When Your Circumstances Change, Your Financial Aid Can Be Reviewed
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) uses your prior year's income to calculate your Student Aid Index (SAI) — an estimate of your family's ability to contribute to your educational expenses. On occasion, unusual circumstances occur that may call for a reevaluation of your financial aid eligibility. On a case-by-case basis, these special circumstances might include changes in your family situation since you filed the FAFSA, or unusual family circumstances the FAFSA doesn’t account for.
If you have a special circumstance, you may be eligible to submit a Request for Special Circumstances. Examples include:
- Reduction or loss of income or benefit
- Elementary or secondary school tuition
- Medical, dental or nursing home expenses not covered by insurance
- High childcare costs
- Being homeless or a dislocated worker
- Other changes in the family's income or assets
- Change in marital status
- Loss of untaxable income or benefit
- Death of a parent or spouse
- A lump sum payment
- Estrangement or abandonment by a parent
- Inability to obtain parental information
