electronically to the U.S. Department of Education.

You must complete all forms and return them to the Office of Financial Aid by the deadline stated on the verification forms.  Be sure that all forms are appropriately signed.  You must include with the completed verification forms signed copies of current federal income tax returns for you and your parents, if you are a dependent student (or for you and your spouse, if you are an independent student).  All schedules (all pages) of the tax returns must be submitted.  Additionally, you must submit copies of all W-2s for the requested tax year, and any other documentation we may request to support your FAFSA data.

Yes.  You must submit a copy of all pages of the federal tax return, including all schedules (such as Schedules B, C, C-EZ, D, E, F, J, and SE) and all supplementary forms.  The Office of Financial Aid needs a complete federal tax return to conduct our review.  We do not, however, need copies of state income tax returns.

You must immediately notify the Office of Financial Aid.  Also, you must immediately request copies of your W-2s from your employers (who are required by law to provide an additional copy) and/or contact the Internal Revenue Service (toll-free 1-800-829-1040) to obtain a transcript of your signed federal tax return.  Form 4506 ("Request for Copy of Tax Return") is available at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf.

Your parents may submit a copy of their federal tax return directly to the Office of Financial Aid.  Though we prefer that your parent's federal income tax return be enclosed with your other completed verification forms, it can be submitted separately.  However, they must write your NYU ID on each page of the return so that we can match it with the rest of your verification paperwork.

Not necessarily.  After reviewing the documents you submitted we may need to request additional information and/or documentation to resolve any discrepancies.  You must respond to these requests for additional information within two weeks, or by the designated date.

As instructed by the verification forms, submit to the Office of Financial Aid a copy of your Form 4868 (the request for an extension to file a federal return).  You (and/or your parents) must immediately submit a signed copy of the tax return as soon as the extension expires.

If federal regulations did not require that you (or your parents) file a return, simply indicate that you did not file on our "Tax Verification" form.  Submit all completed verification forms along with a copy of your W-2s to the Office of Financial Aid.

If you (or your parents) were required to file a federal tax return but did not, you must file immediately and submit a copy to the Office of Financial Aid to remain eligible for financial aid.  Failure to comply with federal tax law will force the Office of Financial Aid to cancel your financial aid.

Typically, documents are reviewed within two weeks of receipt. However, the OFA may request additional documents and/or information. You must respond to these additional requests within two weeks.

It is possible that some or all of your student aid will be affected.  The federal aid most likely to be affected is the Federal Pell Grant, the Federal TEACH Grant, the Federal Work study Eligibility, and the eligibility for a Perkins or Subsidized Stafford Loan.  If you under-reported your income or assets on the FAFSA, the above awards are likely to be reduced or canceled.  Other financial aid, such as NYU scholarships could also be affected.

Most of the time — but not always — the people listed as exemptions on your federal income tax return (or your parent's, if you are a dependent student) qualify as members of the household.

For dependent students:

The student and the parents with whom they reside always count as members of the household.  Brothers and sisters of the student also count, if the parents provide more than 50% of their support (though they may not necessarily live with your parents).  Other people count as part of the household if they lived with the student's parents last year, will continue to do so from July 1 this year to June 30 next year, and will receive more than 50% of their support from the student's parents.

For independent students:

The student and their spouse (as long as they are not separated or divorced) always count as members of the household.  Other people count as part of the student's household if they lived with the student last year, will continue to do so from July 1 this year to June 30 next year, and will receive more than 50% of their support from the student and/or the student's spouse.

You should include the information for the parent with whom you lived for most of the year.  This is typically the custodial parent.  If your custodial parent has remarried you must also include the financial information for the new spouse.  If your non-custodial parent contributed money to you (for your education or otherwise) it must be included as your (you, the student) other untaxed income.  If the non-custodial parent does not provide any financial support to you at all, then they are excluded from the FAFSA data.

Include the information only if they provide money to you as support.  If they are providing "support in kind" (i.e. housing or food) then it does not need to be included, but it does need to be explained on a separate sheet of paper.

Yes, you must include your stepparent's information on the verification forms and submit copies of their federal income tax returns and W-2s.  The U.S. Department of Education requires that you submit all requested information for the parent(s) with whom you live and also anyone married to the parent with whom you live.  You must comply with the Office of Financial Aid's requests whether or not the stepparent provides any financial support.

You must still submit that stepparent's financial information.  Neither pre-nuptial agreements nor any other sort of legal agreement release a stepparent from the obligation to provide financial information necessary to complete verification.  Of course, simply submitting information for verification in no way obliges your stepparent to support you or to pay for your education.  They are simply providing information that will be used to determine your financial need.

If, according to federal guidelines, you are a dependent student, your parents must submit any and all financial information requested by the Office of Financial Aid, regardless of whether or not they support you or intend to continue supporting you.

Be sure to report any cash gifts or money paid on your and your family's behalf.  If, for example, a grandparent paid part of your tuition for the academic year, those funds are considered a payment made on your behalf and must be reported on the "Cash Gifts" line in the Resources column on the Worksheet.

If you submit a Worksheet on which the expenses exceed the resources, the form will be returned to you for further explanation.  One way or another, your family must have met the expenses you listed on the form.  Note that the Resources column includes a line where your family can report the amount of expenses charged on a credit card (and a line in the Expenses column where any payments made towards credit card balances must be reported).

Yes.  All money given to your family (student and spouse, for independent students; student or parents, for dependent students) must be reported as a cash gift on the worksheet.  This includes money paid on your behalf towards tuition or other educational expenses.  If you are an independent student and your parents (or friends or other relatives) paid part of your tuition or provided a monthly allowance or even occasional gifts, all of these funds must be reported as a cash gift on the expense resource worksheet.

You don't.  Notice that the Expense column asks that you report only money paid to NYU by cash or check (and not later refunded to you).  That means NYU charges covered by financial aid should not appear on the Worksheet.  Therefore, the financial aid that paid for these charges should not be listed as a resource.  Only financial aid refunded to you after all tuition and housing charges were paid in full can be listed as a resource on one of the "miscellaneous" lines in the Resources column.

You may contact us by telephone at 212-998-4444, or by e-mail.  You may visit us in person between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the Student Services Center at 25 West 4th Street.