Using third party to obtain financial information

JulieLooper

Currently on our UA application we ask students to provide their financial information, as reported on their last tax form, either as a dependent reporting their parents information, or as an independent reporting their own financial information. We have been considering using the third party option to have parents complete the financial information based on question branching, if the applicant states they are a dependent. We do ask for the EFC, however with the new FAFSA changes, this will not be available based on timeline.

We have had issues in the past with the student stating they are applying for financial need based scholarships, noting they are a dependent, but only entering $0 in the financial information (and usually because they waited until the last minute to complete their application). This triggers a higher score on our rubric based on incomplete information. We are looking for a better way to obtain this information. Any processes you have for this would be greatly appreciated, and very eager to hear if anyone is using something similar to the third party option of sending the financial request to the parents to be completed.