<p>Hi does anyone have experience with doing an appeal of a financial aid decision? Our daughter is supported only by her mother, she and I are divorced. Her mother does not work. Last year my daughter got Blue and Gold and lots of other aid. This year for some reason she did not get much of anything and we may need to pull her out of school. I am going to do an appeal but need to discuss/talk to someone that understands what they look at and how to effectively do an appeal, and on what grounds. Any help is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I don’t have experience with the appeal process at that school specifically - but there are a few things you might want to consider first. </p>
<p>Have you (or in this case, student/mom) sat down with the financial aid office to determine the cause of the aid reduction? If you know that it is due to some special circumstance (ex: drew from a 401K to pay for medical bills), you would want to go through the appeal process with the school in an attempt to get that aid back. If you aren’t sure what the cause is - that will be your first starting point. You can’t provide direction in an appeal if you don’t have the specifics to back up why you are requesting more aid. </p>
<p>The school’s financial aid office can also provide more direction in giving you an idea if your appeal will be successful or not. </p>
<p>The award should not change much if the inputs stay the same. Check that the FAFSA was filled out correctly. Compare the award buckets of this year’s letter vs. last year’s letter to see where the shortfall is. Is the Pell the same, is the loan the same, is the calgrant the same, any award from the university the same.Then write the financial aid office with your questions.</p>
<p>What did the FA office say? What is her FAFSA EFC? Something must have happened that changed income. Did your ex remarry? </p>
<p>WHY are you only asking about this NOW???</p>