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Undergrads: increase financial aid with an unemployment appeal
July 14th, 2010 by Ken 4 Comments »
With unemployment hovering around 10%, families around the country have been falling on tough times. There is a surge of college students whose parents are now or have been unemployed for several months.
Parent income from employment is a major determining factor for awarding financial aid. If you are a student whose family has been hit by job cuts you may be eligible for more financial aid.
In order to qualify for an increase in financial aid you have to update your schools financial aid office with an “appeal letter” You need to contact your schools financial aid office and be prepared to submit the following documents.
• A statement from the student identifying themselves, their family members and explaining the financial hardships they are under.
• A statement from the parent(s) identifying themselves, including more details about their unemployment status explaining when and how long they have been unemployed
• Copy of the termination letter from job
• Copy of last pay stub from job
• Copy of any severance package agreement if applicable
• Copies of unemployment benefits summaries week by week
• The school may ask for a resource and expenditure worksheet to document expenses
An appeal for financial aid is extremely important for families that had unemployment claims processed during the 2010 calendar year. This is because the FAFSA used to determine financial aid eligibility in the 2010-2011 year is based on the 2009 Tax return. If parents were fully employed in 2009 but went unemployed in 2010 there is a change in income status that needs to be documented. Contact your financial aid office and arrange for your appeal to be reviewed.
Tags: appeal letter, calendar year, college students, expenditure worksheet, fafsa, family members, financial aid eligibility, financial aid office, financial hardships, job cuts, parents, pay stub, severance package, tax return, termination letter, tough times, unemployment benefits, unemployment claims
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[...] the admissions process. Submitting an appeal to increase grant funding is a different process. In order to qualify for increased grants you will have to document an increase in financial need lik… After submitting the appeal, contact the school to ensure it is under review. Be persistent with [...]
Good article – with the economy these days costs are getting expensive – especially with the cutbacks and rules currently applied to Bright Futures as well.