Income Adjustment
Sometimes the information reported on a student's FAFSA does not reflect changes that occurred after the FAFSA was submitted.
In certain cases, your household may experience an unusual circumstance that greatly impacts your household income (e.g., loss of a job or divorce). In these situations, on a case-by-case basis, financial aid administrators are permitted by Federal regulations to make an adjustment(s) to your FAFSA information.
If you and/or your family have experienced a significant change to your financial situation, you may submit an Income Adjustment form. This process is sometimes referred to as a special circumstance or professional judgment (PJ).
The following are situations that may be considered in an Income Adjustment request:
- Loss of income due to loss of employment or reduction in salary
- Death of a parent or spouse
- Divorce or separation after the FAFSA was filed
- Extremely high medical or dental expenses paid out of pocket and not covered by medical or dental insurance during a single, recent year
- Impacted by a natural disaster
The following circumstances may not be considered:
- Loss of overtime or bonus income
- Fluctuations in self-employment or business income, although exceptions may be made in the case of businesses impacted by COVID-19
- Bankruptcy, foreclosure or collections cost associated with outstanding debts
- Consumer debt such as credit cards, car payments, mortgage and other loans
- Payments on back taxes owed to the IRS
- Lottery or gambling winnings or losses
Required Information
Federal regulations require that Income Adjustment requests be thoroughly documented. All Income Adjustments for the 2024-2025 academic year will require the following information:
- 2022 Federal Tax Return Transcripts or Tax Returns
- 2023 Federal Tax Return Transcripts or Tax Returns
- Third-party documentation related to your particular circumstance
Requests without proper documentation cannot be processed.
Below are examples of how to document* the special circumstances with third-party documentation:
- To document the loss of income, you will be asked to provide the final pay stub with year-to-date income from the employer, a letter of separation from the employer, a letter indicating either a reduction in income or new employment (when documenting less income), and proof of unemployment, if applicable.
- To document the death of a parent or spouse, you will need to provide a copy of the death certificate.
- In cases of recent divorce or separation, you should expect to provide a copy of legal separation papers, a copy of the divorce decree, a letter from your attorney and/or proof of two separate residences. This may include both parents’ W-2’s, 1099’s, any Schedule C filed with the tax return, etc.
- For extremely high out-of-pocket medical or dental expenses, you will need to provide copies of insurance explanation of benefits (EOB) documents or pharmacy receipts/reports for ALL amounts to be considered.
- A natural disaster might impact a family because of reduced income due to the inability to work for a period of time or because of high and unexpected expenses for damaged property repairs or replacement. Plan to submit photographs of damage, receipts for repairs, disaster assistance or relief paperwork and/or insurance documents.
*Depending on the situation and the information provided, some details of your request may trigger the need for you to provide additional information not requested at the time submission.
If you have been impacted by a reduction in income or have had a circumstance caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and you wish to begin the Income Adjustment process, please complete and submit the Income Adjustment form with all required information included.
Income Adjustment requests take approximately 2 weeks to process. If approved and your Income Adjustment results in additional financial aid eligibility, you will receive a revised award letter via your UTEP email.