The FAFSA uses tax data from two years ago to determine a student's eligibility for financial aid for college. But if your financial situation has changed since then, there are ways to get more money.

Transcript

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Many students heading to college fill out the federal financial aid form known as the FAFSA. It can unlock scholarships and grants and loans to pay for school. The FAFSA looks at recent data to establish income. And this year, that's through 2019 taxes, which means it misses any financial hit caused by, say, a global pandemic. Well, NPR's Elissa Nadworny says there's something you can do about that.

ELISSA NADWORNY, BYLINE: Despite all the change of 2020, with job losses and health concerns, food and housing insecurity, you still have to use your old tax info for the FAFSA. But that doesn't mean you're stuck getting less financial aid than you need.

DANNY TEJADA: The one thing that people don't really know about is that, yeah, you can appeal financial aid packages that don't live up to what the actual reality of things are.

NADWORNY: Danny Tejada is a college adviser in St. Louis, Mo. He says many of his students have come to him and said, hey, my family's financial situation has changed a bunch from those numbers I put on the FAFSA. His response - this happens a lot, especially for this last year. So for colleges, this won't be a surprise.

TEJADA: A lot of people know what's happening right now. No one is in their own bubble. But the most important thing is that you speak up about it.

NADWORNY: When he says speaking up about it, he means connecting with the colleges students have applied to and telling them about changes in their circumstances because college financial aid officers have the ability to reconsider aid packages when financial situations change or unexpected expenses emerge or if circumstances aren't fully captured on the FAFSA. It's officially called professional judgment, and it's a power handed down by Congress.

KARLA WEBER: The financial aid office is your friend in this process.

NADWORNY: Karla Weber works in the financial aid office at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

WEBER: I think sometimes we get made out to be the ones that are, you know, hiding or hoarding this money from students where it's really just the opposite.

NADWORNY: She says colleges know what a hard year 2020 has been. And so for students, it's important to reach out and say...

WEBER: Hey, something's happened. Our finances are just a little bit different now. What can we do to let you know so you can take a second look?

NADWORNY: Her university, like a lot of colleges, has seen an uptick in these appeals for more aid. And she anticipates that's going to continue through the winter and the spring. We don't have good federal data on how often this process works, but counselors say, in many cases, it's worth it.

Calling a college or writing them a letter about your personal financial struggles might seem daunting, but there are free tools to help guide you. One is called SwiftStudent. It provides a template for students updating schools on their financial situation. That's what Maddie Harvey used last spring when she lost her job on campus due to the pandemic. She was trying to finish her degree in communications and justice and peace studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. But that lost income - she needed it to pay her tuition bill.

MADDIE HARVEY: It was definitely a very vulnerable situation that I was in. I mean, it's not easy to talk about when you're struggling, especially knowing that so many people were struggling at one time.

NADWORNY: The online tool Harvey used helped her craft a financial aid appeal letter to her college, requesting more money for her studies. And it worked. Her college offered her about 2,000 more dollars for the semester, enough to cover her bill.

HARVEY: My biggest takeaway from this experience is that, like, it's OK to admit that you need help.

NADWORNY: She says if you never ask for more, you'll never get it.

Elissa Nadworny, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Tags: Series: The Coronavirus Crisis