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Dealing with the Ongoing IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) Outage

Valerie Henderson • March 22, 2017

We all know the importance the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) plays in the lives of Financial Aid administrators, student applicants, their parents and the affordability of higher education in general. The FAFSA is complicated, time-consuming, and collects a wealth of information about a given student’s ability to qualify for additional aid. The IRS has a Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) that has helped students and their families fill out the FAFSA with greater efficiency and accuracy.

As you’re likely painfully aware, the DRT has been unavailable since March 9, 2017. The IRS has issued a formal statement, available on the US Department of Education website , that outlines their perspective on how the outage of the DRT affects students and the application process. In short, the implications are:

- Tax data usually made automatically available by the DRT is unavailable indefinitely

- Students and their families have been directed to manually review their most recent tax returns in order to find the information usually provided by the DRT. They should request copies from their family’s tax preparer, the IRS website , or by calling 800-908-9946

- Online applications for the FAFSA and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan are still operational

Our friends at the National Scholarship Providers Association (NSPA) have been doing an excellent job staying on top of this issue. If you’re an NSPA member, we recommend following their updates on the matter which have been coming through their usual weekly announcements. The National College Access Network (NCAN) also has an excellent running blog post about recommended actions to take that doesn’t require membership to follow.

Our team at AwardSpring has been briefed on the implications of this outage. If your students or their families call in to our team for support on this matter, we’ll be sure to share this information with them and direct them to your Financial Aid team for any additional information or concerns.

Kurt Reilly
Co-Founder & CEO

AwardSpring Blog

FAFSA - Where do we go from here?

By Dr. Samantha Hicks, Coastal Carolina University & Kurt Reilly, AwardSpring • November 21, 2024
Recommendations on navigating the "new FAFSA" and the impacts from its troubled rollout from co-authors Dr. Samantha Hicks of Coastal Carolina University & Kurt Reilly of AwardSpring

Promoting your Scholarships: Embrace your Inner Marketer

By Kurt Reilly • September 18, 2024
Making the most of a scholarship program requires getting as many qualified applicants as possible. The first step is getting the word out to potential applicants about the scholarship(s) you have to offer. Higher education institutions, foundations, and corporations alike can all use marketing strategies to promote their scholarships, but each requires a different, tailored approach. The first section below focuses on strategies to employ for our College & University partners. If you're at a foundation, corporation, or other organization, we've tailored idea for you further below. Regardless of your institution or background, the ideas across both sections may apply.
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