FAFSA Professional Judgment
Section 479A of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, authorizes the Director of Financial Aid to use professional judgment, on a case-by-case basis for students with “special circumstances” that affect a family’s ability to pay for a college education that is not reflected in the information provided on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
The FAFSA is designed to determine a family’s ability to pay for higher education by calculating the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) amount. The EFC is a measure of how much the student and his or her family can be expected to contribute to the cost of the student’s education for the year. The information provided on the FAFSA is used to calculate the EFC.
Professional judgment is used to take into consideration factors which have not been reflected on the FAFSA. The professional judgment may either increase or decrease data elements used to calculate a student’s EFC. Expenses may also be added to a student’s budgeted cost of attendance depending on the situation.
Professional judgment cannot be exercised for the following:
- to circumvent the law or regulations
- to waive general student eligibility requirements
- to change a student’s status from independent to dependent
- to adjust the EFC directly
- to alter the need analysis formula or change table values
- to create a new category in the cost of attendance
The Director of Financial Aid is expected and required to make reasonable decisions that support the intent of the provision. The school is held accountable for all professional judgment decisions made and for fully documenting each decision. The decision of the Director of Financial Aid is final; there is no appeal process to the U.S. Department of Education.
Special circumstances that may result in a professional judgment
Special circumstances are anything that differentiates the family’s finances from those of other families. Below are examples of special circumstances intended to illustrate the types of circumstances that may merit professional judgment adjustments:
- unusually high living expenses associated with attending college
- unusually high dependent care costs
- changes to dependency status
- unusually high medical or dental expenses not covered by insurance
- support of extended family members
- eldercare expenses including nursing home fees not covered by insurance
- elementary and secondary school tuition for siblings of dependent student
- parents enrolled in college at least half-time (must be pursuing a degree)
- changes in a family’s reported income
- death or disability of a wage earner
- divorce of the student’s parents
- unemployment of a family member or anticipated drop in family income
- termination of a child support agreement
- student leaves work to go to college full-time
- wage-earner’s occupation has fluctuating income
- parent is called to active duty in the armed forces
- one-time taxable income
- unusual capital gains
- proceeds of a sale of farm or business assets if the sales resulted from a voluntary or involuntary foreclosure, forfeiture, or bankruptcy or an involuntary liquidation
- conversion of traditional IRA to Roth IRA
- early distribution of IRA or retirement plans
- unusual debt incurred to cover the costs associated with a special circumstance
Please see the Professional Judgment Form (link below) for a more complete explanation of special circumstances and the documentation requirements. Use of professional judgment is neither limited to nor required for the situations mentioned. There are other special circumstances that may result in a professional judgment.
Situations that do no count as special circumstances
The following do not count as special circumstances:
- vacation expenses
- tithing expenses
- standard living expenses (e.g. utilities, credit card expenses, children’s allowances, etc.)
- mortgage payments
- car payments
- lawn care
- credit card or other personal debt problems
- all other discretionary expenses
Requesting a professional judgment review
If you believe that you have a situation that would qualify as a special circumstance that may lead to a professional judgment then please do the following:
- Review and complete a Professional Judgment Form.
- Mail (or fax) the completed and signed form along with all supporting documents to:
Concordia University, Nebraska
Student Financial Services, Weller 106
800 North Columbia Ave.
Seward, NE 68434
Fax: 402-643-3519
Upon receiving the completed Professional Judgment form, your request will be handled on a first-come-first-served basis. You will be contacted when a decision has been made, generally within two weeks.
| Please note that in many cases professional judgment adjustments made to the FAFSA do not result in significant changes to the EFC and, therefore, do not change a student’s financial aid package. After receiving a professional judgment request, we will take a preliminary look at the request to first determine if there will be any potential impact on a student’s financial aid package before going through the formal professional judgment decision process. |
Still have questions?
Please review our FAQ regarding FAFSA Professional Judgment.
If you have further questions about the FAFSA professional judgment process, please call 800-535-5494, ext. 7270, or email finaid@cune.edu.
