The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the form that determines eligibility for federal and state financial aid.
The Finish the FAFSA Report provides education professionals the ability to view FAFSA completion status for seniors. The data are typically updated each business day.
What is the source of the data in Finish the FAFSA?
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) provides a list of the seniors for each high school. The federal government provides North Carolina FAFSA filer data. The DPI list of seniors is matched to the federal FAFSA filer data and presented in the Finish the FAFSA Report.
What data can education professionals see and what does it mean?
The student’s name and 5 data points about FAFSA completion are listed. The first data point is the completion status:
- Not Submitted means that the student has not submitted the FAFSA.
- Submitted means that the student has submitted the FAFSA, but there’s a problem. The FAFSA won’t be considered for financial aid until it is complete.
- Completed means that the student’s FAFSA will be considered for aid.
The second data point is whether the FAFSA has been signed by the student. The third is whether the FAFSA has been signed by the parent. A missing signature is a major reason for a FAFSA that is “submitted but not completed”.
The fourth data point is whether or not the student has been selected for verification. Being selected for verification does not mean that anyone did anything wrong.
The final data point is an error code. The professional Finish the FAFSA user can hover over the error code to see brief instructions to share with the student. A financial aid administrator is always a good resource. Encourage students to ask for help when correcting confusing errors.
More Information
After you have ProTools access, you can request Finish the FAFSA report access from the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (SEAA) using the Finish the FAFSA request form. For general questions or information about training for Finish the FAFSA, please submit a request in ProTools Help to contact SEAA. SEAA is the state agency that administers Finish the FAFSA as part of their mission to help North Carolina pay for education.
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