Professional Judgments

The FAFSA estimates a family's ability to pay for college, but it may not always reflect unique financial situations. If you have special educational costs, need a dependency override or have experienced changes in financial circumstances, you may qualify for a professional judgment appeal.

To explore your options, schedule an appointment with a financial aid counselor, who can help determine if you qualify for a professional judgment appeal.

Please note that appeals are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The decision to approve or deny a request is final, and not all appeals will result in additional aid.

Qualifying Circumstances

You may qualify for a Professional Judgment Appeal if you experience:

  • Job loss or change in employment
  • Divorce or separation not reflected on the FAFSA
  • Death of a parent or spouse
  • Change in student’s marital status after the completion of the FAFSA
  • Exceptional medical or dental expenses
  • One time income, such as a one-time withdrawal from a retirement account
  • Parental abuse, neglect, abandonment, incarceration or institutionalization
  • Required elementary or secondary tuition costs
  • Educational expenses not accounted for in the Cost of Attendance: i.e., exceptionally high rent, the purchase of a computer, medical insurance, supplies, travel for internship or coursework, etc.

Process and Timeline

If a financial aid counselor determines that you may benefit from an appeal, you will need to complete the required forms in AppalNet, and you may be asked to provide additional documentation.

Before your appeal can be reviewed, you must complete the verification process if you were selected for verification — unless you are requesting a dependency override.

Appeal decisions are communicated via your App State email and typically take 6-8 weeks for review. If your appeal is approved, your financial aid offer will be adjusted within 7-10 business days, and you should allow at least one additional week for funds to disburse to your student account.

Please note that all appeal decisions are final and cannot be appealed to the U.S. Department of Education. Also note that appeal decisions may not be be completed before bills are due.