[Oasfaa] Parents married?

[Karen Jeffers]

We look for Comment Codes 361-364 for parents of dependent students and 365-368 for students.  These particular comment codes indicate that the tax filing status does not agree with marital status.  At TCC, we select these students for verification and ask for marital status documentation.  A couple years ago, the comment code guide indicated that resolution was required, now it just says that ED encourages schools to review the students record.  Below is a snippet of the 1819 SAR Comment Code guide.  We go back and forth on how much information we want/need to collect.  I tend to think that the discrepancy between marital status and tax filing status presents conflicting information that must be resolved which is why we select them the moment we receive the ISIR with any of the comment codes I mentioned.  We also found that just selecting them from the start eliminated the need to ask for additional information throughout the verification process.

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Thank you,
Karen

Karen Jeffers
Director of Financial Aid & Scholarships
Tulsa Community College
3727 E Apache St
Tulsa, OK 74115

918-595-7362
karen.jeffers at tulsacc.edu<mailto:karen.jeffers at tulsacc.edu>



From: OASFAA [mailto:oasfaa-bounces at lists.onenet.net] On Behalf Of Jonna Raney
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2018 2:58 PM
To: oasfaa at lists.onenet.net
Subject: [Oasfaa] Parents married?


I'm finding many students that still struggle with the parent's marital status. I'm finding them by running a report of those that show divorced/separated but filed married joint or married separate returns.



I know this can happen, but when the divorce/separation date is 2005, I find that they answered the question based on the biological parents but the custodial is remarried. In most cases, I think it's an honest error but then the income questions only ask for one parent's income info so they usually qualify for more aid than they should.



I have 78 students on the report that I ran today. My question is, are any of you researching, institutionally selecting, or otherwise trying to resolve what I consider to be conflicting info? It's time consuming and of course, makes you the "bad school" if other schools don't resolve it, but I feel like it should be looked at to protect tax dollars for which these students are not eligible.



What do you think? no judgment...just asking. 😊





[Oklahoma Baptist University]

Jonna Raney

Director of Student Financial Services

405.585.5020
Oklahoma Baptist University



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