Would you approve my FAFSA SAP appeal?

Paying for College
1

My first couple of years in college were pretty horrible. I just chose nursing as my major because my parents pretty much forced me. I was incredibly depressed and just confused i’m life. I had a very toxic home life and work. My parents were incredibly abusive and whatnot. I had to already write a letter for a dependency appeal explaining my situation with them. I’m not too worried about that getting approved. I’m out of that situation and I am in a much better place. I want to finish my associates to transfer in Business and also get a regular associates degree in Hospitality. I made pretty good grades in college, I mostly got A’s and B’s it just seems that some of the classes I took were a waste of time and didn’t count towards my major. The Admissions office still had me down as a Nursing Major so now I have to write an Appeal letter to finish my degree in business and start my hospitality degree. I made an appointment with the counselor and we made an Exucation Plan with all the classes I would need to take to finish my goal and I attached that as well and it is signed by him.

This is what I wrote

“There was a mixup in the Admissions Office and my major was not changed from Nursing to Business/Hospitality. I was unsure my first school year at Shasta College at what I wanted to do with my life after taking a few of my classes I have decided that business is what I want to major in. I worked at a hotel for a little while and enjoyed my time with the industry. I have made my decision that I want to one day be head of a marketing team for a hotel like the Hilton. I am a few classes away from getting my Associates to Transfer Degree in Business with a focus in Marketing. I have decided that while I am finishing up my Associates to Transfer degree and before I transfer to Chico State, I also want to obtain a Associates Degree in Hospitality. I am very passionate about business and what I can do in the Hospitality field. I really need FAFSA to help my reach my education goals, further my knowledge in both Business and Hospitality, and become successful in those fields in the future.”

I am very nervous about my current situation and I hope this gets approved.

2

How much is the cost of community college ? Community college in a lot of states is very low cost. Because you have burned through a lot of aid and their is a limited amount of aid you can received, you may be better served working and paying for CC out of pocket. This way you can save whatever remaining aid you have to help pay for your bachelors.

3

FAFSA is a form. If you mean to say “I am counting on need-based aid so I can finish my degree” your letter would be more effective if you said that.

4

The fact that your major was still listed as nursing is actually irrelevant. The SAP process doesn’t look at your major - it looks at the time it is taking you to get a degree. I assume this is your issue - it is taking you more than 150% of the expected time to get your degree, and financial aid ceases when you hit 150%. So please don’t cite an office’s incorrect major in your appeal - that will simply look like you are trying to put blame on someone … but the blame is misplaced, because that error has nothing to do with the situation you are in.

In your appeal, you need to explain that you changed your intended major to one that suits you better. You need to present an academic plan that gets you to your degree in the shortest possible amount of time. And just be aware that financial aid is not intended to help you get two of the same degree … so the 2nd associates will probably have to be without aid … I would be surprised if you were to get approval for an appeal to allow you to receive aid for a 2nd associates degree.