Professional Judgment/Special Circumstances

Professional Judgment & Special Circumstances

Professional Judgment and Special Circumstances

Sometimes special circumstances can impact a student’s financial aid situation, including certain living arrangements or family situations that may change during your enrollment. This may result in the need to clarify your situation with the Office of Student Financial Aid, or have adjustments made to your financial aid and/or Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) data. This is known as a special circumstance or a professional judgment.

Examples of special circumstance or professional judgment may include:

Loss of Employment
Loss of Income
Separation or Divorce
Unexpected Significant Medical Expenses
Death in the Family
One Time Payment Received
Increased living expenses
Dependency Override

The adjustments could impact the student's eligibility for additional financial aid. Financial aid adjustments do not guarantee additional funding.

If you feel like you have been impacted by one of the examples above, we recommend you complete and submit the Professional Judgment form to our office so we may determine how best to assist you.

24-25 Professional Judgment Form Independent Student

24-25 Professional Judgment Form Dependent Student

The process can take 2 to 3 weeks to be reviewed. Our office will contact you via your TTUHSC email with updates and your next steps to complete, if any.

Please note, if you already have a -0- Expected Family Contribution (EFC) on your current FAFSA, you have already received the highest financial aid need. Submitting any of the professional judgment forms may not result in any additional aid or may result in additional loan eligibility only.

Professional Judgment Situations

FAFSA data is based on 2022 income. If income has changed since then, we can review to see if using current income would positively impact a student's financial aid eligibility.

If a dependent student has parents who have separated or divorced or an independent student has separated or divorced, we may be able to adjust the FAFSA to reflect the current family size and income.

If the student and/or student's family has incurred unexpected/significant medical expenses not covered by insurance, adjustments to the FAFSA data might by possible. Adjustments are not based on dollar per dollar expenses.

If a death in the family has occurred, the FAFSA may be updated to update the current family size and the loss of income.

Income/taxes for a student and/or parent may have included a one-time payment for a pension or IRA or annuities or settlement. As a result, the 2022 Tax Return may not reflect the normal annual income. As a result, FAFSA data may be adjusted.

A student may incur living expenses that exceed the assigned estimated financial aid budget. Typically, increases to cost of attendance result in additional loan eligibility.

Examples:

Increased monthly rent/living expenses
Childcare expenses
Interview travel
One time expenses (car repair, medical, etc.)

See Budget Change Request form for more information.

In unique situations, a dependent undergraduate student may qualify to have parent information excluded from the FAFSA.

Examples:

Death of parent(s)
Foster Youth
Documented abuse/abandonment

Your parent(s) refusing to provide information does not qualify you for a dependency override.

Professional Judgment/Special Circumstances