Note: If a student is selected for verification, Professional Judgment will not be performed until the verification process has been completed.
Professional Judgment refers to the authority of a school’s financial aid administrator to adjust, on a case-by-case basis, with adequate documentation, elements on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form.
The FAFSA Simplification Act (the Act) distinguishes between different categories of professional judgment by amending section 479A of the HEA.
- Special Circumstances refer to the financial situations (loss of a job, etc.) that justify an aid administrator adjusting data elements in the COA or in the EFC calculation.
- Unusual Circumstances refer to the conditions that justify an aid administrator making an adjustment to a student’s dependency status based on a unique situation (e.g., human trafficking, refugee or asylee status, parental abuse or abandonment, incarceration), more commonly referred to as a dependency override.
Yeshiva Ohr Yoseph students may request that the school’s Office of Financial Aid review their federal aid eligibility in light of certain special circumstances. Students will approach the Financial Aid Director, to discuss their financial situation which they feel has not been fairly addressed through the EFC formula which is used for FAFSA processing. The student or parent will share the costs and expenses which make it impossible for them to cover the Seminary’s tuition with their current aid eligibility.
At this point, The Financial Aid Office will inform the applicant whether the expenses they have mentioned would be considered for Professional Judgment. If they would not, the PJ application will be rejected.
If they are accepted as valid, the Office will provide the student with the Special Circumstances form which is the initial control document for PJ. The student or their parent will complete the form according to their expenses which have not been considered on the FAFSA form, such as elementary/high school tuition for dependents.
Certain specific items are listed on the Special Circumstances form to guide students through the process. However, potential PJ situations are not limited to those listed on the form, as we are aware that every student’s condition is unique. For this reason, PJ is only done on a case-by-case basis. Each item must be adequately documented. The Financial Aid Director will guide the PJ candidate in providing appropriate documentation.
Once documents have been submitted, a thorough examination of them will be performed. If they are deemed inadequate, the Director will reject the PJ unless further supporting documentation is provided.
At the point that all documents have been deemed valid in support of the special circumstances claimed, a Professional Judgment adjustment will be performed through the FAFSA correction process. This correction will include the statement “faa adjustment requested” in order to inform CPS, the Central Processing System, that the correction was a result of a PJ adjustment.
The student will receive a “reprocessed letter” informing him that PJ has been completed, as well as the result of the Professional Judgment insofar as there has been a change in the student’s EFC.
The PJ ISIR will subsequently be received by the school and the student will be packaged or repackaged based on the new EFC.
Credit to the student’s account will then be completed in the usual manner.
SFA Handbook examples:
Special Circumstances
An aid administrator may use PJ on a case-by-case basis to adjust the student’s cost of attendance or the data used to calculate his or her EFC. This adjustment is valid only at the school making the change.
The law gives some examples of special circumstances that MAY be considered (HEA Sec. 479A):
- Change in employment status, income, or assets
- Change in housing status (e.g., homelessness)
- Tuition expenses at an elementary or secondary school
- Medical, dental, or nursing home expenses not covered by insurance
- Child or dependent care expenses
- Severe disability of the student or other member of the student’s household
- Other changes or adjustments that impact the student’s costs or ability to pay for college.
This is not an exhaustive list. You may use your discretion to make appropriate, reasonable adjustments to reflect a student’s situation more accurately. This may include accounting for resources, such as in-kind support, that do not appear on the FAFSA or in the EFC calculation. You may also use your discretion to deny a student’s request for adjustment. However, you may not maintain a policy to deny all requests for special circumstance adjustments. This means that schools can no longer indicate that they do not perform PJs.