The Department of Education released guidance reminding schools to resolve 2025 to 26 verification records, with a specific focus on students still reported with verification status code “W.”
A “W” status indicates the school made an interim Pell Grant disbursement to a student selected for verification but has not yet completed the verification process. This is a temporary status and must be updated.
Key Dates Schools Cannot Miss
April 23, 2026
FSA will send warning messages to schools that still have students reported with a “W” status. Schools will also receive a reconciliation file listing affected students.
May 14, 2026
FSA will reduce Pell Grant disbursements to zero for any students still reported with a “W” status. These reductions will be treated as overawards, even if the funds were already accepted in COD.
September 27, 2026
Schools may continue to submit updates and resubmit disbursements after completing verification until this date. After this point, the COD System will no longer accept “W” as a valid status for 2025 to 26.
Please see the full announcement here and also posted below for reference.
If your school needs assistance with verification, College Aid Services can help. Contact us today.
Posted Date April 16, 2026
Author Federal Student Aid
Electronic Announcement ID GRANTS-26-02
Subject 2025–26 Verification Reporting and Verification Status Code “W” Warning Message
The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) regulations set forth in 34 CFR Part 668 Subpart E (34 CFR 668.51-668.61) govern verification of Title IV federal student aid application information. In accordance with these regulations, a school is required to complete verification of information submitted by an applicant on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form.
For each 2025–26 Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) award that the school disbursed to a student selected for verification, the school must report the student’s verification status to ED via the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System. Schools are to include a verification status code (“W,” “V,” or “S”) in the common record document it submits to the COD System via batch processing or when it creates the award online via the COD website.
2025–26 Verification Status Code Reporting Reminders
Generally, for each 2025–26 Pell Grant recipient that the FAFSA Processing System (FPS) selected for verification, the school should have reported a verification status code of “V” or “S” (see the 2025–26 Federal Student Aid Handbook). Below are some reminders regarding verification status code reporting for recipients selected for verification by the FPS as well as recipients not selected.
Recipients Selected for Verification by the FPS
Your school is required to verify all recipients the FPS selected for verification, as described below, unless a recipient is exempt based on the exclusions from verification described in the 34 CFR 668.54(b) regulations. These exclusions are outlined in Chapter 4 of the Application and Verification Guide of the 2025–26 Federal Student Aid Handbook.
Even if your school does not need to verify a student under the exemptions referenced above, it is required to report a verification status code for every student the FPS selected for verification.
To support accurate verification status code reporting, your school should ensure it has provided a verification status code for all recipients the FPS selected for verification. If your school previously did not report a verification status code (that is, the field was left blank), it must report a “V” or an “S.” Blank is not an acceptable verification status code, except in the case when a student is selected after they are no longer enrolled at your school.
Additionally, your school should ensure it has reported an “S” only if the student is selected for verification but is exempt under the allowable exclusions.
If verification was not completed and the student is not exempt from verification, the Pell Grant must be adjusted to a zero-dollar amount ($0.00).
Recipients Not Selected for Verification by the FPS
A school may choose to verify recipients the FPS did not select for verification.
- A school should ensure that it has 1) reported a verification status code of “V” if it chose to verify or 2) has left the field blank if it chose not to verify.
- A school should ensure that it has not reported a verification status code of “S” for recipients in this category.
2025–26 Verification Reporting and Verification Status Code “W” Warning Message
A school that has made an interim Pell Grant disbursement to a student selected for verification should be concluding verification activities and changing a student’s verification status code from “W” to “V” or “S,” as appropriate. In the following two cases, it’s acceptable for the verification status code field to be blank:
- If the student was not selected for verification or if a selected transaction was received by the school after the student was no longer enrolled and the school has reported the verification status code as “W,” the school should change the “W” to blank (nil = “True”).
- If the student was not selected for verification or if a selected transaction was received by the school after the student was no longer enrolled and the school has reported no verification status code to date, the school does not need to submit a verification status code and should leave the field blank (nil = “True”).
On April 23, 2026, we will begin sending a message to schools that have one or more 2025–26 student records still reported with a verification status code of “W.” The message is a warning that disbursements to all students with a verification status code of “W” will be considered overawards and reduced to a zero-dollar amount ($0.00), even though the disbursements were previously accepted in the COD System. The reduction of the affected disbursements is scheduled to occur on May 14, 2026.
We will send the April 23, 2026, warning message to schools’ Student Aid Internet Gateway mailboxes in the message class PGTX26OP. Additionally, we will send a file of 2025–26 student records from the COD System with a verification status code of “W” in the reconciliation report message class PGRC26OP. A school that receives the warning message should review the accompanying reconciliation report and submit appropriate changes to the verification status codes for affected students before May 14, 2026.
Verification Deadline
Some student records included in the reconciliation report may be for students still within the allowable timeframe for submitting verification documentation or completing the verification process by the deadlines specified in the Federal Register notice “2025–2026 Award Year Deadline Dates for Reports and Other Records Associated With the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).”
Following the May 14, 2026, reduction, if a school needs additional time to complete verification for an individual student in accordance with the allowable timeframe in the Federal Register notice, the school may resubmit a disbursement record with a value greater than zero ($0.00) until Sept. 27, 2026. After that date, the COD System will no longer accept “W” as a valid verification status code for 2025–26 Pell Grant awards.
Contact Information
If you have questions about the warning message or about reporting verification status codes to the COD System, contact the FSA Partner and School Relations Center at 1-800-848-0978. The contact center is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. You may also email CODSupport@ed.gov.