A Financial Aid Appeal Letter

Using professional consultants for filling out college financial aid forms is a practice that has been around forever. Since 2009 though, appeal letters have become a major focus for financial aid consultants.

Why?

Because they work.

Guidelines that were established by the U.S. Department of Education in April 2009 remain in effect for 2011-2012 and for future award years.

The main point of these guidelines is that financial aid administrators are encouraged to use their professional judgment to adjust aid. And the main tool they can use is projecting family income for the next 12-month period, instead of using the base year that calculated your FAFSA EFC.

So, armed with this knowledge you can be your own college consultant and write a financial aid appeal letter that will (hopefully) get you more money for college.

Financial Aid Appeal Strategies that Work

1. Call the financial aid office and ask. Find out who to address an appeal letter to (usually there's a financial aid appeal committee) and find out if appeals can be presented in person (if so, make an appointment if it is at all possible). Do not bother to tell your life's story to whoever answers the phone- follow their process.
2. Figure out what you will base your appeal upon.How is your situation not covered by FAFSA (or how has it changed since you filed) or last year's federal income tax return? Bear in mind that the generally poor economic climate is not an acceptable basis for appeal.
3. Decide what type of adjustment to ask for. Federal financial aid for college can be increased by changing the information for an EFC component, increasing a cost of attendance component, or changing your dependency or homelessness status. Your letter should include a specific (hoped-for) remedy for your specific issue.
4. Gather your documentation. You must have supporting evidence of your claims. These can be legal documents (ranging from marriage certificates, divorce decrees and birth certificates to eviction notices, judgments, liens, and decrees) paycheck stubs, bills, receipts, canceled checks, tax documents, bank statements, and just about any 'official' paper that shows your situation.
5. Demonstrate your claims about your situation. This is not strictly necessary- but if you are trying to show that your income for the coming year will not be anything like your FAFSA base year, show it. Make a graph or a chart showing the changes in your projected income.

Writing Tips for Financial Aid Appeal Letters

• Short- no more than a single page
• Polite- no matter how disappointed you are with their "award" thank them for it, anyway. Don't forget that you are asking for something that they do not have to give you.
• (Somewhat) Humble- Do not try to show your sharp negotiating skills or even use the phrase, "renegotiate your award." They hold all the cards- if they wanted you that badly, they would have offered you more at the outset.
• Personal- It should not sound like a lawyer or a consultant wrote it. Until this letter, you were just a collection of grades and FAFSA data points. Make them see your individual situation.

Mentioning higher initial awards from other schools (if you have them) is a practice that many have recommended in the past. I would be extremely cautious about this approach, today. Financial aid offices are being deluged for requests for more money- from students who have genuine need. If I were an administrator and was told that another school could meet an applicant's need, I would be tempted to tell them to go there, then.

A tactic like this will only dilute the message you hope to convey- which is that you have unmet financial need that has not been considered.

If you have specific knowledge that your school has a policy of actively competing with other schools for the same students and if you feel confident that you are a student that they are pursuing (for instance, if they have already included an institutional scholarship or grant in your award) then it might be worthwhile to include a copy of a higher award offer from another school. Schools understand that now more than ever, families have to compare college costs before accepting an offer.

You can write a financial aid appeal letter, even if you do not have an acceptable reason for more federal aid. Financial aid administrators will increase a student's institutional aid, if doing so fits with the school's goals and vision. So, if your family is denied parent college loans and the school has a no "bad credit college loans" policy, you could get more aid. If you would have qualified for a state grant, but your state changed its FAFSA deadline (and you weren't aware of it) you might get what you need from the school.


Just the Letter?

Usually financial aid consultants recommend that you simply send the letter and then wait for requests for documentation. This is probably not your best move, now. If you were going to ask for an appeal in person, you would bring your documents with you, so there is really no reason not to include them with the letter (provided you state that you would be willing to supply any additional documents they need).

You only have 4-6 weeks (usually) before you need to make a decision. Likewise, your financial aid office might prefer to have everything they need submitted at once (to save effort on their part). So, why not prepare everything and hand it in at once?