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A Step-by-Step
Guide to Applying for
Financial Aid at
Duke University
For U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents
Academic Year 2014Academic Year 2014--20152015
www.financialaid.duke.edu
In order to receive financial aid at
Duke, you will need to complete a
number of steps, outlined in the
following guide. All components of
the aid application process should be
complete prior to March 1, 2014 for
new students and May 1, 2014 for
returning students. Should you have
questions or concerns regarding the aid
application process, you may want to
visit our website, or contact us at
[email protected] or (919) 684-6225.
Complete Your 2013 Taxes
Before beginning the online applications for
financial aid, we recommend completing your
2013 taxes. While it is possible to apply for aid
without having completed your 2013 returns, your
aid application cannot be processed without your finalized tax
documentation. Those who complete the federal and institutional
aid applications using estimated tax information will be permitted
to submit the forms, but individuals will be required to provide
updated information once IRS filings are complete. Since no aid
award will be processed until official taxes can be obtained, we
highly recommend completing this step first.
In addition to recommending the early completion of your
2013 taxes, we also recommend filing your returns electronically.
Electronic filers will be able to more quickly access the data
necessary to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA), and as a result, applicants utilizing electronic filing
methods may be able to obtain their financial aid awards sooner
than those filing paper tax returns. Please Note: Families who file as
“married filing separately” will not be able to utilize the data retrieval
feature appropriately and must sum the total of wages, income, taxes
paid, and other requested FAFSA information. Those selected for
verification will need to submit IRS tax transcripts in order to support the
information submitted on the aid application.
Page 3
Complete the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Once your tax documents are filed, you will need to
complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA) at www.fafsa.gov. To complete the application successfully,
you will need to do the following:
A. Select the “Start Here” button as shown below:
B. Enter the requested student information:
www.financialaid.duke.edu
Page 4
C. Choose the appropriate FAFSA year (the year the student will be at-
tending Duke):
D. Create a password so that you can re-open your FAFSA at any time to
view or make corrections:
www.financialaid.duke.edu
Page 5
E. Once these initial steps are completed, you will be asked a series of
questions. In addition to basic educational, demographic, and
financial information, you will be asked where you would like the
FAFSA results to be sent. Enter 002920 to have the FAFSA sent to
Duke.
F. When prompted for financial information, select the IRS Data
Retrieval option as shown below to import your 2012 tax
information:
(NOTE: Families who file as “married filing separately” will not
be able to utilize the data retrieval feature appropriately and
must sum the total of wages, income, taxes paid, and other
requested FAFSA information. Those selected for verification
will need to submit IRS tax transcripts in order to support the
information submitted on the aid application)
We strongly recommend you utilize the new IRS Data
Retrieval feature when filing your FAFSA online. IRS Data
Retrieval enables filers to automatically import the tax
information into the FAFSA form, saving applicants time and
also ensuring accurate completion of the form. Furthermore,
applicants that are selected for verification by the Department of
Education who have not utilized IRS Data Retrieval may be
required to resubmit the FAFSA using this option.
www.financialaid.duke.edu
Page 6
www.financialaid.duke.edu
G. Once complete, both the student and the custodial parent must sign the
FAFSA. To do so electronically, you will need to use a Federal PIN.
If you have not yet applied for your PIN, you may do so by selecting
“Apply for a PIN” on the FAFSA signature page. You will be di-
rected to the PIN website where you will be permitted to select your
PIN and use it immediately to complete the FAFSA application.
H. Once your FAFSA is signed and successfully submitted, the Depart-
ment of Education will forward the results to Duke automatcially
(provided you used Duke’s school code: 002920). If additional in-
formation is needed from you or if there are issues with your FAF-
SA, you will be notified by either the Office of Undergraduate Fi-
nancial Aid or by the Department of Education.
NOTE: Your FAFSA can be submitted to a maximum of ten
schools using the online form. If you would like to submit your
FAFSA to more than ten schools, you can call the Federal Stu-
dent Aid information Center at 1-800-433-3243 and have the
additional schools added to your list. You will need to have
your FAFSA Data Release Number (DRN) from the Student
Aid Report you received after completing your initial FAFSA.
Complete the CSS Profile All applicants interested in institutional financial aid
will need to complete the Profile application online at
the College Board’s website (student.collegeboard.org/
profile). There is a fee associated with the completion
of the Profile application, so you will need to be prepared to enter your
payment information when submitting the application. The fee is $25 to
have the form sent to Duke.
If your family cannot afford the cost of filing the Profile appli-
cation, the College Board provides a limited number of fee waivers to
families with significant financial need. For more information regarding
Profile fee waivers, applicants should visit the College Board’s website.
To complete the Profile information correctly, you will want to
have all your 2013 tax information available for reference throughout the
application process. Additionally, the Profile will also require that you
enter information regarding your investments, assets, and businesses (if
applicable), so you will want to collect as much of your personal finance
documentation as possible before beginning.
Page 7
www.financialaid.duke.edu
Submit Copies of all Documentation
to the College Board’s IDOC Service
Once the Profile application is complete and submit-
ted, you will be asked by the College Board to submit
your 2013 tax returns and schedules, wage statements, business tax re-
turns and schedules, and any other supporting documentation to their
IDOC service. Based on the information submitted on the Profile, IDOC
will request all documentation related to your 2013 filing. Your applica-
tion cannot be processed and will be considered incomplete until IDOC
has received all requested documents. Once the requested documents are
received by IDOC, your Profile application will be sent to Duke for re-
view.
If you or your parent did not file a tax return in 2013, you will
need to download the Non-Tax Filer Statement from the forms section of
the College Board website at https://idoc.collegeboard.org/idoc/
nontaxfilerstmt.jsp.
Please Note: Only one package of documents may be submitted
to the IDOC service, so please do not submit your package until all your
documents have been compiled. If we request additional information
based on the review of your aid application, please send these additional
documents directly to the Duke Financial Aid Office. Do not send addi-
tional documents to IDOC after mailing your original package.
Submit the Noncustodial Profile (if
applicable)
If you indicated on your Profile application that your
parents are divorced or separated, the College Board
will notify you via email that Duke requires the Noncustodial Profile.
This e-mail will provide details about the requirement and should be
shared with your noncustodial parent. The e-mail will contain a link to
the Noncustodial Profile website as well as login instructions for your
noncustodial parent. Additionally, your noncustodial parent's 2013 tax
return, wage statements, and accompanying schedules should be submit-
ted directly to the Duke Financial Aid Office. When submitting the 2013
tax returns to our office, please label them as noncustodial tax returns and
include the student’s name and date of birth.
2127 Campus Drive Annex, Box 90397
Durham, North Carolina 27708-0397
O f f i ce o f U nd erg ra d ua t e F i n a n c i a l A i dO f f i ce o f U nd erg ra d ua t e F i n a n c i a l A i d
www.financialaid.duke.edu
Phone: 919-684-6225
Fax: 919-660-9811
Additional Notes Special Circumstances:
Special Circumstances can be considered only once a student
has been officially accepted to Duke. Once you have been accepted, if
you have special circumstances or unusual expenses, or if there are any
other details which will help us more completely understand your finan-
cial situation, we encourage you to let us know. In this is the case, you
can find out if your circumstance can be considered and to begin the pro-
cess of communicating with our office regarding your needs by visiting:
www.financialaid.duke.edu/current-undergraduates/special-
circumstances.
Profile Corrections:
Since we verify all financial information with the financial doc-
umentation you provide to IDOC, you do not need to submit Profile cor-
rections regarding financial information. If you need to correct other in-
formation, such as family size or number of children in college, you can
email us this information and we'll correct it for you.
