Is it necessary to give your social security # to a university when they need to send u ur finan.aid package?

Question

I applied to a college, and filed my FAFSA & included the college on it. It has been processed. I even called FAFSA to check, and they said yes. B4 I called FAFSA though, I had called this univers. to ask them 4 my fin. aid packag, which seemed to be lacking in their system. They asked me if I had filed a FAFSA, & I said yes (I believe it had been processed already). They asked me to check, & so I did. Yesterday I called back; a woman told me she needed my SS# to access the fin. aid package is this true? later on, the woman said "it doesn't seem to work (b/c my sscard# was not in there system? so nothing came up) then she asked for my student id #" later on she told me there was no package for me; "it's prob. b/c u don't have ur sscard# in the school system" Is it true that I need to "fax them" my ss # ? I already gave her my # did I do the right thing? How do I know some1 might use it 4 something else, after I fax it? (I even asked her "is this how it works" (i have to fax ss#?""Yes"

Answer 1

at the university where i work in NJ if you don't give your social security number you will not receive financial aid.

Answer 2

I work customer service for FAFSA and SSN is already listed on your application.  The school pulls up your information from the FAFSA database using your SSN and the first 2 letters of your last name.  If there is an issue with the SSN on the FAFSA the processors of the FAFSA will let you and the school know that the SSN, name, or date of birth isn't matching what is on Social Security's database.  So I don't really see any reason why they'd need a copy.  The Financial Aid offices at the schools are allowed to ask for any documentation to verify what is on the FAFSA though, so if they are requiring that you do this you may want to take to the office in person instead of faxing.  Hope that helps.

Answer 3

You do not have to provide anything you don't want to.  However if you want fin aid and don't want to have to track down what went wrong yourself it would be easier for you to give her what she needs.  (providing this isn't some crackpot school that started up last week).

Your social security number is checked against your name at the Social Security dept when you apply for fafsa and if there is something wrong.. you will have problems.  Several things could have happened here.

1. You did not list this school on your fafsa, or the school you thought you listed on he fafsa is not the correct school.  You can verify school codes with the school.

2. You listed the wrong ssn on your fafsa or you are giving the wrong social to the school.

3. You are calling the wrong school, not the one you listed on the fafsa.

4. The name you listed on the fafsa doesn't match your SSN.  Listing nicknames like "Mandy" instead of "Amanda" is a nightmare to the fin aid office.

If you aren't comfortable giving her your social security number, you are going to have to figure out what went wrong yourself and backtrack every step of you apply to and getting admitted to school.