<p>I am a senior at an UC College in California. I submitted my FAFSA about a week late because I believed I was going to graduate on time. I definitely could have planned earlier, but truly my reason for submitting my fafsa was mostly my fault.</p>
<p>The financial aid office told me today that if I don't sucessfully appeal, I would be losing about $4,400 in UC Grants for my last quarter (will be graduating Fall 2014). </p>
<p>What are my options? How should I best strategize my appeal?</p>
<p>I would ask the financial aid person you spoke to, but probably honesty is best, that you thought you would graduate and then discovered you didn’t have enough credits/the right courses, etc.</p>
<p>If you had a required class you were bumped from, I’d definitely mention that.</p>
<p>Are appeals with such reasoning (i.e. unexpected graduation date) common?</p>
<p>Do you happen to know what past successful appeals included?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all thoughts and advice</p>
<p>Maple, it doesn’t matter at all what happened with others. Things like this are done on a case by case bias, UNLESS there is a clear policy the school has. </p>
<p>I think the thing you will need to show is that you didn’t KNOW that you couldn’t fulfill your graduation requirements until after the FAFSA deadline. Otherwise…you are simply late.</p>
<p>This is university aid, not federal aid. The school may have a policy that aid is only for four years. Cal Grants have a policy like that. Your problem may not be timing of fafsa, it may just be that aid is limited to four years. </p>