FAFSA Special and Unusual Circumstances
Sometimes, students have unique or unusual circumstances that are not accounted for in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid results or the estimated cost of attendance used to determine students’ financial aid packages.
In these situations, the Financial Aid Office can review a student’s situation to determine if changes are warranted.
Special Circumstances Related to the FAFSA
The FAFSA for the 2026-27 academic year uses 2024 income and tax information to determine eligibility for the Pell Grant and other need-based aid such as Subsidized Direct Loans. You may qualify for a review of your FAFSA information if your 2024 income (or your family’s income for a dependent student) does not accurately reflect your current financial situation due to special circumstances, such as the following:
- Reduction in income due to unemployment, job change, reduced hours or retirement.
- One-time income such as a bonus or payout included as income on your 2024 tax return.
- Unusually high or unexpected expenses for medical care, funerals or dependent care.
- Significant reduction in assets listed on the FAFSA to cover necessary expenses.
If changes are warranted, the Financial Aid Office can update your income or other FAFSA data elements to reflect your current financial situation. Please note that adjustments do not always result in additional financial aid.
Before Filing
Before filing a request for a review of your FAFSA results, you should know that
- A reduction in your SAI may not result in additional aid.
- Graduate students are not eligible for additional financial aid based on a FAFSA review.
- Students who have SAIs of 0 are not eligible for additional financial aid based on a FAFSA review.
- Dependent students who list parent information on the FAFSA are, generally, not eligible to request a review based on the student’s loss of income.
How Do I Apply?
- Complete the using your 2024 tax information.
- Call the Financial Aid Office at 605-688-4695 for information on how to apply.
Unusual Circumstances and FAFSA Dependency Status
Students who are considered dependent for federal financial aid purposes are required to include parent information on the FAFSA. If you are a dependent student who has unusual circumstances that have resulted in a breakdown in your relationship with your parents, you can ask the Financial Aid Office to review your situation to determine if you qualify to be considered independent for financial aid purposes.
What Circumstances Qualify?
Requests to be considered independent are reviewed on a case-by-case basis after reviewing a student’s unique situation. Circumstances that may warrant making a student independent include when parent cannot be contacted or the parent poses a risk or threat to the student. The following are some examples of situations that may qualify:
- Parent incarceration or institutionalization
- Physical, verbal or emotional abuse in the family
- Parents cannot be located
- Parent abandonment or estrangement
- Student is a victim of human trafficking
- Student is an asylee or refugee who came to the U.S. without a parent
Students who request a review of their FAFSA dependency status must document that unusual circumstances exist with both biological or adoptive parents. For example, a student who has one parent who is incarcerated would not qualify to be independent unless the student could also document an unusual circumstance with the parent who is not incarcerated.
What Circumstances Do Not Qualify?
Please note that dependent students cannot be deemed independent for financial aid purposes based on any of the following:
- Student filing taxes as an independent student
- Parent refusal to complete the FAFSA or FAFSA verification
- Parent refusal to contribute to the student’s education
- Student being self-supporting
How do I apply?
- Complete the on the website.
- Complete the .
- The Financial Aid Office will contact you to schedule a meeting for a financial aid administrator to interview you and advise you of the documentation you will need to submit to support your request.
- Submit the required documentation to the Financial Aid Office.
- A determination will be made within 30 days of your submitting your FAFSA for the award year and providing all of the requested documentation.
- You will be notified of the outcome of your request by email to your Jacks email account.
Do I need to reapply next year?
In most cases, if your request to be independent for financial aid purposes is approved, you won’t need to submit new documentation in subsequent years. The exception to this would be if the SDSU has conflicting information related to your unusual circumstance that would need to be resolved before making you independent in subsequent years. The Financial Aid Office will contact students who have conflicting information that needs to be resolved.
Special Circumstances Related to the Students Cost of Attendance
Your Cost of Attendance establishes the maximum amount of financial aid you can receive during an award year. Generally, an increased COA does not increase the total amount of Federal Direct Loans you are eligible to receive. An increased COA may allow you to borrow additional private loans and Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loans.
Possible circumstances that would result in a COA adjustment would include but are not limited to:
Tuition and Fee Costs
You may request an increased COA if your course load for fall/spring averages out to more than 15 credit hours per term for undergraduates or 10 credits per term for graduate students. You can also request an increased COA if you are taking courses that have additional fees not factored into your estimated COA.
Computer Adjustment
You may request an increase in your COA up to $2,000 to cover the cost of a computer purchase. SDSU will only approve a COA increase for a computer once every four years unless you provide documentation to support that prior computer has been lost or stolen, is no longer working or does not meet the specifications required to complete SDSU coursework. Include a dated receipt documenting proof of purchase or an itemized cost estimate with documentation from the seller, such as website screenshot.
Education Abroad Expenses
You may request an increase to your COA if you are studying abroad during an academic term. Please attach documentation from Education Abroad detailing the estimated costs of the trip and receipts for any additional costs, such as airline fares, not covered in the estimate.
Books and Supplies
You may request an increase in your COA to cover costs related to a disability, including costs for special services, personal assistance, transportation, equipment and supplies that are not paid for by insurance or another organization. Please provide an itemized list of your monthly disability-related expenses that are not covered by insurance or another organization and documentation to support the costs.
Housing
You may request an increased COA if your monthly housing costs exceed the allowance in the COA due to providing housing for dependents, supporting two households, living in an area that has a high cost of living or other circumstances that result in high monthly housing costs. Please provide proof of your monthly housing payment such a copy of your lease or mortgage and an explanation of why your costs are higher than usual.
Transportation
You may request an increased COA if your transportation costs are higher than usual. This includes costs of driving to and from school for commuters, airline and other travel expenses for students who travel long distances to and from campus at the start and end of the terms and breaks and travel required as part of coursework. Your COA cannot be increased to include the cost of purchasing or leasing a car. Please provide documentation to support the costs such as a Google Map showing the number of miles traveled by car between your home and school and how often the trip is made, receipts for airline tickets or other documentation of the cost of transportation.
Dependent Care Costs
You may request an increased COA for the cost of dependent care if the care was necessary for you to attend school. For example, costs incurred for periods when you were in class, studying and commuting to/from school can be included in your request. Do not include costs for care that occurred for periods when you were working or engaged in activities not required for you to attend school.
Complete the Budget Adjustment form. Be sure to include all requested documentation.
