Metadata
Title
Guide to Finalizing Your Financial Aid
Category
undergraduate
UUID
88fd415414384b2cbf50190374432704
Source URL
https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/additional-funding-procedures/managing...
Parent URL
https://college.harvard.edu/resources
Crawl Time
2026-03-09T03:36:56+00:00
Rendered Raw Markdown

Guide to Finalizing Your Financial Aid

Source: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/additional-funding-procedures/managing-your-aid/finalizing-your-financial-aid Parent: https://college.harvard.edu/resources

Overview

In most cases, the material submitted through the initial financial aid application is all we will ask from you over the course of the school year. On occasion, we need to ask for more material after a financial aid decision has been made in order to officially credit the financial aid to your student account. Some examples include:

In order to officially credit the anticipated financial aid listed on your student account, please login to my.harvard and click on Application Details to review documents that are required to finalize your financial aid. If you see a document listed as Not Received for Verification, then you need to complete that requirement.

Instructions for Missing Items

These are some of the more common documents that you will see listed as missing on your my.harvard page, along with instructions for how to submit them.

Missing Items

This must be completed before any federal loan money is disbursed to your student account. For more information and to complete your entrance counseling, go to the Federal Student Aid website. When you are finished, a record of your completion will be sent to Harvard. Please keep in mind that you cannot save and leave an incomplete session; you must complete entrance counseling in one sitting. It should take less than 15 minutes. Please have your FSA ID ready to log in. - #### Financial Aid Activity and Demographic Supplement (FAADS)

Scholarship funds at Harvard College are awarded strictly on the basis of financial need. The need-based scholarship you receive may include one or more named funds, donated by generous alumni and friends of the College. On the FAADS you will be asked several questions about your background and experiences at Harvard. This information is used by the Griffin Financial Aid Office to match any preferences that donors may have included in the terms of their scholarship funds. The information you provide may also be used by Harvard’s Alumni Affairs and Development Office to highlight the impact of Harvard’s financial aid program. - #### Master Promissory Note - Direct Stafford

This is a required form for Federal Direct student loan borrowers. You complete this form online on studentaid.gov. Please have your FSA ID ready to log in. Once this is signed, Harvard can disburse the loan funds to your student account. - #### Master Promissory Note - Harvard Student Loan

This is required for first-time student loan borrowers in the Harvard Student Loan Program. You complete this form online through Heartland ECSI only after the Financial Aid Office has instructed you to do so. Once signed, Harvard can disburse the loan funds to your student account. - #### Study Abroad Consortium Agreement

Once abroad, some students may be required to submit a Study Abroad Consortium Agreement that must be completed by the study abroad program. The consortium verifies expenses abroad and verifies whether the program is providing any outside awards. Once completed, the consortium should be uploaded to the Study Abroad Consortium Agreement Uploader. - #### Study Abroad Supplement

The Study Abroad Supplement is a required document for students planning on studying abroad so that the semester budget can be updated to reflect costs. This is due on May 1 for the fall or full-year study abroad and on October 31 for spring study abroad. If you are no longer planning on going abroad, please email faoinfo@fas.harvard.edu. - #### Tax Return Transcript - Parent or Student

This document is required to verify the accuracy of certain tax data elements reported on your FAFSA. (Adjusted gross income, U.S. income tax paid, Education credits, Untaxed IRA distributions, IRA deductions and payments, and Tax-exempt interest). If this document is required, you have two options:

Go online to request an official 2023 tax return transcript from the IRS.

  1. Go to the IRS website.
  2. Click on “View Your Account”.
  3. Click on “Create or View Your Account”.
  4. Once logged in, click on “View Tax Records”.
  5. Click on “Get Transcript”.
  6. Choose “Higher Education/Student Aid” next to “Select a reason you need a transcript” and leave Customer File Number Blank.
  7. Select “Go".
  8. Click on “2023” in the Return Transcript box.
  9. Print the Tax Return Transcript to PDF and submit it via our secure Verification Uploader.

Submit a signed copy of the 2023 tax return or international tax return.

  1. Upload your hand-signed tax return via our secure Verification Uploader. You should submit both Page 1 and 2 of the U.S. 1040 in one PDF attachment along with any tax schedules. The tax return must be signed at the bottom of Page 2 in the SIGN HERE box.

  2. Verification of Citizenship Status

Please submit one of the following acceptable documents via our secure Verification Uploader. Please make sure the document is signed where indicated.

For US Citizenship:

For Eligible Noncitizens:

If this is required, you will be contacted under separate cover with instructions for completing this process. The process involves meeting with the Verification Coordinator to present your unexpired identification (U.S. Passport, Driver’s License, or State Issued ID). The student must also sign (it must be a “wet” signature) a statement of educational purpose that certifies who they are and that the federal student aid they may receive will only be used for educational purposes and for the cost of attending Harvard for the 2025-2026 academic year. - #### Verification of Sibling Enrollment

When you submitted your financial aid application, you indicated that you will have a sibling or siblings enrolled in college during the academic year for which you are applying for aid. Please complete the top half of the Verification of Sibling Enrollment form and have the Financial Aid Office or Registrar at your sibling’s school complete the bottom half of the form. Once completed, the form should be submitted via our Sibling Verification Uploader. If your sibling’s plans have changed and they will no longer be enrolled for the academic year, please complete the top half of the form indicating they will not be enrolled and submit it to our office so we can change our records. - #### Verification Worksheet

The Verification Worksheet confirms information reported on your FAFSA regarding your custodial parent household. Information such as your family size, any siblings enrolled in college during the academic year for which you are applying for aid, and the tax filing status of both you and your parent(s). If your parents are divorced/separated, the information on this document should reflect only the custodial parent’s household. Please note we cannot accept electronic signatures. In other words, the form must be hand signed by both you and a custodial parent. If you are considered an Independent student for federal aid purposes (are married, will be age 24 by January 1, etc.), a parent signature is not required. The completed verification worksheet should be submitted via our Verification Uploader. - #### Veterans Affairs (VA) Certificate of Eligibility

For undergraduate students who intend to use VA Benefits, we require each student to submit a Certificate of Eligibility. Students should apply for their benefit(s) directly through the VA (https://www.va.gov/). Once it has been obtained, the Certificate of Eligibility should be uploaded through our Verification Uploader.

We do not require students to submit their COE after they use their benefit(s) for the first time unless their percentage of eligibility should change. Students can direct any questions about benefit eligibility and coverage to the VA Educational Benefits line at 1-888-442-4551. - #### Veteran's Notice of Student Enrollment

This online Veteran's Notice of Student Enrollment is specific to Veteran's Benefits and is necessary for us to certify a student through the VA. The student must complete this form for each academic year they are enrolled and plan on using their VA Benefit(s). If the VA Benefit you are eligible for requires a VA Certificate of Eligibility, a Determine Letter, or other form, you must upload that form to your school financial aid office. Note that a DD-214 may not be used in place of a required form. - #### Other Documents

There may be other documents required for verification not listed above. If we require a missing tax document, please upload that to IDOC. If you are unsure what we are requesting, please contact our office at (617) 495-1581 or  faoinfo@fas.harvard.edu for more information about what we are missing and how to submit it.

Questions

If you have any questions about your missing information or have extenuating circumstances, please contact the Financial Aid Office at faoinfo@fas.harvard.edu. Without this documentation, we cannot credit the anticipated financial aid to your student account and you will be responsible for paying any balance due.

FAQs

In most cases, if you don't submit the missing information then we will be unable to credit your financial aid to your student bill. This means that the 'anticipated aid' that you see on your bill will eventually disappear, and the full set of charges will be due. - #### When do I need to submit this information?

You should submit the missing information as soon as possible. For some types of missing information, you may be given a specific deadline by which you absolutely need to submit.