Can Verification Be Streamlined Without All Documentation?

We recently received an email asking if we could complete verification on an applicant with only tax forms but not all requested documents. This may have been due to the lateness of the application and trying to expedite admission. There may have been other reasons, too. Here is our response to this type of question when it comes up:
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This is not advisable because of IRS regulations that specify that all tuition aid applicants are evaluated in like manner. If a school is ever audited and it became known there were variances on evaluation procedures, there could be penalties if it was deemed those variances were not appropriate and provided differences in advantage to one applicant over another. That being said, there can be exceptions but those are best granted when agreed upon by a tuition aid committee, and not left to the discretion of one person. One of our goals is to help schools remain compliant with tuition aid application processes. We understand that time may be of the essence because of school start dates, but our advice remains the same for all school to make sure they follow the exact same process for each applicant to avoid any sense of favoritism. 

Please see this article for further clarification: Is Your Tuition Assistance Program Legal?