Printer FriendlyThe Financial Aid Office might adjust the cost of attendance or the information used to calculate your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to take into account special circumstances you might have. These circumstances could include:
- Your family’s unusual medical and dental expenses, tuition expenses and/or unemployment. There must be compelling reasons for the financial aid administrator to take this step, however, and you’ll have to provide adequate documentation to support any adjustments.
- Costs such as variation expenses, tithing expenses and standard living expenses (related to utilities, credit card expenses, children’s allowances and the like are not considered Special Conditions).
If any of these circumstances apply to you please contact your financial aid counselor.
Dependency Overrides:
Eligibility for assistance is based on the assumption that students and their parents are primarily responsible for paying for one’s education. If the directions on your financial aid application instruct you to provide parents’ information, then for financial aid purposes, you are dependent on your parents.
In extreme hardship cases, the Financial Aid Office may be able to assist a student who is technically dependent, but who does not or cannot have contact with his/her parents.
This will apply to situations where:
- The student’s physical or emotional welfare is jeopardized by contact with the parents
- In such cases, the student must complete an independent override form and provide a written, notarized, documentation from a third party professional (e.g., minister, psychologist, social worker, etc.)
- Additional documentation may be requested if warranted by the situation
Please note that students will not be considered independent for financial aid purposes if the sole reason is that the student is attempting to prove self-sufficiency or the parent(s) refuse to provide financial information on the financial aid application.
In cases such as severe estrangement from parents which include:
- Abandonment
- Parental drug/alcohol abuse
- Parental mental incapacity
- Physical or emotional abuse
- Parental incarceration
The override form must be followed by written statements from at least two professional adults who can document any of these examples. Professional adults would include teachers, clergy, guidance counselors, law enforcement officials, or doctors. These statements must be signed and dated. If the statements are NOT on business letterhead the statement must have an attached business card.