I’ll be heading to college this fall. My parent recently became unemployed, and I’m wondering if my school will give me more financial aid for the the year of 2018-2019.
They might. Most schools have a Change in Circumstances appeal form on the website. Look that up and see what forms are required (unemployment insurance, letter of termination). It may depend on what percentage of the family income that parent was making, too.
Typically schools will stipulate that they won’t consider an appeal based on unemployment until it has reached a certain number of months, because theoretically your parent could find a job tomorrow. Contact FA and ask for specifics, but don’t expect an increase in aid now.
They will want a termination letter from the parent employer, a transcript of your parents’ 2017 tax return (get it using the IRS website). and a statement on how reduction of earnings would affect your tuition.
You need to contact YOUR college and get their process for a special circumstances consideration. This varies from college to college. Contact your school, and ask. They will tell you what to do…and when.
Is the parent looking for another job?
Thanks, everyone 
yes @mom2collegekids
Ok, so you can understand why colleges would want to wait and see.
There may be a link to the Special Circumstances paperwork on the web page for the financial aid office. Look for it, and contact the financial aid office. The sooner you start organizing the paperwork required, the better. The financial aid office will be ble to tell you how soon they can act on this.
Sending all good wished for a short and successful job hunt.
I have a control group of just one (me) but both schools my kids were heading to gave immediate additional aid. Job ended in April, they started school in August. It’s worth a shot.
^^
What year was that? When the economy was bad and unemployment was higher, many schools did not wait and see because there were no jobs to be had. Now that jobs are plentiful, many schools wait to adjust. Many people are finding new employment within weeks
Has your parent been laid off due to downsizing company going out of business?
Is your unemployed parent receiving a severance from his/her job?
It will depend on if they are getting severance and how long the severance is (as your parent may have another job before the severance pay is over)
It was in 2014.
Sample of one…when my DH got laid off freshman year of college, we contacted the college about a special circumstances consideration. They gave us the information but politely told us they waited several months after a layoff to even begin to consider the request. The expectation was that the parent would look for, and hopefully get another job.
This was 2003.
Luckily DH found a job rather quickly.
Sample of one: DH was laid off at the end of Feb 2013, two weeks after I had filed the FAFSA. On the advice of @kelsmom we contacted Happykid’s middle-sized state U immediately. They were able to use the Special Circumstances information instead of the FAFSA data to construct the aid package for Happykid’s senior year. This was terrific, as even though I could pick up more work, DH was out of work until July 2014.
Everyone’s mileage can vary on this one. Contact the financial aid office now. Maybe they can adjust things now. Maybe they will wait. But the sooner you get in line, the sooner you will come to the end of it.