Financial Aid Appeal Letter Help

Paying for College
1

Can someone help me with my financial aid appeal letter?
This letter is to appeal to the Financial Aid Committee so I may continue receiving Federal Financial Aid at the University of South Alabama. I have faced extremely difficult times that have made it hard for me to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress. In the middle of the semester my grandmother who suffered from diabetes and hypertension became ill and was diagnosed with cancer which left her in the hospital for a couple of weeks. This hit me hard because my grandmother and I were extremely close and not being able to talk to her on the phone everyday while she was in the hospital really took a toll on me causing me to fall into somewhat of a depression. My grandmother eventually lost her battle to cancer on April 23rd, 2016. My family did not let me know the severity of my grandmother’s condition until the last minute, but just knowing she was suffering from something so deadly was stressful enough.

Since her death, I have come to terms with it. My grandmother was in a lot of pain and she was tired of suffering and I know it would be selfish of me to wish she was still here with me. My granny was my heartbeat and I know she is looking down on me and would want me to live up to my full potential. Realizing this has lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders allowing me to solely focus on school and bringing up my GPA. I have also attended a total of three workshops while being home for the summer which have provided me with better studying and organizational skills which I will apply this school year. My grandmother and mother never attended college and she always reminded me “Do what we couldn’t” losing my granny has encouraged me to excel because I know this is the one thing that would make her smile. I am an extremely intelligent student who has every intention on being successful in my school work and career. I have realized my shortcomings and despite falling on hard times I have realized I cannot let such circumstances interfere with my success as I know my granny would want me to apply myself and beat the odds regardless. Potentially losing Federal Financial Aid Funding has certainly provided a “wakeup call” and I can ensure that I will bring my GPA up and will not be in this position again.

I sincerely hope this appeal shows that I am completely committed to my success at the university. I have taken many steps to ensure my success like attending developmental workshops, creating a personal study plan/schedule, and surrounding myself with positive influential people. I will also add to my success by  meeting with my professors more, spending more time in the library, and no longer letting personal issues interfere with school. I firmly believe this year will prove how committed I am to the university my success, and making my grandmother, family and myself proud. I hope that the committee understands my circumstances, sees me as deserving, and ultimately gives me another chance. I will turn my trial into triumph.
2

Too long and too wordy. You can eliminate a lot of,the verbiage in the first paragraph and still tell what happened…briefly.

Yoir second paragraph is too long. Tell what you did this summer to get back on track. Be succinct.

Even your last paragraph is a little too long.

Remember…yours isn’t the only letter they will be reading.

3

How About Now?

Dear Financial Aid Appeals Committee:

This letter is to appeal to the Financial Aid Committee so I may continue receiving Federal Financial Aid at the University of South Alabama. In the middle of the semester my grandmother who suffered from severe health problems became ill and was diagnosed with cancer leaving her in the hospital for weeks. My grandmother and I were extremely close and not being able to talk to her on the phone everyday while she was in the hospital really took a toll on me causing me to fall into somewhat of a depression. My grandmother eventually lost her battle to cancer on April 23rd, 2016.

Since her death, I have come to terms with it. My granny was my heartbeat and I know she is looking down on me and would want me to live up to my full potential. Realizing this has lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders allowing me to solely focus on school and bringing up my GPA. I have also attended a total of three workshops while being home for the summer which have provided me with better studying and organizational skills which I will apply this school year. Losing my granny has encouraged me to excel because I know this is the one thing that would make her smile. I am an extremely intelligent student who has every intention on being successful in my school work and career. I have realized my shortcomings and despite falling on hard times I have realized I cannot let such circumstances interfere with my success as I know my granny would want me to apply myself and beat the odds regardless. Potentially losing Federal Financial Aid Funding has certainly provided a “wakeup call” and I can ensure that I will bring my GPA up and will not be in this position again. I have done research and found that in order for me to be in good standing with the university I need 5 credit hours with an A average or 9 hours with a B average which is possible.

I sincerely hope this appeal shows that I am completely committed to my success at the university. I have taken many steps to ensure my success like attending developmental workshops, creating a personal study plan/schedule, and surrounding myself with positive influential people. I will also add to my success by meeting with my professors more, spending more time in the library, and no longer letting personal issues interfere with school. I firmly believe this year will prove how committed I am to the university, my success, and making my grandmother, family and myself proud. I hope that the committee understands my circumstances, sees me as deserving, and ultimately gives me another chance.
4

I don’t really understand the last sentence of the second paragraph. I assume you would need to maintain a full load of perhaps 12 credits to keep getting financial aid. Why are you talking about only taking 5 or 9 credits? You could do that but you wouldn’t be eligible for aid.

5

On our degree evaluation site I asked them to calculate how much it would take to get to my desired GPA (2.0 or higher to be in good academic standing) . I’m registered for a total of 16 hours an in order to get a 2.0 or higher I need a A in 5 hours or a B in 9 hours is what I’m saying.

6

Those grades in the hours will be fine…unless you fail your other course credit hours. I’m not sure that sentence is necessary.

7

so exclude that sentence and just provide documentation that it is possible in one semester.

8

^ Right, it is still confusing because you would need to know what the other grades would be – if you get an A for 5 credits what would the grades have to be for the other 11 credits? Are you assuming the other grades would be Cs or Bs? Instead of having to explain all of this, just remove that sentence.

9

yes

10

Dear Financial Aid Appeals Committee:

This letter is to appeal to the Financial Aid Committee so I may continue receiving Federal Financial Aid at the University of South Alabama. In the middle of the semester my grandmother who suffered from severe health problems became ill and was diagnosed with cancer leaving her in the hospital for weeks. My grandmother and I were extremely close and not being able to talk to her on the phone everyday while she was in the hospital really took a toll on me causing me to fall into somewhat of a depression. My grandmother eventually lost her battle to cancer on April 23rd, 2016.

Since her death, I have come to terms with it. My granny was my heartbeat and I know she is looking down on me and would want me to live up to my full potential. Realizing this has lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders allowing me to solely focus on school and bringing up my GPA. I have also attended a total of three workshops while being home for the summer which have provided me with better studying and organizational skills which I will apply this school year. Losing my granny has encouraged me to excel because I know this is the one thing that would make her smile. I am an extremely intelligent student who has every intention on being successful in my school work and career. I have realized my shortcomings and despite falling on hard times I have realized I cannot let such circumstances interfere with my success as I know my granny would want me to apply myself and beat the odds regardless. Potentially losing Federal Financial Aid Funding has certainly provided a “wakeup call” and I can ensure that I will bring my GPA up and will not be in this position again.

I sincerely hope this appeal shows that I am completely committed to my success at the university. I have taken many steps to ensure my success like attending developmental workshops, creating a personal study plan/schedule, and surrounding myself with positive influential people. I will also add to my success by meeting with my professors more, spending more time in the library, and no longer letting personal issues interfere with school. I firmly believe this year will prove how committed I am to the university, my success, and making my grandmother, family and myself proud. I hope that the committee understands my circumstances, sees me as deserving, and ultimately gives me another chance.

How about now what else do I need to add or remove?

11

There’s more to fix, but I’m not an expert. One thing that stood out to me- “I am an extremely intelligent student who has every intention on being successful in my school work and career.”. It sounds a bit pretentious and the “has every intention” probably won’t mean much to the committee. Sorry for your loss

12

I see it as too lengthy. They don’t have that kind of time to read this length.
It seems more focused on “granny” and not you.
List which advisor will be checking your personal study plan. How will personal issues not interfere with school and who will monitor that? How will they know that you are meeting with professors and surrounding yourself with positive people? So you weren’t committed to the university before this happened??

13

Dear Financial Aid Appeals Committee:

This letter is to appeal to the Financial Aid Committee so I may continue receiving Federal Financial Aid at the University of. Earlier in the semester my grandmother who suffered from a number of health problems became ill and was diagnosed with cancer leaving her in the hospital for weeks. My grandmother and I were extremely close and not being able to talk to her on the phone everyday while she was in the hospital really took a toll on me causing me to fall into somewhat of a depression. My grandmother eventually lost her battle to cancer on April 23rd, 2016. I take full responsibilities for my actions and I do realize I am the only one accountable for not maintaining the required GPA.

Since her passing I’ve taken the initiative to enroll myself in grievance counseling at my church, there I’ve learned how to grieve in a healthy manner without spiraling into a depression. I’ve also learned how to manage stress. Counseling has lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders allowing me to solely focus on school and bringing up my GPA. I have also attended workshops which have provided me with better studying and organizational skills which I will apply this school year. I have realized my shortcomings and despite falling on hard times I have realized I cannot let such circumstances interfere with my success as I know my granny would want me to apply myself and beat the odds regardless. Potentially losing Federal Financial Aid Funding has certainly provided a “wakeup call” and I can ensure that I will bring my GPA up and will not be in this position again.

I sincerely hope this appeal shows that I am completely committed to my success at the university. I have taken many steps to ensure my success like attending developmental workshops and creating a personal study plan/schedule that will help me manage my study time better,. I will also add to my success by meeting with my professors more, creating a more lenient schedule, getting tutors for each subject, spending more time in the library, cutting back on credit hours, and seeking counseling when dealing with personal issues. I also plan to meet with my Academic Advisor as soon as I get back to campus for the fall semester to help me create a more sound study plan, I will also meet with her regularly to ensure I am saying on track. I hope that the committee understands my circumstances, sees me as deserving, and ultimately gives me another chance.

I hope this is better

14

I know you miss your grandma, and I am sorry for your loss.

But I would omit this part:

I know my granny would want me to apply myself and beat the odds regardless.

Start your last paragraph with “I am committed to my success at the university”. Delete the first part of that sentence.

For the sentence about what you are going to do:

I will meet with professors more, get tutoring, study more, and seek counseling for personal issues.

The rest of that sentence is blah blah blah. Plus…you say you will cut back credits? I’m not sure that is what they want to hear.

Checking for clarity…does your academic advisor set up study plans? That didn’t happen where either of my kids went to college. There was a study center (every school has a different name for it) that helped with this. It was not the academic advisors job to help kids know how and when to study.

15

It’s not called “grievance counseling”.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grievance

Use “grief counseling”.

Also, “myself” is unnecessary, “I’ve taken the initiative to enroll myself in grievance counseling”.

16

I would write one paragrah briefly stating what caused you to not do well.

Then one paragraph stating what steps you have taken and will continue to take to make sure you will do better from now on.

17

Some of this is general, and some specific to your situation.

  1. search this topic on CC and you will see many other posts on academic appeals
  2. Make sure your letter states what the issue was that caused you to have academic difficulties
  3. Did you talk to your professors/dean of students about the issue?
  4. Did you make use of the many resources your school has? if not, why not?
  5. Find out what those resources are…e.g. counseling center, talking to professors, talking to your adviser, withdrawing from class, talking to dean, maybe taking incompletes,
  6. State how you would use those in the future

In general, keep in mind what the college wants…they want students who can succeed. They need to know that you understand what the issue was, know now the resources that you can use, how the problems is resolved so you will not have academic issues in the future.

18

Yes, I would try to be a brief as possible, as they will be reading a lot of these. Have two simple paragraphs explaining why you are appealing and the steps you are taking to be better from now on. There are a lot of online resources that can help you as well. Check out:
http://www.fastweb.com/financial-aid/articles/three-tips-to-appeal-financial-aid-packages

19

Wow! only 3 paragraphs? My CC offers enough room on the application for at least 3 paragraphs. They also said to attach more paper if needed. Not to mention they state clearly at the top, “To ensure that your appeal will be given every consideration and opportunity for approval, be as thorough as possible.” To me, this means they want to gain an accurate vision of what happen.

My 9-page, MLA formatted, personal statement explained in detail how my homeless situation affected my personal life, and thereafter my course work. Reading my paper, you can literally walk through my life and gain a sense of the hardship during the periods of sub-par academic performance. Included was a plan of development from how the homelessness started, to where it leaded. (I was homeless when I started going to school). I also gave added statements of future financial planning after I transfer for the UC’s and even graduate school. Also, I gave a breakdown of where each dollar of the Pell grant money was going to go to, leaving room for unforeseen expenses while leaving out school loans in the calculation. Also, I am going to be attending 2 different colleges so I put in there the SEP for the other college not knowing the policy of the counselor and their SEP plans. Apart of the application included grade print outs of the online classes I’m currently enrolled in.

I’m not sure of the experience with the above posters, however, I have to disagree when they say you should “write brief summary” and that “they don’t have time to read a lot.” That’s their jobs! However I can only speak for my college. To me, it seems that the counselors want to put themselves in your shoes and walk through the hardship. Very difficult to do that with just a brief summary. They want a movie, not a preview. From a preview, its hard to truly get a sense of who they are looking at and whether or not you’d be a waste of funding.

Some key points I focused on.

Explain the situation in its entirety. Pick a starting point before the circumstances so the counselor get a vision of who you were. Then introduce the circumstance and explain, in high detail, how this knocked you off your tracks. Talk about what you thought during that period. In my paper, I even explained how my viewpoints changed of the world. ( i.e homeless people who drink all day get food stamps, homeless students do not. Thusly, I have a more conservative view of the world… etc.) Some may say this is too much. I don’t think so. It accurately describes not only the situation, but my actual cognition during the time. Its one thing to say, OK, this is what happen, that why I failed to meet SAP. Its completely different, however, to also add in there, what your psyche was actually like during that time. Now the counselors can accurately put themselves in your shoes and follow the logical road that you lay out in the paper.
This way, if there is any BS in your statement, it’s going to show because every decision you made had to be logical as the counselor will literally be “walking in your shoes.” No BS in your statement means that its probably true. Not to mention they went for a emotional roller coaster.

ONE thing I really avoided was " I failed because of something else". NO! I kept trying to do my classes even though my situation pulled me back. This is where SAP messed up. I wanted to graduate college to remove my homeless situation. It describes me reaching for a goal, however, due to circumstances out of my control (being homeless there are many of these), my attempt to reach my collegiate height were hampered.

Ill save you some reading, I described what changed,

From there, Included steps to prevent this from happening again and how Pell Grant money can be tied directly into it. I even stated in there, how I didn’t need the Pell Grant money and that I was going to graduate and transfer 2016-2017 school year; Pell grant or Not!

I have a feeling that your appeal will be denied if you go in there blaming your faults on the death of a family member. KNOCK ON WOOD…
ready…
What happens if someone else dies in your family? Are you gonna do the same thing? Wasted money. ( I know this is cruel, my defense is that I’m a math major) I would like to see some emotional strength gained from this hardship of yours. Because we all know that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. So include in there some strength gained so that if something like this happens again in the near future, you’ll be stronger, and you’ll pass your classes. This will be your change in situation.