Hurting for more aid? Just ask for it

If your financial aid letter came in a bit leaner than you had expected, there's one way you may be able to quickly and easily jack it up: Ask for more.

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Although as a matter of principle most schools won't negotiate with students to increase their financial aid, that doesn't mean you shouldn't let them know why you need more cash. Almost every school in the country is willing to make concessions for students with extenuating circumstances.

It is not a widely known aspect of the financial aid process, but the Higher Education Act empowers aid administrators to make corrections and adjustments -- sometimes drastic ones -- to the information used to calculate a student's need. Called "professional judgment," the provision allows aid counselors to change the numbers fed into the standard aid formulas, and in most cases, reduce the Expected Family Contribution, or EFC.

The act stipulates that while administrators are prohibited from changing the actual formula, they are given wide breadth to make adjustments for anything "unusual" that applies to a particular student.

In the most drastic cases, schools are even allowed to declare some students independent of their parents, which can potentially mean a huge bump in available financial aid.

How the process works
Before any appeal can begin, everyone must first file the official federal financial aid form, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.

When the FAFSA is processed, each student will receive a Student Aid Report, or SAR. The key number on each SAR is the Expected Family Contribution. That EFC will determine eligibility for most aid programs ranging from the subsidized Direct and Stafford Loans to the Pell Grant and other school-based awards.

So, what do you do if your financial picture looks better on paper than in reality? That's where a request for a professional judgment review comes in.

The first step in trying to reduce your EFC is to gather your evidence and start typing. Each family should write a personalized letter to their school financial aid office explaining their extenuating circumstances. In nearly every case, the more evidence you can offer, the better shape you will be in.

This is the place to explain that while your family's reported income of $50,000 on the previous year's taxes looks good, it doesn't account for a recent layoff.

Counselors will take this letter, weigh it along with your supporting evidence and decide if the numbers need to be adjusted and recalculated. Don't even think about lying here; you really want to stay on your counselor's good side, but more about that later.

"Basically, if there are unusual circumstances in a family's financial situation -- really anything that distinguishes that family from other families or that distinguish a prior year from upcoming year -- that is what needs to go in the appeal letter," says Mark Kantrowitz, financial aid and college planning author and publisher of FinAid.com, an online financial aid resource.

In cases such as a layoff or reduced overtime, the counselor can adjust the projected income for the coming year, which may result in a bigger aid package.

Not a negotiation
While counselors aren't likely to make changes simply because you are a nice person, they will often do as much as they can to help students who take the time and effort to ask.

"This is not like a car dealership where bargaining skill will get you a cheaper education," Kantrowitz says. "It is a case where they will work with you to account for your specific situation."

Surprisingly, few students ever bother to make a professional judgment appeal. Janet Gilmore, a spokeswoman for the University of California, Berkeley, said perhaps less than 10 percent of the student body annually apply for a review.

On a national scale, those numbers are even more striking. According to the Department of Education, approximately 5 percent of Pell Grant recipients and about 1 percent of undergraduate students receive professional judgment adjustments each year.

What counts as unusual?
Unusual circumstances aren't limited to layoffs. The Higher Education Act details eight examples of what might count as an unusual situation:

• Tuition expenses at an elementary or secondary school
• Medical or dental expenses not covered by insurance
• Unusually high child-care costs
• Recent unemployment of a family member
• The number of parents enrolled at least half-time in a degree, certificate or other program leading to a recognized educational credential
• Proceeds of a sale of farm or business assets of a family if such sale results from a foreclosure, forfeiture, bankruptcy or an involuntary liquidation
• Costs to educate a student with a disability
• Other changes in a family's income, a family's assets or a student's status.

The law goes to great lengths to say that nothing should limit a financial aid administrator when it comes to making a professional judgment. The law even goes so far as to say that while the examples listed may be cause to adjust a student's financial situation, each case must be considered individually and the final decision lies with the counselor.

This means that different schools often have different interpretations of what is a necessary expense. For example, a church-affiliated school may look more favorably on tuition expenses for parochial school than a state school would.

And even beyond the issues spelled out, counselors are often willing to make concessions to help offset some more common hardships, such as a reduction in hours at work, a recent divorce, one-time windfalls, losses due to a natural disaster, and even, in some cases, an unusually long commute.

A true hardship
When asking for a professional review, make sure that your unusual circumstance can't be construed as luxury spending.