These forms may be submitted to the Office of Financial Aid using our secure document upload

Verification Forms

Verification is a process used by the Department of Education and colleges to ensure that information reported on a student's FAFSA is accurate. You can scroll down to learn more about the verification process or find the form you need here:

Special Circumstances 

Tuition Awards

Appeal Form

Verification Policies & Procedures

Students can be randomly selected for verification by the U.S. Department of Education's Central Processing System (CPS). Other students may be selected by the school, if conflicting information or discrepancies are present on their FAFSA. Review the questions to learn more about this process.

The United States Department of Education requires that students who are selected for Federal Verification provide documentation to verify the accuracy of the information submitted on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year. Federal regulations include verification as part of the Federal Student Aid (FSA) Program requirements and it is required for applicants for most FSA programs except for students receiving only a parent or graduate PLUS loan, or an Unsubsidized Stafford loan. Each university is required to have policies for verifying the reported information.

  • CPS will notify the student on his/her Student Aid Report (SAR).
  • Duquesne University Financial Aid Office will send email notification to the student's email address explaining the required documentation

Students selected for verification will be required to submit certain documents and forms to the Financial Aid Office before financial aid eligibility can be determined. For timely processing, requested documents MUST be received by the established priority deadline posted in the email notifications.

  1. Documents received by the Financial Aid Office will be processed and updated within 7-10 business days. Please do not send multiple submissions of your documents if you don't see an update to your account within this time.
  2. Once documents submitted are updated into the system, our Financial Aid Staff Members will review all documents received against FAFSA information reported to ensure accuracy and completeness. File review may result in the following two options:
  • If updates are required, the Financial Aid Office will submit an updated FAFSA with corrections to the Department of Education Central Processing System (CPS) for processing. It may take up to 3-5 business days to receive a corrected FAFSA response from the Central Processing System.
    OR
  • If conflicting information is detected during the review, additional documentation from the student will be required to resolve the discrepancies. Notifications will be sent via e-mail and/or phone call. Another review will be performed when additional documentation is received from the student.
  1. When all corrections, updates, and conflicting information have been resolved, students will be notified of any changes to their Student Aid Index (SAI) as well as notification of a generated Award Package (if student is eligible) is sent to student.

Please allow 2-3 weeks for processing. If additional documentation is needed to resolve discrepant and conflicting information, processing time can increase to 4-6 weeks.

Verification may include, but is not limited to, review of the following data:

  • Tax Filers (From Direct Data Exchange or Tax Return Transcript)
    • Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)
    • Taxes Paid
    • Specific untaxed income items from tax return
    • Untaxed IRA distributions
    • Untaxed pensions
    • Education credits
    • IRA deductions
    • Tax exempt Interest
  • Nontax Filers
    • Income earned from work (W-2)
    • Confirmation on Non-filing from IRS, or written statement explaining that the student attempted to obtain a Confirmation from the IRS but was unable to do so.
  • Nontax Filers who are only Independent due to selecting that they have children in the household size
    • Students who are Independent due only to selecting that they have children for whom they provide more than 50% of the financial support, yet report $0 income on the FAFSA, must submit a Low-Income Statement along with their verification documentation.
  • All Applicants
    • Number in Household
    • Number in College
  • Custom Verification
    • High School Completion Status
    • Identity/Educational Purpose Statement

**Upon review of verification documents, additional documentation may be required.

Documentation must be secured by the Financial Aid Office before further processing can continue. For timely processing of your student financial aid, please submit all requested documentation by the following PRIORITY deadlines:

Enrollment Semester

Required Documentation
Submission Date

Fall Semester

July 1st

Spring Semester

November 1st

Summer Semester

April 1st

Note: If the date listed above falls on a weekend or holiday, the documentation is due on the next business day.

Please keep in mind that due to heavy volume in the summer and early fall, there may be a delay in the review of verification materials submitted.

If your financial aid eligibility has not been determined or your documentation has not been submitted by the dates listed above, you will be responsible for payment of your tuition, fees, and charges.

If the Office of Financial Aid does not have a valid, corrected FAFSA on file (one in which all information is accurate and complete)for a student prior to end of the term, the student will no longer be eligible once the term is over. Even if the student has submitted all Verification paperwork, we are not able to make corrections to the FAFSA, once the term(s) is over.  If the student does not provide the verification documentation by the deadline or the University does not receive a valid processed FAFSA by the deadline or the end of the term.

  1. the aid could be canceled for the award year (or term if the student is enrolling in one term only)
  2. Student will not receive a financial aid award or any federal financial aid disbursement until verification is complete.
  3. If the student provides the documentation after the deadline, The Office of Financial Aid will reevaluate the students’ eligibility for aid on a case by case basis
Please visit the Business Office for payment dates. Please regularly check your Duquesne University email address for updates about your financial aid eligibility.

Individuals who have purposely misreported information or altered documentation to fraudulently obtain financial aid funds will be reported to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General.

Secure Document Upload

Students and parents can submit electronic files to the Financial Aid Office by using our Secure Document Upload application. 

Your files will be scanned for malware, encrypted and moved to our secured, non-internet accessible, internal servers where they will be scanned once again with our updated anti-virus software before being accessed and reviewed by Financial Aid.

Instructions for submitting electronic documents:

  1. Agree to Terms of Service - After reading the terms of service, check the box at the bottom of the page, and click continue.
  2. Verify Student's Identity - Enter the student's first name, last name, and DU ID to verify the student's identity. All fields must be entered correctly to match our system before you can continue.
  3. Select files to upload - Click the "Choose File" button to select the file you wish to upload. When naming your file, please avoid using special characters in the file name, such as brackets [ ], asterisks *, etc. Using letters and numbers in the file name is recommended. Acceptable file types are: .pdf, .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .tiff
  4. Select file type - Select the type of file you will be uploading from the drop down menu.
  5. Submit File - Click the 'Submit File' button.
  6. Optional Email Receipt - Enter your email address to receive a confirmation email when the file has been successfully uploaded.
  7. Upload more documents - If you have more documents to upload, click on "Upload More Documents".
  8. Click 'Complete' - When you have uploaded all your files, click the "Complete" button

If you have any questions about using the Secure Document Upload application, please contact us.

Secure Document Upload

The application can be used with a PC, Mac, or any mobile device with a web browser. Recommended browsers are Chrome or Firefox.

Contact Financial Aid

Schedule a virtual appointment with financial aid