Are these valid reasons for financial aid appeal?

Paying for College
1

this is not a rough draft of my appeal letter; I haven’t been officially told I won’t be receiving federal financial aid yet

This semester was a total disaster for me. I squeaked by Spring 2016 after falling into a rut and waking up just before finals and bringing everything back (started the semester with As, fell apart for most of march/april and finished with Cs). I spent the summer doing some soul searching and felt better than I have in years. A part of me did not want to go back to college yet, but I ignored it and went anyway – huge mistake.

I had worked two jobs last semester, so I switched to working one full time job. I only took 12 hours of classes (Calculus, Genetics, Nutrition, and a chemistry lab I had dropped last semester just before the last three labs) so I thought I could handle it. Obviously I couldn’t, and around the time I thought to switch to part time I also dropped Calculus because I didn’t see myself passing and it was worth more hours than Genetics (which I was also bombing).

Personally, my depression reached new heights. I was never sad or crying, or at least not often, I was just EMPTY. When I say I could spend days just laying in bed watching Netflix I am not exaggerating. I went days without showering, always late to work, barely slept. I didn’t care about anything, certainly not school. I don’t know if this was because of the stress of work and school, my boyfriend going to rehab and jail after [allegedly] burglarizing my roommate, and most of my friends graduating, but I was just a waste of space all semester. Unfortunately, I never went to any counselors during the semester so there’s no documentation for that.

Ironically, my mother is also in college and I pretty much do everything for her – I edit her papers, tutor her in Chemistry, provided responders for her surveys, help her plan her schedule AND help with my brother’s projects. I also pay all of my own bills (car note, apartment, insurance, phone bill, credit card). Finally, around finals week I attempted to bail my BF out of jail and was robbed by a scam artist. This took up my time and devastated me enough that I didn’t even take my remaining finals (although I can admit I was in no position to take them regardless)

I finished the semester with a 0.44 because I only had 9 hours - 2 F’s and 2 C’s. There’s no chance in hell I’ll get to med school anymore, and PA school will only happen if I make a major U-Turn and I already have accepted I’ll be spending an extra year or two in college.

Would this be enough to convince the people who decide on an appeal? I’m going to pay for a therapist with my own insurance, I’ve switched majors, my boyfriend has moved away, I’ve recovered some of the money that was stolen from me, and I will either not work at all next semester or I will only work weekends. I’m going to meet with an advisor next week as well.

Thanks for reading all this.

2

Sorry to hear you have had a rough time of things.

What school are you going to? I presume you did not mean Spring 2016 but instead meant 2015.

I don’t know if you will qualify for FA or not, but in all honesty, I think the most important thing for you to do is to get a handle on your depression first, and I applaud you for going to see a therapist.

From what I read, and of course I know nothing about your situation, but good riddance to the boyfriend. There are lots of other people out there and the fact that you help both your mom as well as your brother helps confirm that you are a good person. You are still very young.

You mentioned going to meet with an advisor - is that to help you get back on track academically, or is it a FA advisor?

The fact that you are crossing off med school is perhaps realistic, but again I wouldn’t worry about that at this time. Best of luck with your battle against depression. That is the most important thing that once treated, you will be able to re-focus on your life. It is okay to take baby steps, and you may find yourself taking two steps forward, one step back, for a while.

3

Yikes I see some typos. I did mean Spring 2015, and I also meant 2 F’s and 1 C. I go to Louisiana State University. I technically already accepted financial aid for Spring 2016 in November, but obviously they can turn around and revoke all of that before the semester starts.

I meant an academic advisor, although I should go see a financial one first to see where I stand. I truly believe my depression is what has held me back, but I spent a long time trying to go on through school without addressing it and did well for awhile, but as my advisor said I’m one of those people who started out great and is going down hill.

4

MD med school may be out, but DO schools are not. DO schools allow grade replacement, which you can do once you get things together.

I just don’t think you’re really ready for school. Things are too unstable. You’re going to run out of Pell Grants. Do you qualify for TOPS?

5

I don’t really understand your letter. You don’t ask for anything in it. It is a laundry list of problems, most more personal than I would put in an appeal. To me it looks like you would be facing academic dismissal, not just an FA issue. What exactly is the situation you are trying to remedy?

6

Boyfriend in jail might be a red flag. And I’m not sure why you are doing your mother’s homework. I would suggest regrouping and take some time to work on life.

7

Your letter rambles. There are lots of run on sentences…and too many words.

Cut to the point. Summarize what happened…the school already knows about your grades. Summarize what caused the issue. Don’t ramble…get to the point. Then tell what you have done to reconcile the grade situation. Lastly, tell what you plan to continue to do, and any other actions you plan to take.

Every single paragraph in your letter needs to be rewritten…with all the extra words and sentences removed.

Don’t fill your letter with a bunch of excuses for getting failing grades. That isn’t going to convince the folks at all.

8

Writing that you help your mom with school is not helpful. Instead the school will question your common sense AND wonder why you don’t use that time on your own studies.

9

She said it’s not her appeal letter.

10

@dariacats

So…what IS this letter in the first post? Is,this what you think you will write…or what?

11

It seemed like a creative writing assignment to me.

12

It’s not a creative writing assignment. The title of the post is very clear, I was putting out things that happened and wondering whether or not a financial aid appeal letter would work if I included them. Yes I qualify for TOPS, I’m hoping that I will still recieve TOPS because my cumulative GPA is still above a 2.0; however without federal aid I may not be able to cover everything, and if I am, I’ll still have to work and go to school to support myself.
I don’t see how helping my mother with school shows that I lack common sense. I do see that they would probably tell me I should’ve focused on myself but that’s not exactly a great conversation to have with a single mom going back to school and one I don’t think any of them would be able to have either. I won’t include it in the letter.
Again, this is not a rough draft or even my letter. It is something of a laundry list of things I’m debating on putting in my first draft of a letter. It seems like most people here feel like I should just drop out – because I don’t really know what ‘getting myself together’ or ‘figuring stuff out’ really means. At most, I can just wait for most of these issues to resolve themselves but why can’t I do that while in school?

13

If you have any hopes to go to med school, then please do not proceed with school until you know that you’re mentally healthy/stable AND can truly dedicate your attention to school (and not the education needs of mom and bro).

You can still be in the game for DO schools. You will have to retake the classes that you did poorly in.

Since you’ll have to retake classes, you need to be VERY careful because you could run out of aid before graduating. If you can, retake any non-premed courses at a local CC over the summer and just pay out of pocket for those.

DO schools allow grade replacement (unfortunately MD schools do not). But, in the end, a doctor is a doctor, so …it’s all good.

BUT…do not proceed until you have your ducks in a row, and I don’t just mean financially.

14

A financial aid appeal letter has to outline the specific financial circumstances that contribute to your financial need. For example: your parent lost a job, parental breadwinner became disabled, you spent thousands on medical care, you spent all your savings rehabilitating your house after a flood. Those are the types of things. Not a boyfriend in jail.

15

@brantly

This student is likely not going to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress. The letter for appealing that is not what you put in post 13. Those things would be used if you were asking for a professional circumstances review of your financial aid…or if your financial circumstances have changed.

This student had an extremely poor academic standing, and will likely lose financial aid because of that. The actual family contribution from the school could be $0, but because of the poor performance, no aid will be awarded.

Again…the SAP appeal letter needs to succinctly say what happened that you can change, what you already have done to change it, and what you will continue to do and also add to what you will do…to prevent the same poor academic performance.

Succinctly. More words, and more sentences is not better.

Maybe this should be clarified by the OP…but it sure sounds like a SAP appeal situation to me

16

@thumper1 Ah, ok. Thread title said financial aid appeal. I do agree that the letter has to 1) State up front what letter-writer is asking for, and 2) be succinct.

17

@thumper1 , no you’re right it is a SAP appeal. I made poor grades this past semester but my overall GPA isn’t bad, which is why I think I would still be eligible for TOPS (plus TOPS is usually calculated by the fall of the next year).

I don’t mind cutting down the letter; I was going to try and fit the whole thing in one page. Clearly the boyfriend in jail thing should not go in the letter…I only thought about adding it because it is an emotional toll on someone especially when it all happened at home. A lot of the things that happened were just personal pitfalls that kept coming and kept school on the backburner…but I am taking steps to change.

18

It turns out I’m only on academic warning so no need for the letter after all.

19

I hope you won’t need this advice, since you just have a warning … but if you eventually run into trouble with SAP (and you might, because it will be rough to meet the requirements given your GPA), please be sure your letter is “to the point.” First, outline what caused the issues (just the facts). Then, explain what you have done and will continue to do to remedy the issue. It is very important to focus on how things will be different … because the reason for SAP is to make sure federal funds are not going to people who are not on track to graduate. You want to show that you are on track. For now, you should meet with an academic advisor & get an academic plan … do not deviate from the plan. This will be a point in your favor if you have to appeal in the future.