Answer: No. The federal guidance for financial aid, called the Application and Verification Guide (https://ifap.ed.gov/fsahandbook/attachments/1819FSAHbkAVG.pdf) states that the financial aid administrator must make the determination of unaccompanied homeless youth status if the student does not have a determination from another authority. (AVG-117). The financial aid administrator should not send a student back to you when that student graduated in 2015. It’s not reasonable to expect the school to have information about the student’s situation 3 years after graduation, or to require the student to return to her high school for this assistance. If you do have enough information to provide the student with the determination, you MAY do that. (AVG-118) But you are not required to do it. This really is the financial aid administrator’s role.
A college has sent a student, who graduated from our district in 2015, back to me for a letter verifying his unaccompanied homeless youth status. Is that how the process is supposed to work?
Jul 2, 2018 | Q and A