[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 34, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 34CFR668.54]

[Page 477-478]
 
                           TITLE 34--EDUCATION
 
                         DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
 
PART 668--STUDENT ASSISTANCE GENERAL PROVISIONS--Table of Contents
 
     Subpart E--Verification of Student Aid Application Information
 
Sec. 668.54  Selection of applications for verification.

    (a) General requirements. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of 
this section, an institution shall require an applicant to verify 
application information as specified in this paragraph.
    (2)(i) An institution shall require each applicant whose application 
is selected for verification on the basis of edits specified by the 
Secretary, to verify all of the applicable items specified in 
Sec. 668.56, except that no institution is required to verify the 
applications of more than 30 percent of its total number of applicants 
for assistance under the Federal Pell Grant, Federal Direct Stafford/
Ford Loan, campus-based, and Federal Stafford Loan programs in an award 
year.
    (ii) An institution may only include those applicants selected for 
verification by the Secretary in its calculation of 30 percent of total 
applicants.
    (3) If an institution has reason to believe that any information on 
an application used to calculate an EFC is inaccurate, it shall require 
the applicant to verify the information that it has reason to believe is 
inaccurate.
    (4) If an applicant is selected to verify the information on his or 
her application under paragraph (a)(2) of this section, the institution 
shall require the applicant to verify the information as specified in 
Sec. 668.56 on each additional application he or she submits for that 
award year, except for information already verified under a previous 
application submitted for the applicable award year.
    (5) An institution or the Secretary may require an applicant to 
verify any data elements that the institution or the Secretary 
specifies.
    (b) Exclusions from verification. (1) An institution need not verify 
an application submitted for an award year if the applicant dies during 
the award year.
    (2) Unless the institution has reason to believe that the 
information reported by the applicant is incorrect, it need not verify 
applications of the following applicants:
    (i) An applicant who is--
    (A) A legal resident of and, in the case of a dependent student, 
whose parents are also legal residents of, the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, or American Samoa; or
    (B) A citizen of and, in the case of a dependent student, whose 
parents are also citizens of, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the 
Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau.
    (ii) An applicant who is incarcerated at the time at which 
verification would occur.
    (iii) An applicant who is a dependent student, whose parents are 
residing in a country other than the United States and cannot be 
contacted by normal means of communication.
    (iv) An applicant who is an immigrant and who arrived in the United 
States during either calendar year of the award year.
    (v) An applicant whose parents' address is unknown and cannot be 
obtained by the applicant.
    (vi) An applicant who is a dependent student, both of whose parents 
are deceased or are physically or mentally incapacitated.
    (vii) An applicant who does not receive assistance for reasons other 
than his or her failure to verify the information on the application.

[[Page 478]]

    (viii) An applicant who transfers to the institution, had previously 
completed the verification process at the institution from which he or 
she transferred, and applies for assistance on the same application used 
at the previous institution, if the current institution obtains a letter 
from the previous institution stating that it has verified the 
applicant's information, the transaction number of the verified 
application, and, if relevant, the provision used in Sec. 668.59 for not 
recalculating the applicant's EFC.
    (3) An institution need not require an applicant to document a 
spouse's information or provide a spouse's signature if--
    (i) The spouse is deceased;
    (ii) The spouse is mentally or physically incapacitated;
    (iii) The spouse is residing in a country other than the United 
States and cannot be contacted by normal means of communication; or
    (iv) The spouse cannot be located because his or her address is 
unknown and cannot be obtained by the applicant.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under Control Number 
1840-0570)

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1091, 1094)

[56 FR 61337, Dec. 2, 1991, as amended at 59 FR 22067, Apr. 28, 1994; 59 
FR 61206, Nov. 29, 1994; 63 FR 40625, July 29, 1998]