Did you not get the money you need to attend the college of your choice? Look here for a step-by-step guide to the financial aid appeal process and learn how to ask schools for more money.
If you have been accepted to a school but the financial aid package isn’t enough to make it affordable, you can submit a financial aid appeal. Basically, this is a letter summarising your financial situation and asking a school to increase the amount of aid they have offered you. If the school has not offered you as much money as you need to make it possible for you to attend. In this case, you’ll often have only a couple of options: taking out loans or asking the school for more money.
When you send the school a financial aid appeal letter to ask for more funding to cover educational expenses, your chances of a successful appeal are much higher if you have special financial circumstances. These are circumstances outside your family’s control that affect how much money is available for school. Examples of these include:
- a family member’s illness has resulted in high medical expenses;
- your parent lost their job;
- a natural disaster has damaged your home or business;
Financial aid officers may not be able to understand the details of your family’s financial situation from the information provided on the FAFSA or even from the more detailed CSS. In your appeal letter, you have the opportunity to explain your special circumstances and ask them to reconsider the financial aid award. Note that the recommendations here apply to appealing financial aid that was awarded on the basis of your family’s need and don’t necessarily apply to appealing merit aid (more on that elsewhere).
Understanding your financial aid award
The first step in appealing for more money is having a solid understanding of what you have been offered. When you were admitted to the school, you should also have received a financial aid award letter setting out information on the cost to attend the school and what you are expected to pay. This will include the following information:
Cost of Attendance (COA): how much it costs to attend this school. This isn’t necessarily what you will pay, and it may vary. For example, it may cost you more or less than the amount given, depending on variables such as travel and personal expenses.
Expected Family Contribution (EFC): what your family is expected to pay. This figure is based on a federally-established formula, which you can read more about here. Basically, the formula looks at your and your parents’ income(s) and assets and figures out what you can contribute. At least, that’s the theory. In practice, the number may not seem realistic!
You should also have information on what the school will give you to help you pay. Pay close attention to the terms of the help you’re being offered, as some of it needs to be repaid eventually, while other forms of aid do not:
Financial aid you’ll get that needs to be repaid: loans made available by the school that you will need to pay back at some point.
Financial aid you’ll get that does not need to be repaid: this could be called grants, scholarships or merit aid.
Balance: this is the difference between the cost of attendance and the financial aid you’ve received, or the gap (or black hole, depending on your perspective!)/ This is the part that the school isn’t offering to help you with. You’re expected to come up with this money on your own, whether through private loans or otherwise.
Once you have gone through this and it all makes sense, you can consider whether this is affordable for you or not. You may be disappointed: the school may be asking you and your family to pay far more than you think you reasonably can pay. If this is the case, you should request that the school give you an additional grant or scholarship. This type of request is called an “appeal.”
The financial aid appeal process
You can write a financial aid appeal letter and send it to the financial aid administrator at the school. In the letter, you should explain why the amount of aid offered is not enough and what you will need to make it possible for you to attend the school. You are likely facing one of two scenarios:
- Scenario 1: You simply cannot afford the school on the basis of the financial aid offered or would have to take out private student loans to do so; or
- Scenario 2: You have received a much better financial aid offer from a different school and want to use this as leverage to get a better offer from a school you would prefer to attend.
We’ll discuss scenario 2 elsewhere and start with Scenario 1 here.
Schools are unlikely to give you more money simply because you’re asking for more. You’ll have a better chance of success if you can show financial need. Remember that the financial aid offices are basing their decision on the limited information they have seen about your family’s financial situation. In particular, they may not have insight into your family’s cost of living situation. By providing financial aid officers with more details about your special circumstances, you can help them to understand your need. They can then use their professional judgment to decide whether to offer you more help.
Special circumstances that affect your financial aid
The first step in writing your appeal request should be to identify whether you have any special circumstances that you have not told the financial aid office about. Note that you can always ask for more money, but the school is not obligated to give you more money. Your chances of getting an increase in financial aid are better if you can point to special circumstances that affect your financial aid eligibility. For example, your financial situation may have changed since you filed the FAFSA, or you may have had unusual expenses that are not reflected in your financial aid application. Examples of special circumstances include the following:
- Loss of income;
- Unexpected and unavoidable expenses;
- Change in circumstances;
- Natural and other disasters;
- One-off non-recurring income; or
- Medical costs.
Remember that the FAFSA is filed on the basis of “prior prior” year financial information; for many families, financial circumstances will have changed in the last year or so without being reflected on the FAFSA. If you did not update the financial aid office on your change of circumstances at the same time you applied or if circumstances have changed since you applied, you can include this information as the basis for your appeal. For example, one of your parents may have lost their job or been unemployed for a while, which will have led to a decrease in income. You or a family member might have had a medical emergency that caused a loss of income or higher household expenses. Or your family may have suffered a loss due to a hurricane or other natural disaster, such as the destruction of your home or business. This would also affect your ability to pay tuition.
Even if your financial situation has not changed, you can still appeal. Sometimes a family may have household expenses that are unusually high. Since the schools may not have this information, they may think that your family earns a comfortable living and has enough excess cash to pay tuition, but in reality your family may be spending that excess money on medical expenses or repaying debt, for example. You can let the financial aid office know about this in your appeal letter.
Sometimes, a family may have received a one-time financial windfall, that makes it appear that you have more financial resources available than is the case. This would be the case, for example, if there was an inheritance, the sale of a house or an insurance payment. At the time this might seem like a great bonus — who doesn’t want a bit of extra money? — but schools could think that this is recurring income that will be available to pay for schooling. If so, you can explain to the financial aid office that this is an unusual situation and does not reflect your ability to pay.
How to write an appeal for more financial aid
First do this: find out the process for appealing aid
Once you have identified whether you have special circumstances, you should review your financial aid award letter to see whether this contains information about how to appeal your award. If the letter does not have this information, you should check the school’s website to see what the appropriate appeal process is. The school may want you to call them first, or they may want you to submit your appeal using their own financial aid appeal form. If you are an existing student, the requirements may be different than if you are a newly-admitted student. If possible, it is best to address your appeal to a specific person. Many universities will assign financial aid counselors on the basis of surnames, for example, so you should reach out to individual assigned to you. Your odds of receiving an increase in aid are better if you can connect with a specific person. You can email or call to confirm where you should send your appeal.
Next do this: gather your information and write an appeal letter
The next step will be to write a letter to appeal your award. This is known as asking the financial aid office to use their professional judgment to adjust your FAFSA, usually on the basis of your special circumstances.
To increase your chances for a successful appeal, make sure you:
- act promptly and don’t wait until the last minute to ask for more funding;
- understand and follow the school’s requirements for submitting an aid appeal letter;
- keep your letter simple, polite and to the point; and
- provide a clear explanation of why you need more aid and offer to document this.
Include the necessary information about yourself! However you submit your appeal, you should have the opportunity to explain your circumstances in a separate letter or email. You’ll want to make sure you have the following basic information in your letter:
- Your name and contact details, such as email address and phone number(s);
- Your financial aid id; and
- anything else that the school uses to identify you.
Next, set out the basis for your appeal, in other words, why you think the university should offer you more money. This section should first explain briefly and factually why your family cannot afford the Expected Family Contribution. You should include specific examples of how one or more events have affected your family’s financial ability to pay.
For example, if your circumstances changed due to job loss, you could write something like this:
“I am happy to be admitted to the class of 202x; however, I will need more financial aid to make it possible for me to attend Your Wonderful University. My family’s financial situation suffered when my mother lost her job in Month of Year. Our income dropped by X%.
As a result of the drop in income, my family will not be able to pay Expected Family Contribution. I have set out a summary of our income and main expenses here. Currently, my family’s monthly income is $x, but our household expenses are $y:
Rent/mortgage = $x
Vehicle costs = $x
Groceries and living expenses = $x”
It might be helpful to include a table to organise the financial information. That makes it easy for the school to see the relationship between your family’s income and expenses. You may also want to highlight how much money for college is available, if you know what you have available.
You should also acknowledge how much aid you have already been offered and (if you think you can commit to this) set out how much more you will need (loans or grants) to make it possible for you to attend:
Thank you for offering me the following financial aid:
Grant of $x, work study of $y and loans of $z.
On the basis of my family’s situation, I would need $x more to make it possible to attend. Your Wonderful University is my first-choice school and if financially possible, I will enroll.
Schools will also ask you to provide additional documents setting out your special circumstances, such as lowered income due to job loss. You may be familiar with this from filling out the CSS and/or the FAFSA. You can collect the paperwork and send copies with the information; however, an easier way to provide verification of your changed circumstances is through Firocoda, a low-cost service that quickly and securely verifies your financial data.
Templates
Have a look here for some sample letters that you can use as the basis for your appeal.
Send the letter
Remember to keep it positive and emphasize your willingness to contribute as much as possible. Even if you’re feeling (understandably!) frustrated and worried, don’t dwell on the hardships you and your family are facing. Keep the letter factual and to the point.
When you send the letter, you should always follow the financial aid office’s instructions. They may want the letter to be submitted through their own portal, on their own form, or they may want you to send it to your assigned financial aid counselor. If the school does not specify, you can either send the “letter” as an email, or — better — send your letter as an attachment to an email.
What happens next?
You should receive a response to your appeal within a reasonable amount of time, but remember that financial aid offices are busy. If you have not heard back within a week or so, you can follow up with a polite email or phone call.
Once you have your appeal decision, you’ll either be:
- asked for more information;
- given no more aid or too little aid; or
- given enough aid that. you can make it work.
If you are asked for more information, examine the request carefully. Is the school asking you for verification of special circumstances, or are they asking for more details about these circumstances, such as how these have affected your ability to pay?
The school may want to see documentary evidence of your special circumstances; for example, they may want to see recent W2s or paystubs reflecting a parent’s recent job loss. If they want documentation of your family’s finances, such as assets or expenses, you can use the tools at Firocoda to provide verified documentation directly to the school.
Alternatively, the school may want to understand how these circumstances affect your ability to pay. This might be the case, for instance, if a parent was out of work for several months but has recently found a new job. While this solves the problem of income going forward, a loss of income for months may well have affected your family’s savings, or caused the family to go into debt. You should explain how the loss of income hurt your family’s financial strength.
If you’re given enough of an increase to make the school affordable, congratulations! Move on to the next steps and enjoy!
Summary
To recap, you may want to appeal your financial aid award to ask for more money if you cannot afford a school. As discussed above, you can write a letter to the financial aid office and request more money. When you do so, remember the following points:
- Follow the school’s instructions on how to appeal or (if there are none), try to find a named individual to send your appeal to;
- Set out the details of how much you have been offered;
- Express gratitude for the aid you have already been offered;
- Tell the school that you will need more aid to be able to attend;
- Explain that special circumstances affect your family’s ability to pay;
- Include details about your family’s financial situation and how this has been affected by events;
- Politely ask for the amount of money you still need;
- Offer to provide additional details and/or have a call to answer any questions; and
- Proofread!!!
Keep your appeal to the point and avoid introducing emotions, difficult as this may be. Send in your appeal. If you do not receive a response in a reasonable amount of time, follow up with an email or phone call.
Sample appeal letters
Here are some (fictional) examples of financial aid appeal letters you can use as inspiration for your own letter. If you need more help, or want a secure and simple way to document your financial situation, please contact us at [xxx].
Example 1: parent lost job and income decreased
Introduction
Dear financial aid team,
My name is Joe Student (student ID), and I am very happy that I was admitted to Your Wonderful College’s Class of 202x, my first choice school. I would like to attend, but my family cannot afford our expected contribution.
Express appreciation for what you have been offered
Thank you very much for the financial aid you have offered me in your award letter. I am grateful for the offer of a scholarship of $10,000 and the subsidized loan offer of $4,000; however, even with this generous assistance, I will not be able to afford to attend Your Wonderful College.
Explain your special circumstances
Unfortunately, my my father lost his job six months ago and was unemployed for most of last year. As a result, my family’s monthly income decreased by 60%. My parents used their savings and borrowed money from family members to make ends meet. While my father found a new job last month, he is still earning less than at his previous job. Overall my family’s monthly income is now only 80% of what it has been.
To illustrate how my family’s financial situation has changed, I am setting out our monthly income and expenses in a table.
| Monthly income after tax | Monthly expenses | |||
| $4,0 | Rent: | $1,050 | ||
| Groceries and household expenses: $6 | $620 | |||
| Transport (car payments, gas and bus fare): | $820 | |||
| Health care: | $431 | |||
| Clothing: | $50 | |||
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