Appeal a college financial aid award after losing income

  1. Pull your FAFSA data and award letter
    30 min

    This step produces the facts table every later step reads from: the FAFSA data behind your current award (base tax year, income, household size, Student Aid Index) beside the college’s offer (grants, loans, work-study, cost of attendance, and the uncovered gap). The two sets of figures live in different portals, so pull both before anything else.

    1. Sign in at studentaid.gov with the FSA ID and password that filed the FAFSA — the student’s or the parent’s.
    2. Open the current award year’s FAFSA and view the Student Aid Report (SAR).
    3. Record from the SAR: the base tax year — two years before the award year, so 2024 for 2026–27 — plus adjusted gross income, untaxed income, household size, number in college, and the Student Aid Index.
    4. Sign in to the college’s financial aid portal and open the award letter.
    5. Record from the award letter: grants and scholarships, loans offered, work-study, total cost of attendance, and the difference between the cost and the package.