Beginning with the fall 2026 semester, faculty are required to verify student participation during the first week of the semester. Here’s what you need to know about this requirement:

FAQ

Q: What are faculty required to do?
A: Faculty are required to verify student participation during the first week of the semester.

Q: What do you mean by “student participation”?
A: For federal financial aid purposes, this must include academic engagement. Depending on class structure and format, students might demonstrate academic engagement in several ways, including:

• Attending a synchronous class or learning experience where there is opportunity for interaction between the instructor and students
• Submitting an assignment, including an introductory assignment (such as completing a syllabus quiz or posting a personal introduction)
• Taking an assessment
• Participating in an online class discussion (as part of their assigned coursework) or some interactive computer-assisted instruction (such as a tutorial)
• Interacting with the course instructor about academic matters

The following are examples of things that aren’t considered evidence of academic engagement:

• Living in a residence hall
• Using a campus meal plan
• Logging into an online class without further participation
• Participating in advising or counseling services

If, during the first week of the semester, a student doesn’t demonstrate academic engagement, this means you are not able to verify their participation.

Q: How do I verify student participation? 
A: The office of financial aid, working with the office of information technology, established a mechanism for verifying student participation. You can access this mechanism via the “Participation Verification” card in My Missouri State. Please note that the “Participation Verification” card will be available in My Missouri State beginning on Wednesday, August 19.

Q: When is the deadline to verify student participation? 
A: You are asked to verify student participation by 11:59 p.m. (CDT) on Friday, August 21. Please note that this is the deadline for faculty to verify student participation in full-semester and first-block courses. If you have questions about second-block classes or other circumstances, contact VerifyParticipation@MissouriState.edu.

Q: If a student takes advantage of late registration and adds the course during the second week of the semester, do I still need to verify their participation? 
A: Yes. The participation verification portal will remain open for a period of time to accommodate such situations.

Q: What happens if I don’t verify student participation?
A: If an instructor does not verify a student’s participation, there could be a delay in the disbursement of that student’s federal financial aid funds.

Q: So, why do we have to do this?
A: Two reasons:

1. We need your help to ensure we comply with new federal financial aid regulations.
2. Financial aid fraud is a serious problem. It costs universities (including ours) real money each year. When you verify participation, you’re helping us combat this problem.

Q: I get why this is important, but what if there’s some simple misunderstanding? I don’t love thinking it might have an adverse effect on a student’s financial aid.
A: If you cannot verify a student’s participation in your course, their proportional financial aid funding will be held, rather than canceled. If it turns out there’s a misunderstanding, the funding can be reinstated.

Q: What else do we need to know about this?
A: It may be useful to consider that this change is rolling out at the same time we’re streamlining our registration and course fee refund schedule. Going forward, students may drop a full-semester course during the first two weeks of the semester and still receive 100% credit for that course’s fees. If, as you verify participation, you notice that someone hasn’t attended your course, you may wish to message that student with a reminder that they’ve got one more week to drop the class for a 100% refund.

Q: Who should I reach out to with questions? 
A: The office of financial aid established VerifyParticipation@MissouriState.edu as a destination for all questions about this process.