FAFSA income appeal process - reporting significant drop from 2022 tax year to now

Yes, what you're looking for is called a Professional Judgment (PJ) request, sometimes called a Special Circumstances review or Income Appeal. You'll need to: 1. Complete the FAFSA first using the 2022 tax data as required 2. After receiving your SAI calculation, contact each college's financial aid office directly 3. Each school has their own forms and process for PJ requests 4. You'll typically need documentation proving the income reduction (pay stubs, termination letter, etc.) This isn't handled through studentaid.gov - it's done school by school. Some schools have very specific forms while others have more general processes. Start by checking the financial aid section of each college website your daughter is applying to.

i went thru this exact thing last yr w/ my son!!! temp job in 2022 then back to regular salary. just file the fafsa with the old income then email finaid offices. they all made me fill out different forms + send pay stubs. some were EZ others were a pain but it worked!

They absolutely HATE giving adjustments! My sister tried this last year and 2 of the 5 schools just flat out denied her appeal even with documentation. The financial aid system is RIGGED to use outdated information. My advice? Apply for every outside scholarship you can find because the system is NOT designed to help families with changing situations. Oh and when you do call the schools, prepare for HOURS of being on hold just to get transferred around to people who will tell you different things each time. The whole process is designed to be frustrating.

OP - have you checked if your daughter qualifies as an independent student? If she can file independent, your income won't matter at all. My niece qualified bc she lived with her grandparent for more than half the year in 2024. Just something to look into!

I went through this exact process this year! Here's what worked for me: 1. File the FAFSA with 2022 tax info as required 2. Once you get your SAI, immediately contact each school's financial aid office 3. Request their "Professional Judgment" or "Income Adjustment" forms 4. Provide ALL the documentation they ask for (pay stubs, letter from employer, unemployment docs) 5. Follow up regularly - this is key! Two important tips: - Start the appeal process early (some schools have deadlines) - Be extremely organized with your documentation In my case, my income dropped by 40% from 2022 to 2024, and most schools adjusted our SAI accordingly. It took about 3-4 weeks to process at each school.

Is there anyway to actually reach someone at Federal Student Aid? I tried calling them to ask this same question and was on hold for TWO HOURS before getting disconnected. Then tried again and same thing happened. Their phone system is so frustrating!!!

I want to clarify something important: the appeal process will NOT change your official SAI number on the FAFSA itself. What happens is: 1. Your FAFSA generates an SAI based on 2022 taxes 2. Each individual school can then make a professional judgment to treat your application AS IF you had a lower income 3. They adjust their OWN calculation of your financial need, not the official SAI This means you might see different results at different schools depending on their policies and how much documentation you provide. Some schools are more flexible than others with these adjustments.

My daughter just went through this same situation. One thing I didn't see mentioned - make sure to check if your state has separate appeal processes for state grants! We did the professional judgment with the schools, but almost missed out on a $3500 state grant because their appeal process was completely different with different forms and deadlines.

What about Parent PLUS loans? Will those amounts be affected by income changes too? Or are those just based on credit checks?

when i submitted our PJ request they asked for: - last 3 pay stubs from old job - last 3 pay stubs from new job - termination letter from old job - offer letter from new job - 2022 and 2023 tax returns - statement explaining the situation basically they wanted anything that proved my income change was real and not just temporary. each school wanted slightly different documentation though.

One more tip I forgot to mention - if you get any pushback from a financial aid office, ask to speak with a financial aid counselor or director, not just the front desk staff. Sometimes the people answering phones aren't familiar with the professional judgment process. Be polite but persistent, and document every conversation (date, name of who you spoke with, what was discussed). This saved me when one school claimed they never received my documentation!