Admissions & Aid

Financial Aid Forms and Appeals

 

The Department of Education selects approximately 30 percent of all submitted FAFSAs to undergo a process called verification. It is our responsibility to gather the necessary information from students and parents to complete this verification process. Students may check the status of documents received through their Navigator account.

Verification takes a minimum of four to five weeks once all documents are received by our office.

 

2011-2012 Academic Year Verification Forms:

Students should frequently check their financial aid "to do" list on Navigator to be sure their file is complete. Do not submit any of these forms unless you are asked to by our office or you see them listed on your Navigator "to do" list.

• 2011-2012 Verification Worksheet
• 2011-2012 Property Verification Worksheet
• 2011-2012 Income Expense Worksheet (Dependant Students)
• 2011-2012 Income Expense Worksheet (Independant Students)

 

2011-2012 Financial Aid Appeals

The financial aid office understands that each student/family's financial situation may not be fully expressed through the FAFSA. After receiving an initial award letter, students with unusual or unforeseen financial circumstances are welcome to submit an appeal. While not all will be approved for additional funding, each request will be reviewed with privacy, care and understanding.

Appropriate appeal circumstances include:

• Loss of employment
• Loss of untaxed income or benefit (for instance, Social Security)
• Death, separation or divorce
• Excessive medical expenses

The financial aid office will NOT consider the following situations for an appeal:

• Tuition paid for elementary/secondary private schooling (unless medically or academically necessary). Contact your financial aid administrator for information
• Expenses related to personal living (for example, wedding expenses, credit card bills, home mortgage, school loan payments, and other miscellaneous consumer expenses)
• Parent's own college expenses
• Reduction in overtime pay
• Business losses or shifts in commission sales
• Stock market losses
• Bankruptcy
• Foreclosure

Appeal Forms

2011-2012 Financial Aid Appeal Form

2011-2012 Residency Appeals

 

Dependency Status Override Appeal

You are initially considered a dependent by the Federal Department of Education if you CANNOT answer “YES” to one or more of the following questions:

You are initially considered a dependent by the Federal Department of Education if you answer “YES” to one or more of the following questions:

• Were you born before January 1, 1987?
• Are you married?
• Will you be working on a master’s doctorate program (such as an MA, MBA, MD, JD, or Ph.D., etc.) during the school year  2010-2011?
• Do you have any children who get more than half of their support from you, or do you have any legal dependents that get more than half of their support from you and will continue to get that support during the  2010-2011 school year?
•  Are you on active duty or a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces?
• At any time since you turned 13, were both your parents deceased? Were you in state appointed foster care or were you a ward of the court?
• Are you or were you an emancipated minor determined by a court?
• Was someone other than a biological parent appointed as your guardian by the court?
• Were you determined by a State or Federal agency to be either an unaccompanied youth or homeless or both?

A student who answers no to all of the above questions may only be considered independent from their parents under an extenuating circumstance. This does NOT include living on your own and supporting yourself. Generally speaking, dependency overrides are granted if it is determined that it would be unsafe or impossible for a student to have contact with their biological parent(s) due to abuse, neglect, incarceration, homelessness etc.

Please note that we do not grant dependency overrides on the basis of "financial independence"; a student living financially independently from his/her parents by choice, circumstance, student's employment or geography does not constitute independence by Federal Guidelines.

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Students wishing to request a dependency override should complete the Dependency Override Appeal Form.