Fee Assistance Program FAQs

After submitting your application, you will be required to submit all required documents listed in the “Documents Gathering and Upload” portion of the Next Steps section of your application. The length of time it takes to accomplish this step will be dependent on your ability to gather and upload these documents. Your application will go into a review status of “Submitted and Pending Verification” after you have provided all required documentation.

After reaching Submitted and Pending Verification status, it can take up to 5 business days to review your application (please note that weekends are not included in business days). If a decision can be made on your application, you will receive one of the following emails:

• AAMC Fee Assistance Program Application Awarded: After analyzing the data submitted in your application we have determined that you are eligible for fee assistance.
• AAMC Fee Assistance Program Denied: After analyzing the data submitted in your application we have determined that you are not eligible for fee assistance

If a decision cannot be made on your application, you will receive the following email:

• Missing Supporting Documentation: We have determined that further documentation is required to process your Fee Assistance Program application. If you receive this email, your application will return to “Submitted and on Hold” status and you will find newly required documents in the “Document Gathering and Upload” portion of your application. Once the required documents are received, it will take another 5 business days for your application to be reviewed.

We recommend that you upload your documents directly to the Fee Assistance Program application.

Once you have gathered your required documents, upload them to your application as PDF files, text files, or images. You may submit saved files, scanned documents, or even photos of documents taken with a smartphone or digital camera as long as they are legible. Once you have selected the document you would like to upload, click the Submit Documents button to release your documents to the AAMC. You may return to add other documents as they become available to you. 

If you are unable to provide your document digitally, they may also be mailed or faxed.  If you mail or fax documents, allow 10 business days for your documents to be marked as received after they are scheduled to arrive at AAMC:

AAMC
Attn: Fee Assistance Program
655 K St. NW, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20001
Fax:  202-828-1120

***Please note that we will not accept documents via email for any reason***

There may be a few reasons that your application is still waiting for review:

We have not begun the review process on your application.  Applications are reviewed in order by the date that they enter “Submitted and Pending Verification” status.  During peak processing, it can take up to five (5) business days to begin reviewing your application.  If it has not been more than five (5) business days (weekends are not included when determining business days) then you are still in line for review.

We reviewed your application and determined that new documentation is required.  During verification, we may find that the documentation provided cannot be used or there is new documentation required.  When this occurs, we will send you an email with the subject “Missing Supporting Documentation” that details the documents impacted and why the document is required.  You will also find that your application status has been returned to “Submitted and On Hold”.  You can verify your application status by logging on to your Fee Assistance Program application.

You have uploaded all of your required documentation, but the documents were not submitted.  Uploaded documents will not be applied to your application until they are submitted. To verify this, go to the “Document Gathering and Upload” portion of the “Next Steps” section of your application.  If documents are still required, you will see a “Submit Documents” button at the bottom of the screen.  Select this button to submit your uploaded documents. 

You have uploaded all of your required documentation, but the documents were uploaded to the incorrect listing. We ask each applicant to review any email thoroughly sent from our Fee Assistance Program team if their application status goes from "Submitted and Pending Verification" to "Submitted and On Hold". They may require you to upload a document to another listing. For example, if you forgot to sign your IRS 1040 Federal Tax Form, they may require you to upload the signed second page of the IRS 1040 Federal Tax Form to the "Other Documentation" listing.  

If you previously saved a response of “No”, you will be able to change your answer to this response. You can change your response in the following locations:

• Next Steps – If your application is in “Submitted and On Hold” status, you will be able to return to the next steps section of your application.
• Main menu – If your application is in Approved status, scroll to the bottom of the Main Menu to the Advisor Release portion of the screen. 

If you previously saved a response of “Yes”, you will not be able to change your answer.

If you previously saved a response of “No”, you will be able to change your answer to this response.  You can change your response in the following locations:

• Next Steps: If your application is in “Submitted and On Hold” status, you will be able to return to the next steps section of your application.
• Main Menu: If your application is in Approved status, scroll to the bottom of the Main Menu to the MCAT Official Prep products benefit portion of the screen. If you were denied for Fee Assistance this year, but were awarded last year, scroll to the bottom of the Main Menu to the MCAT Official Prep products benefit portion of the screen.
• Benefits Summary:  If you were awarded FAP last year, and your application is in any status other than approved, you will be able to access the benefits summary screen from the left navigation pane. Scroll to the bottom of the Benefits Summary screen to the MCAT Official Prep products benefit portion of the screen.

Please note you have until the expiration date of your Fee Assistance Program benefits to claim your products. You will not be provided additional MCAT Official Prep products if you do not activate them by the expiration date for the application year you were awarded. 

If you previously saved a response of “Yes”, you will not be able to change your answer.

No, do not withdraw your application to make corrections to your application. The decision to withdraw your application is final and you will not be able to apply for Fee Assistance Program in the current application cycle.

No, the decision to withdraw your Fee Assistance Program application is final. You will not be able to re-activate, resubmit, or start a new application, for the current processing year once the application is withdrawn.