"Burden Increasing for Financial Aid Offices" More than three in four college financial aid offices reported an increase in the number of cases where they must verify information on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The increase in the number of verification cases was more likely to affect two-year colleges and low-income students.   The increases in verification cases couldn't come at a worse time. Many financial aid offices are already stretched thin trying to handle record numbers of financial aid applications, awards and appeals at the same time they are working to comply with a host of new requirements. In addition, the increase in verification means that more students have to overcome an additional hurdle to access student aid funds. The majority of student aid applicants selected for verification have incomes low enough to make them eligible for Pell Grants. Fifty-seven percent of schools said that Pell-eligible students make up more than 41 percent of their verification pool. Requiring large numbers of students to go through an extensive verification process can reduce the odds of the students completing the process and receiving aid in a timely manner.   In addition, two-year schools seem to be bearing a larger share of the verification burden than for 4-year institutions. Two year schools usually serve a larger portion of low-income students and are less likely to have additional institutional resources to handle increases in administrative burden. Financial aid administrators have expressed concern that the verification process is complicated and difficult to understand. In addition, much of the information that institutions are required to verify are unverifiable, according to a recent report issued by the President's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) and the National Economic Council (NEC).   Schools have had to take action to cope with the increase in verification cases this year. Some schools have implemented the 30 percent cap on completing verification for student aid applicants and increased the amount of time expected to complete verification. Many have reallocated staff resources to handle the increase.