Colleges and universities must develop and follow procedures to evaluate the validity of a student’s high school program completion if the college or university or the Department of Education has reason to question the legitimacy of the student’s diploma. The FAFSA on the Web will collect the name of the high school the student graduated from and the state where the school is located for first-time undergraduate students. Students will select their high school from a drop-down list populated by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Students who cannot find their high school will input the name, city, and state of their high school. The absence of a high school on the dropdown list does not mean that it is not legitimate; a copy of the student’s final high school transcript will serve as proper documentation.
Cottey must have an official final high school transcript showing the student’s graduation date. No financial aid can be disbursed and enrollment will not be finalized until this has been received. If Cottey is unable to determine whether the student’s diploma is valid, the student will be ineligible for federal Title IV aid.