Does FAFSA allow income updates after major decrease in parent earnings?

pretty sure fafsa only cares about last years tax info. thats what my fin aid advisor told me

FAFSA for 2025-2026 is based strictly on your 2023 tax information. You can't change those numbers on the FAFSA itself, even if your current situation is different. However, what you CAN do is submit a special circumstances appeal (sometimes called professional judgment or income adjustment appeal) directly to each college's financial aid office after you've submitted your FAFSA. This is exactly for situations like yours where there's been a significant change in financial circumstances. Make sure to: 1. Submit the FAFSA with the original 2023 tax info 2. Contact each school's financial aid office about their special circumstances process 3. Gather documentation of your mom's job loss (termination letter, unemployment benefits, etc.) 4. Be prepared to show your previous income vs. current projected income Don't delay submitting your FAFSA waiting for this to be resolved - get it in now with the correct 2023 info, then work on the appeals separately.

we had the same thing happen when my dad got sick and couldnt work anymore. had to do the special circumstances thing at every school i applied to. some were better than others. state schools were way easier than private ones for us.

Approval rates for special circumstances appeals vary by school, but job loss is one of the most commonly approved reasons. Make sure you have solid documentation and be persistent. Follow up with financial aid offices regularly, as these appeals can sometimes get buried under their workload.

I HATE this about FAFSA!!! They want your tax info from LAST YEAR but what about when things ACTUALLY CHANGE??? My parents got divorced mid-year and our income dropped by half but FAFSA didn't care AT ALL. The whole system is designed to screw over families when they're already down. Good luck getting any real help from those bureaucrats!!!!

Everyone saying you need to file an appeal after submitting FAFSA is correct. However, there's an important distinction to understand - this process is called a "Professional Judgment" request, and it's handled entirely by individual schools, not by Federal Student Aid directly. Each college has their own forms and documentation requirements. Some are very strict about what qualifies, others are more flexible. Job loss is generally considered a valid special circumstance at most institutions. I recommend: 1. First submit your FAFSA with correct 2023 tax info and get your parent's signature 2. Contact each school's financial aid office immediately after 3. Ask specifically for their "Professional Judgment" or "Special Circumstances" form 4. Submit separate appeals to EACH school (they don't share this information) 5. Be extremely thorough with documentation Timeline matters - some schools have deadlines for these appeals, and funds can be distributed on a first-come basis.

Professional Judgment decisions can affect your eligibility for both federal aid (including Pell Grants) and institutional aid. When a school approves your appeal, they essentially recalculate your Student Aid Index (SAI) based on your updated financial information, which can impact all forms of need-based aid. The key thing to understand is that this adjusted SAI only applies at the specific school that approved your appeal. That's why you need to submit separate requests to each institution.

I went through exactly this last year when my dad got laid off 3 months after we submitted our FAFSA. Been there, stressed about that! First, don't change anything on your FAFSA about the income before resubmitting - that needs to stay as your 2023 tax info. Just get that parent signature and submit it ASAP. Then comes the annoying part - contacting each school individually for their special circumstances process. I had to do this with 5 schools and honestly it was a nightmare because they all wanted slightly different documentation. Some wanted projected income worksheets, others wanted weekly unemployment payment stubs, others wanted letters from former employers... One thing that helped me TREMENDOUSLY was using Claimyr (claimyr.com) when I needed to actually reach a human at Federal Student Aid with questions about how to handle the verification process that got triggered by all this. You can see how it works in their demo video: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ - basically they get you through the phone queues so you don't wait for hours. Saved me so much frustration when I was trying to make sure we were doing everything right. Hang in there - it's a long process but worth fighting for!

3 out of 5 schools approved our special circumstances appeal, 1 partially approved it, and 1 denied it completely. The state schools were MUCH more accommodating than the private ones in my experience. And yes, definitely check out Claimyr if you need to actually talk to FSA - saved me hours of hold time!

why cant u just put whatever income u want on fafsa? its not like they check it right away

Thanks everyone for the advice! I think I understand what to do now: 1. Submit the FAFSA with the 2023 tax info and get my dad's signature 2. Contact each school about their Professional Judgment/special circumstances process 3. Gather all documentation about my mom's job loss 4. Submit separate appeals to each school 5. Follow up regularly to make sure they're processed Fingers crossed this works out. This couldn't have happened at a worse time with college decisions coming up soon!

Just wanted to add one more tip from my experience - when you're gathering documentation for the Professional Judgment appeals, also include any correspondence about your mom's unemployment benefits application. Schools sometimes want to see that you've applied for all available assistance, and it helps show the legitimacy of the job loss. Also, if your mom is actively job searching, keeping a log of applications and interviews can strengthen your case by showing you're working to improve the situation. The whole process is definitely stressful, but hang in there - many families go through this and successfully get their aid adjusted!

One thing I'd add - make sure to submit your appeals as soon as possible after getting your FAFSA processed. Many schools have limited funds set aside for special circumstances adjustments, and they're often distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. I learned this the hard way when I waited too long to submit my appeal and one of my schools told me they'd already allocated all their emergency aid funds for the year. Also, don't be discouraged if you have to resubmit documentation multiple times - financial aid offices get swamped and sometimes things get lost in the shuffle. Keep copies of everything you send and follow up weekly if you don't hear back. The squeaky wheel really does get the grease in these situations!