FAFSA Professional Judgment appeals delayed - are schools really unable to process them yet?

Yup, my daughter's school (large state university) told us the exact same thing last week. They said something about waiting for the Dept of Education to 'unlock' that functionality in the system. Financial aid officer said it's affecting every school, but I honestly don't know if that's true or if they're just overwhelmed with all the FAFSA changes this year. We're in a similar situation - my husband got laid off in December.

not sure if this helps but my brothers friends cousin got a PJ appeal processed at his community college last week so i think some schools are doing it but maybe bigger ones have more red tape??

Financial aid administrator here - there's some confusion on this topic right now. The ability to process PJ requests technically exists, but many schools are waiting because: 1. The Department of Education encouraged schools to wait until after initial SAI calculations are processed before making PJ adjustments 2. Many schools' systems need updates to properly handle PJ with the new FAFSA and SAI formula 3. Schools have limited guidance on how PJ changes will affect the new SAI calculation Some smaller schools may be processing PJs manually outside the main system, but most institutions are waiting for additional ED guidance. I'd recommend documenting everything and staying in regular contact with your financial aid office. This is a challenging year for everyone with the FAFSA Simplification Act implementation.

WHAT A JOKE this new FAFSA is!!! We've been hearing nothing but "just wait" for MONTHS now! First it was wait for the form to be available, then wait for technical glitches to be fixed, then wait for schools to get the info, now wait for PJ appeals to be processed... Meanwhile my twin daughters are supposed to be picking colleges WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT THEY ACTUALLY COST!!! Sorry for shouting but I am losing my mind over this entire process.

I had the same issue with my daughter's PJ appeal at two different universities. I was getting nowhere with emails or the general financial aid office phone number. After waiting on hold for 2+ hours multiple times and getting disconnected, I found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me actually get through to a human in the financial aid office. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ showing how it works. Once I actually got through to a financial aid counselor (instead of the front desk staff), I learned that while they can't process the appeal in the system yet, they CAN review your documentation and give you an estimate of how it might affect your aid package. That at least helped us make a more informed decision while waiting for the official processing.

Update: I called our financial aid office again today (after seeing this thread) and pressed harder for answers. The advisor eventually admitted that while they can't process PJ appeals in the main system yet, they ARE creating a special spreadsheet of PJ cases that will be prioritized once the system functionality is available. So don't give up - make sure your appeal is at least in their tracking system!

One clarification on Professional Judgment appeals that might help: There are actually two separate processes happening with the new FAFSA: 1. Schools receiving your FAFSA data and calculating initial aid packages 2. The ability to make PJ adjustments to your SAI in the system Many students haven't even received their initial aid packages yet due to the FAFSA rollout delays. Schools are generally processing initial aid packages first, then will handle PJ appeals. If you've already received an initial aid offer and are waiting on PJ processing, you're actually ahead of many students in the pipeline. Based on recent Department of Education communications, we expect most schools will be able to process PJ adjustments in the system starting in mid-to-late April, though this timeline could still shift.

I'm dealing with this exact same situation! Filed my PJ appeal 2 weeks ago after my dad's hours got cut at work (our income dropped about 30%). My school's financial aid office gave me the runaround too - first they said "we'll get back to you in a few days" then when I called back they switched to "the system isn't ready for PJ appeals yet." It's so frustrating because I need to know my real aid package to make my college decision! Reading through all these responses is actually really helpful though - sounds like most schools are in the same boat and it's not just mine being unhelpful. I'm definitely going to call back and ask if they're at least tracking my appeal in a spreadsheet like @Ayla Kumar mentioned. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!