In some instances, the Department of Education flags a student's FAFSA because of potential fraudulent activity. At Eastern, we take securing your identity and personal data very seriously and require that all remote and online students complete the Plaid Identity process. New online students will complete this during the Admissions process; returning online students will complete this via an email from CIO@eastern.edu or they can choose to come to the Financial Aid Office to complete the paper version in person.
On-ground students may be selected for Identity Verification by the Department of Education. If so, they will be given the option to complete this process in person or via the Plaid Identity Verification link. If assistance is needed with this process via Plaid, please email helpdesk@eastern.edu. This process takes about 2 minutes to complete online with a personalized link provided to students via their EU email address from either CIO@eastern.edu. Plaid meets the NIST SP 800-63-4 standards.
For students who do not want to complete the Plaid option, you can come to Eastern's main campus and complete the Identity Verification Form in person with a representative of the Financial Aid Office or Admissions Office.
2026-2027
- Identity Verification Form- to be completed in person with an EU FA or Admissions staff member
- Plaid Identity Verification- we use a third party service called Plaid to confirm all online and remote students identity; if your personalinzed link no longer works, please email helpdesk@eastern.edu for assistance