Yes, schools are absolutely still reviewing special circumstances appeals! In fact, this is more important than ever given that the FAFSA is using older tax data (2022) that may not reflect current situations. Document your changed circumstances thoroughly (termination letter, unemployment benefits statement, etc.) and contact each school's financial aid office about their specific appeal process. Many schools have streamlined their appeals process this year knowing these issues would arise.

omg thank you so much!! ill tell my parents to start collecting all that paperwork now. this gives me hope!

Has anyone mentioned that they now want MUCH more investment information???? Like literally every single account. We had to report my husband's small employee stock purchase plan that we'd completely forgotten about and it delayed our whole application by THREE WEEKS because we had to get special valuation statements. They even wanted information about a tiny inheritance my husband received that was only $5,400! Ridiculous how they penalize families who save responsibly while giving massive aid to families who never bothered to save a cent for college.

Just went through this with my kid who's a freshman now. I recommend taking screenshots of EVERYTHING during the FAFSA submission process. Our confirmation page never arrived by email even though the system said it sent it. Also, make sure your daughter lists all potential schools on the FAFSA when she first submits it - adding schools later triggers additional verification steps sometimes. And weirdest thing - after submitting, login to the studentaid.gov account every few days to check status. They don't always send notifications when there are problems or if they need more info. We almost missed a verification request because the email went to spam.

this is why the whole system is so unfair. its not about need anymore, its about who knows how to game the system. my niece didnt get any aid and her parents make less than 40k

Thank you everyone for all the helpful responses! I'm going to wait until we have all offers in hand, then draft formal appeal letters to each school using the appropriate terminology. I'll focus on my daughter's fit with each school while respectfully presenting the competing offers. Definitely feel more confident navigating this process now!

whats ur SAI number? if its right on the border for pell eligibility maybe different schools interpret it differently????

UPDATE: Finally got through to Monmouth's financial aid office! You all were right - it was an error on their part. They said with the new FAFSA system this year, some of the federal aid wasn't automatically populating in their award letters. They're sending me a revised package that includes the $740 Pell Grant. The Green Lawn Grant is staying too - it's their institutional aid. Thanks everyone for your help and encouragement to follow up on this!

i withdrawn from classes last semester too and got hit with a bill.... its total bs how they dont explain this to u when u sign up for classes!!!! like how am i supposed to know all these rules??? the FAFSA system is so confusing and nobody explains anything until its too late

Something everyone is missing - make sure you check if your withdrawal has put you in SAP (Satisfactory Academic Progress) violation too. If you failed to complete 67% of your attempted credits, you might lose future aid eligibility on top of owing this money. Dealing with both issues at once is important.