FAQ & Numbers

Yes. All financial aid is re-applied for annually. Submit the FAFSA at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Complete the NU Application for Financial Aid on WebAdvisor.

Federal Code: 002788 (to be used on FAFSA)
NY State TAP Code: 0560 (to be used on NY ETA application)

The federal Department of Education has instituted changes to the verification process beginning with the 2012-13 award year.  According to the federal Department of Education Dear Colleague letter GEN 11-03:

“Since most applicants can quickly and easily access IRS data through the FAFSA-IRS Data Retrieval process, we no longer consider it reasonable for an institution to accept anything less reliable than IRS-supplied evidence for verification of income data.  Therefore, if an applicant selected for verification has not successfully transferred information from the IRS, or one who did transfer the information but then changed it, the Department expects the institution to require the applicant, and if necessary the applicant’s parents, to provide an official IRS transcript of their Federal income tax information.” 

If you or your parents are tax filers and have already filed your federal tax returns, when completing FAFSA on the Web, you are presented the option to retrieve your income information directly from the federal IRS website.  If applicants choose this option and DO NOT change the income information retrieved from the IRS website, you will not be required to submit to the Financial Aid Office an IRS tax transcript.

If applicants decide not to use the IRS Data Retrieval Process and the application is chosen for verification, the applicant and the parents will be required to submit an IRS tax transcript.  Also, if the IRS tax retrieved information is changed on the FAFSA, the applicant will be required to submit an IRS tax transcript.

Click here for information on how to obtain a free copy of an IRS Tax Return Transcript.

The IRS Data Retrieval process may not be available for an applicant in the following circumstances:

1. A joint tax return was filed for 2011 and the student or the student's parents have filed the FAFSA with a martial status of separated, divorced or widowed.

2. If the tax filer is married to someone other than the individual included on the 2011 joint tax return.

3. If the parent or student was not married in 2011 but is married at the time the FAFSA is filed. The current spouse's income must be reported on the FAFSA.

4. If the parents or the student is married but filed tax returns separately.

5. If an amended tax return was filed.

In these cases, applicants will need to request an IRS Tax Return Transcript. Click here for information on how to obtain a free copy of an IRS Tax Return Transcript.

No. If you only want to renew the Niagara University merit-based scholarship/grant for the following year and do not intend to apply for any federal or state aid, you need only complete the NU Application for Financial Aid.  The NU application is available online on WebAdvisor.