A Step-by-Step

Guide to Applying for

Financial Aid at

Duke University

For Domestic, Regular-Decision Students

Academic Year 2012Academic Year 2012--20132013

www.finaid.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, 2012.

Should you have questions or

concerns regarding the aid

application process, you may want to

visit our website, or contact us at

Finaid@duke.edu or (919) 684-6225.

Complete Your 2011 Taxes

Before beginning the online applications for finan-

cial aid, we recommend completing your 2011

taxes. While it is possible to apply for aid without having completed your 2011 returns, your aid ap-

plication cannot be processed without your finalized tax documen-

tation. Those who complete the federal and institutional aid appli-

cations using estimated tax information will be permitted to sub-mit 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

2011 taxes, we also recommend filing your returns electronically.

Electronic filers will be able to more quickly access the data nec-

essary 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 verifi-

cation will need to submit IRS tax transcripts in order to support the in-

formation submitted on the aid application.

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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.finaid.duke.edu

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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.finaid.duke.edu

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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 2011 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.finaid.duke.edu

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www.finaid.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

FAFSA, you will be notified by either the Office of Undergraduate

Financial 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

(www.profileonline.collegeboard.com). 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 2011 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.

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www.finaid.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 2011 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 2011 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 2011, you will

need to download the Non-Tax Filer Statement from the forms section of

our webpage at www.finaid.duke.edu/forms/index.html.

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 pro-

vide details about the requirement and should be shared with your non-

custodial parent. The e-mail will contain a link to the Noncustodial Pro-

file website as well as login instructions for your noncustodial parent.

Additionally, your noncustodial parent's 2011 tax return, wage state-

ments, and accompanying schedules should be submitted directly to the

Duke Financial Aid Office. When submitting the 2011 tax returns to our

office, please label them as noncustodial tax returns and include the stu-

dent’s name and date of birth.

2127 Campus Drive Annex, Box 90397

Durham, North Carolina 27708-0397

Of f i c e o f Und e rg raduat e Fin an c ia l A idOf f i c e o f Und e rg raduat e Fin an c ia l A id

www.finaid.duke.edu

finaid@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

process of communicating with our office regarding your needs by visit-

ing: www.finaid.duke.edu/undergraduate/prospectives/howitworks/

special.html.

Profile Corrections:

Since we verify all financial information with the financial

documentation you provide to IDOC, you do not need to submit Profile

corrections regarding financial information. If you need to correct other

information, such as family size or number of children in college, you

can email us this information and we'll correct it for you.