What is verification, and what do I do if I’m selected for it?

You might see a note on your Student Aid Report saying you’ve been selected for verification, or we might contact you to let you know you’ve been selected. If so, don’t worry. Verification is the process schools use to confirm that the information a student reported on the FAFSA is accurate. If you’re selected for verification, we’re just double-checking your FAFSA for accuracy. You might even be selected at random.

If you used the Internal Revenue Service Data Retrieval Tool (IRS DRT) when completing your FAFSA, you may not have to verify the information you reported on the FAFSA. If you didn’t use the IRS DRT, or if you filed an amended tax return and used the IRS DRT, we might ask you to submit a tax return transcript as part of the verification process. You can find your tax return transcript through the IRS’s Get Transcript service at irs.gov/transcript.