Student Financial Services

Special Circumstance Review

Undergraduate students and families provide income and asset information that is two years old on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). For example, the 2025-2026 FAFSA form requires tax data from 2023. During that two-year period, students and their families may experience changes in their financial or personal circumstances that are not represented on the FAFSA. If the information reported on the FAFSA is no longer an accurate reflection of your family’s financial situation, you may qualify for a special circumstance review.

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Special Circumstances we typically consider:

  • Recent loss of employment of over 6 months
  • Substantial reduction in income
  • Paid medical expenses that exceed 11% of the household AGI and are not covered by insurance
  • Separation or divorce
  • Death of a parent or spouse
  • Loss of child support or alimony
  • House fire or other natural disaster affecting the home in which you live
  • One-time withdrawal from retirement funds
  • Extraordinary care costs for dependent family members with special needs
  • Other extenuating circumstances not listed

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Circumstances we do not consider:

  • Different university offering more aid
  • Reduced 401K values
  • Reduced investment values
  • Credit card debt, car payments or other elective household debt
  • Student/Parent/Guardian’s unwillingness to participate in paying for college
  • Parent/Guardian’s inability or unwillingness to borrow Parent PLUS loans
  • Elective enrollment in private primary education of other children in the household
  • If student already has a Student Aid Index (SAI) of -1,500 to 0

Special Circumstance Appeal Form

The Special Circumstances Appeal process is an opportunity for students and families to report these issues to the Office of Financial Aid. If your Special Circumstance Review results in changes made to your FAFSA data, your financial aid eligibility may be reevaluated. However, filing an appeal does not guarantee a change in your financial aid. Your aid package could remain the same, increase, or decrease based on the documentation submitted to our office.

Please be advised that we may request additional documentation and your application may be selected for a process called verification which requires you to submit an additional form as well as tax returns and/or other proof of income for the last two years.

Examples of documents we may request include (but are not limited to):

  • Proof of income such as W-2’s and 1099’s (student and/or parent)
  • Tax returns (student and/or parent)
  • Mortgage statements
  • Divorce Agreements
  • Unemployment statements
  • Letters from Attorneys
  • Bank statements

If you believe you may qualify for a Special Circumstance Review, please complete and sign the form below and submit it to our office with all supporting documentation.

Current Students: Please submit the form via your Self-Service Portal. Upload instructions can be found here: (I am working on those instructions as we speak)

New Incoming Students: Please submit the form to your Admission Portal page as per the instructions you received from your Admission Counselor.

For financial aid (FAFSA) purposes, a student is considered a dependent of their parents and must submit their parents’ financial information on the FAFSA, unless the student is:

  • 24-years-old
  • married
  • serving on active duty in the US Armed Forces
  • a veteran
  • a parent with dependents
  • an emancipated minor
  • homeless (as declared by a third party)
  • assigned a legal guardian before the age of 18

If a dependent student does not provide parental data on their FAFSA (effective for the 2024-2025 academic year and beyond), the Office of Financial Aid is obligated to contact the student and request additional information, prior to completing an award. Students who may qualify for a dependency override, as outlined below, are required to complete, sign, and submit the Dependency Override Form to our office, including any/all supporting documentation.

Dependency Override (Unusual Circumstances) Form:

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Unusual circumstances we consider:

  • Documented Abusive Family Situations
  • Parental Abandonment/Estrangement
  • Parents cannot be located (as verified by third party)
  • Parental Incarceration
  • Human Trafficking
  • Being legally granted refugee or asylum status

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Circumstances we do not consider:

  • Different university offering more aid
  • Reduced 401K values
  • Reduced investment values
  • Credit card debt, car payments or other elective household debt
  • Student/Parent/Guardian’s unwillingness to participate in paying for college
  • Parent/Guardian’s inability or unwillingness to borrow Parent PLUS loans
  • Elective enrollment in private primary education of other children in the household
  • If student already has a Student Aid Index (SAI) of -1,500 to 0

Examples of supporting documents we may request include (but are not limited to):

  • Submission of a court order or official Federal or State documentation that the student’s parents or legal guardians are incarcerated
  • A written statement which confirms the unusual circumstances from a state, county, or Tribal welfare agency
  • An independent living case worker who supports current and former foster youth with the transition to adulthood
  • A public or private agency, facility, or program servicing victims of abuse, neglect, assault, or violence
  • A representative of a TRIO or GEAR UP program which confirms the circumstances and the person’s relationship to the student
  • A documented determination of independence made by a financial aid administrator at another institution in the same or a prior award year
  • A document from a medical professional confirming physical abuse
  • A letter or email from the Wittenberg campus counseling team documenting the unusual circumstance.

The Office of Financial Aid must adhere to guidance provided by the US Department of Education for these processes, as outlined by the Higher Education Act of 1965: Special or Unusual Circumstances

To submit the form to us for review, please use the document portal linked below. Please be sure to include all supporting documents to avoid delays:

No. The Special Circumstances Appeal process does not always result in aid adjustments, nor does it provide an opportunity for a full waiver of educational expenses at Wittenberg. Instead, this process enables the Office of Financial Aid staff to determine if adjusting the FAFSA will provide additional federal, state, or institutional aid eligibility. The student and family may still need to borrow loans or make other arrangements to pay out-of-pocket expenses. Additionally, the Special Circumstances Appeal process is for ONE academic year only and is not an annual adjustment to the FAFSA based on ongoing issues.

Appeals are processed in the order they are received and when all requested documentation has been submitted. The review process may take upwards of 2-3 weeks, depending on when all materials are received. We will notify you by email when your appeal has been reviewed and the outcome of that review. Outcomes are considered final and cannot be appealed elsewhere.

Please email the Office of Financial Aid (financial-aid@wittenberg.edu) or call us at 937-327-7321/877-206-0332 to learn more about the process and any documentation required to complete the process.

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