How to Clear an Automatic Suspension of Financial Aid

Facing automatic financial aid suspension

Due to personal challenges over the past two semesters, your focus on your studies has suffered and so has your academic performance. If this happens, financial aid eligibility can be suspended, and sans those funds it may be impossible to complete your program. All is not lost. While it is difficult and time consuming to clear an automatic suspension of financial aid, with patience, perseverance and a well-crafted appeal, you can prevail.

Instructions

1. Read the automatic notification from your school to ascertain the reasons your financial aid has been suspended. An automatic suspension for exceeding the maximum time frame requires more effort to appeal than one for unsatisfactory academic progress.

2. List the life circumstances that may have mitigated the suspension. Major events such as, but not limited to, death in the family, undue hardship or serious illness constitute grounds for an approved appeal and the restoration of your financial aid.

3. Meet with your academic advisor to determine the number of hours you require to complete your degree and develop a plan to attain them expeditiously if your financial aid has been suspended because you have earned 150 percent of the hours required to attain a degree. You must include documentation of this step in your appeal package.

4. Compile your appeal package. Attach substantial documentation to support restoration of your financial aid; include copies of death certificates, doctors' statements, letters from friends and associates etc. as applicable to your circumstances. Write a personal statement explaining the mitigating circumstances and what you have done to resolve the situation. Include a detailed plan for future progress and your degree plan if appropriate.

5. Make copies of your appeal package for your records. Sign and date your personal statement, progress and degree plans and deliver the original financial aid office. A designated financial aid officer will review your appeal and uphold or deny your request to clear an automatic financial aid suspension. Be patient; a decision may be several weeks in coming.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not give up if your initial appeal is denied. There are several layers of administrative hierarchy to which you can appeal the automatic suspension. The appropriate officers vary from institution to institution; the financial aid office will provide you with the appropriate escalation chain of command.

• Enrolling in classes and paying your tuition and fees out of pocket is the only way to clear an automatic suspension of your financial aid for unsatisfactory progress if your appeals are exhausted. If the automatic suspension is due to exceeding the maximum time frame to achieve your degree and your appeals are exhausted, you cannot restore your eligibility for financial aid.

References

• Texas State: Satisfactory Academic Progress for Undergraduate and Certification Seeking Students on Financial Aid
• Marylhurst University: Satisfactory Academic Progress: Financial Aid Probation/Suspension

Resources

• Student Aid on the Web