Delays in Processing Documents

Colleges and Universities are currently unable to make corrections or updates to the 2024-25 FAFSA. The U.S. Department of Education announced that institutions would be unable to submit corrections to student FAFSA records in bulk until the first half of August. The Financial Aid Office will collect documentation for verification, special circumstances, and unusual circumstances but will not be able to process the documents at this time.

Special Circumstances

Economic hardships are a reality for many families. When you complete the 2024-25 FASFA, income information from 2022 is used. If you or your family has experienced a significant reduction of income not reflected on your 2022 taxes, the Financial Aid Office, under limited circumstances, may be able to re-evaluate your eligibility for financial aid for the school year. This re-evaluation will be based upon the documentation that you provide with the Professional Judgment Request Due to Special Circumstances form.

In some instances, a student or family can demonstrate a financial loss from one year to the next, however, the financial loss may not be significant enough to justify more financial aid eligibility. It is important for you to know that not all changes in circumstances will result in an increase to a student's financial aid offer.

Circumstances that will be considered:

  • Loss of employment
  • Change in employment that resulted in reduced income
  • Change in or loss of unemployment benefits
  • Separation/divorce
  • Death of parent or spouse whose info was reported on FAFSA
  • One-time taxable income distribution (examples: IRA, Pension distribution, back-year Social Security Payments, withdrew from retirement to meet unexpected needs, received inheritance)
  • Student's parent, if listed on FAFSA, has retired

Other situations that can be considered (for a re-evaluation of a student's Cost of Attendance):

  • High Cost Tuition programs
  • Unusually high medical or dental costs recently incurred
  • Excessive Medical Expense Special Circumstances that can be considered: excessive out of pocket medical expenses that exceed 11% of the tax-filer's adjusted gross income (AGI)

Please Note: A change to the COA will typically not result in a student qualifying for additional financial aid. An increased COA typically allows the student to borrow additional loan funds, subject to annual loan limits and/or credit approval (for PLUS or private loans). Circumstances which do not warrant a review include unusual credit card debt, high living expenses, private secondary school educational costs, or parent’s refusal to pay for college.

Review and Notification

Please Note: Requests are typically reviewed within 6 – 8 weeks. Once a determination has been made on a Special Circumstances request, a student will be notified of the decision via the students NTC student email account. The email will include a copy of the calculations that were made based on the documentation submitted, any SAI change based on the decision, and if applicable, the impact on the student’s financial aid award.

Should you have questions, you may contact the Financial Aid Office at: financialaidadjustment@ntc.edu or by calling 715.803.1647.

Note for Upcoming Year

Special circumstance review for the 2024-25 academic year, because it will be based on your 2024-25 FAFSA and financial aid award, will not begin until we have received your processed FAFSA and any verification requirements have been completed.

-0- and -1500 Student Aid Index (SAI) for 2024-25

If your 2024-25 FAFSA results in a calculated SAI of -0- to -1500-, you are eligible for the maximum amount of need-based aid. While all requests will be considered, not all requests will result in additional federal student aid.

Aid Limits

Cases where a student has already received their annual or aggregate loan amount or exhausted lifetime limit on Federal Pell Grant will not see additional aid regardless of the special circumstance appeal outcome.

Professional Judgment Request Due to Special Circumstances 2024-2025 form

Unusual Circumstances (Dependency Override)

Student dependency status is determined by information provided on the FAFSA and required by the US Department of Education. Students may submit an appeal to override their dependency status and be considered an independent student, based on unusual circumstances.

Unusual circumstances include:

  • Human trafficking
  • Legal refugee or asylum status
  • Parental abandonment or estrangement
  • Student has been part of an abusive family environment (e.g., sexual, physical or mental abuse)
  • Parental incarceration or institutionalization
  • Death of both parents (or death of only parent in a single family household)

Unusual circumstances DO NOT include:

  • Parent refusal to contribute to a the student's education costs
  • Parents will not provide information for the FAFSA or for FAFSA verification
  • Parents do not claim the student as a dependent for income tax purposes
  • Student does not live with parents
  • Student demonstrates total self-sufficiency

Please note that the determination by a financial aid administrator at another institution that a student should be considered independent is not binding on NTC.

If the dependency override is approved, NTC is required to carry that decision forward to future award years without collecting documentation unless the student reaches out to the Financial Aid Office and indicates his, her, or their circumstances have changed.

Request for Dependency Override Request Due to Unusual Circumstances 2024-2025 form