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When
completing the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), students (and their families) are asked
to provide income and asset information for the most recent tax year.
The FAFSA does not take into consideration the subsequent year's (current
year) income and any loss of income since the tax year reported on the
FAFSA. In accordance with federal law, WSU's Loss of Income Petition allows
students and families with special circumstances to document any decrease in income for the current year so that the Office of Financial Aid may
reevaluate students' financial aid awards.
Loss
of Income
Students
and families with one of the following special circumstances affecting
their households may be eligible to complete a Loss of Income Petition:
- Loss of job;
- Reduction
in pay;
- Roth IRA rollover (from traditional IRA to Roth IRA);
- Loss
of untaxed income;
- Loss
of income due to disability;
- Separation
or divorce (after filing the FAFSA as married);
- Loss
of income due to separation from the U.S. Armed Forces in the tax year
reported on the FAFSA;
-
Death of a parent or spouse; and/or
- Having
filed the current year's tax return, the income has decreased from the
tax year reported on the FAFSA.
NOTE:
Often students and families must project current year incomes. The income
projected for the current year must be at least fifteen percent (15%)
lower than the income reported on the FAFSA for the prior tax year. The
Loss of Income Petition, for a given aid year, only compares a loss of
income from the tax year reported on the FAFSA to the subsequent calendar
year and no further.
How
to Petition Loss
of Income
The
student and family must first complete the FAFSA and WSU must have the
results of the FASFA on file. The student and/or family then must contact
the Office of Financial Aid to discuss their special circumstances
with a Financial Aid Advisor. If the student and/or family is eligible
to petition, they will be given a Loss of Income Petition to complete
and return (with appropriate documentation) to the Office of Financial
Aid. Loss of Income Petitions are made available no sooner than April
prior to the start of the aid year.
If
approved, the student's cost of attendance may be increased or Expected
Family Contribution (EFC) adjusted to reevaluate the student's financial
aid awards (such as the Federal Pell Grant, Federal Stafford Loan and Ohio College Opportunity Grant). In some cases,
no change may occur to the student's financial aid.
Petitioning
a loss of income is an annual process. If there is a continual decrease in financial circumstances, then students (and families) can contact the Office of Financial Aid to petition loss of income for the next aid year.
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