"The pandemic and resulting recession have made college less accessible to many students, and household financial situations at the time of applying for federal financial aid were often significantly more stable than compared to when this academic year started," University Business reports. "But students can ask their institutions to take another look at what financial aid they are awarded in the hopes of being offered more."

"And not surprisingly, colleges and universities are seeing notable increases in these professional judgement (PJ) requests, with 59% of respondents to a National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) survey reporting a somewhat or great increase in such requests (known as financial aid appeals to the general public) received between March 1, 2020 and September 21, 2020, compared to the same period last year. The greatest increases in requests among the 212 survey respondents were associated with students at public four-year institutions and students at larger schools.

'If you have a change in circumstance, there is this option for you,' says Megan Coval, vice president of policy and federal relations for NASFAA, of what students can do to try to get more federal aid. The application period for the FAFSA form opened last October 1, she adds, at which time applicants would be using prior-prior year income when filling out it out."

NASFAA's "Notable Headlines" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Articles included under the notable headlines section are not written by NASFAA, but rather by external sources. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented.

Publication Date: 10/15/2020