If a student believes they have unusual circumstances that may justify an adjustment to their financial aid eligibility, they should contact the Financial Aid Office on their local campus. Two types of requests that may warrant a change to a student’s financial aid file are described below.
Special Circumstance Request
May be used when a family’s financial circumstances have changed due to death of a parent, divorce, separation, or loss of employment.
Circumstances may include:
• A 30% reduction in income due to changes in employment from last year to this year
• Excessive medical expenses not covered by insurance
• Change in marital status due to divorce or separation
• Death of a primary wage earner
You may be asked to provide:
• Base year income information, layoff or termination notice, projected income information for the current year, Verification Worksheet and other income information in support of your request
• Copies of medical bills and evidence that payment arrangements have been made
• Copies of divorce decrees, W-2’s or other income information as required
• Death certificate of primary wage earner and W-2’s or other income information as required
• The Special Circumstances Form
Dependency Override Request
Answering “Yes” to any one of the following will result in a student being considered an independent student for federal student aid programs and the student will not need to contact the Financial Aid Office
Students who do not meet the criteria of an Independent Student by answering “yes” to one of the dependency questions may make a request for a dependency override by contacting the Financial Aid Office. The U.S. Department of Education feels that students under the age of 24 years of age should be assisted by their parents in educational expenses. You cannot live with your parents and request a dependency override. The Financial Aid Office will review your documents and notify you of the decision. You will be asked to provide ALL of the following:
• Three letters. Letters must be on letterhead, from clergy, social worker or counselor indicating why there is an estrangement from parents.
• Verification Worksheet
• Tax return transcript
