In order for the Financial Aid Office to prepare a financial aid package, the Student Aid Report (SAR) must be valid. To determine if your Student Aid Report is valid, look at the first page in the top right corner. There must be a number next to the letters EFC. The number may be 00000, however, there must be a number. If there is not a number, your Student Aid Report is not valid and cannot be processed by our office to prepare you an award.

Receiving a rejected Student Aid Report (SAR) from the Department of Education typically means that there is some type of correction that needs to be made to your SAR, or that the Department of Education is unable to verify certain information on the SAR (i.e. social security number, date of birth, selective service registration, drug conviction eligibility, etc.). Please review the copy of the Student Aid Report mailed to you from the U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid Processing Center. Make any necessary corrections, sign the form (dependent students must also have a parent sign the form), and return it to the address for corrections indicated on the back of the SAR. Corrections through the processing center usually take ten to thirteen working days. You may also make your correction on-line at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/.

After your corrections have been processed you will be mailed a new SAR. Southern Miss will also receive your updated information. After our office receives an official SAR for you, we can re-evaluate your eligibility for federal student aid.