Appealing Financial Aid for Special and Unusual Circumstances

Students and families facing significant financial hardship may be eligible for additional financial aid through the Special Circumstance Appeal process. The student must have the correct year FAFSA on file with Marquette to be eligible to request a special circumstance review. Based on the timing of the circumstance we may be able to review this appeal for the current year or it may be reviewed for the upcoming year.  

Circumstances that can be considered include: 

• Job loss or reduction in income, must wait a minimum of 8 weeks after the loss/change before we can review the appeal 
• Change in marital status after the FAFSA was filed 
• Change in health requiring reduced hours at work or going on disability 
• High unreimbursed paid medical and or dental expenses 
• Private elementary, middle, or high school tuition for siblings of the student 
• One-time income, such as a withdrawal from a retirement account to pay bills 
• Non-Deferrable educational expenses, paid Parent PLUS loans or the parent’s own educational loans 
• Extraordinary expenses, such as legal fees or funeral expenses 

Increases to Cost of Attendance: 

Students can request an increase to their cost of attendance if they find that they have unusual expenses which exceed the budgeted amount. This can include but is not limited to purchasing a new computer, food expenses for those with special dietary needs, dependent care expenses, housing expenses higher than budgeted amount due to medical or other extraordinary reasons. We will require documentation showing why this expense needs to be higher than the budgeted amount for the request to be considered.    

Not every situation can be reviewed for a special circumstance appeal. Some circumstances are already included in the SAI calculation on the FAFSA and some circumstance cannot be reviewed due to policy.

What cannot be considered: 

• High Consumer debt (credit card, car payments, etc.) 
• Vacation homes 
• Unpaid medical bills 
• Other dependents in college, this is already included on the FAFSA 
• Parents separated but still living in the same house 
• Assets reported on the FAFSA cannot be reduced
• Multiple children in college

Circumstances already included in the SAI calculation:

• Routine household expenses
• Federal and state taxes paid
• Routine vehicle and travel expenses

If you are required to file your FAFSA as a dependent student, but have circumstances that may change your dependency status contact Marquette Central. 

Note: Dependency status cannot be changed just because you live by and support yourself. There must be additional factors for us to consider such as if the student left home due to an abusive or threatening environment; has been abandoned by or estranged from their parents, and have not been adopted; have refugee or asylee status and are separated from their parents, or their parents are displaced in a foreign country; are a victim of human trafficking; are incarcerated, or their parents are incarcerated, and contact with the parents would pose a risk to the student; or are otherwise unable to contact or locate their parents, and have not been adopted. 

If you believe a student may qualify for homelessness status please review the Homelessness section below.

If the student’s circumstances resulted in their not having a safe, stable place to live, they may be considered a homeless youth. Students can review their answers to the following FAFSA questions to determine unaccompanied or homeless status:

At any time on or after July 1, 2023, was the student unaccompanied and either (1) homeless or (2) self-supporting and at risk of being homeless?

If the answer is “Yes,” did any of the following determine the student was homeless or at risk of becoming homeless:

• Director or designee of an emergency or transitional center,
• street outreach program, homeless youth center drop-in center; or other program serving those experiencing homelessness,
• the student’s high school or school district homeless liaison or designee,
• Director or designee of a project supported by a federal TRIO or GEAR UP program grant,
• Financial Aid Administrator

Students who believe that they may qualify as homeless or at risk of homelessness can contact Marquette Central.

To request special circumstances and dependency appeal paperwork contact Marquette Central at 414-288-4000, you will need the student’s MUID and MCAN when you call.  

• Have estimates regarding what the reduced income is or how much the expense is when you call.  
• We will use your estimate to run simulated changes on the FAFSA to see if it may adjust your financial aid.  
• If there is a potential change to financial aid we will request additional documents. 
• Complete all forms and submit with all supporting information requested and a typed and hand signed statement explaining the situation.  
• Completed documents can be uploaded through Document Upload in CheckMarq.  
• If we need additional information we will reach out to the student.  
• After the review is completed any possible updates to financial aid will be made. The student will receive a Financial Aid Notification (FAN) message in their Marquette Email account. This email will direct them to view their financial aid in CheckMarq. For newly admitted students, a new paper notification will not be mailed, you must view the updates in CheckMarq. 
• Please allow a minimum of 3 weeks to complete the appeal. Processing times may be longer during certain times of the school year. If you are an admitted student who would like an appeal processed prior to the Admissions deposit deadline you should allow at least 4 weeks for processing.  

Verification is required for all students requesting special circumstances. If verification has not already been completed, verification documents will be included with the Special Circumstance documents emailed to you.  

Allow a minimum of 3 weeks for the appeal process to be completed once all documentation is received, during certain times of the year processing may take longer. If you are submitting a special circumstance appeal for the current school year your documents must be received a minimum of 3 weeks before the end or the semester. Admitted student who would like an appeal processed prior to the Admissions deposit deadline should submit documents at least 4 weeks in advance. 

We will not process a special circumstance appeal until after the initial financial aid offer has gone out.