Special Circumstances
If your family’s income is now lower than what was reported on the FAFSA, adjustments to your FAFSA may be possible.
Completing a Special Circumstance form does NOT guarantee that there will be changes to your financial aid package. If the household’s current or projected income remains at or above $100,000 it is unlikely that an appeal will change the financial aid package.
Special Circumstances only applies to federal aid. It cannot be used to change eligibility for state aid programs such as TAP, SUNY Tuition Credit, Excelsior, etc.
If your current EFC is zero or extremely low, you are not eligible for Special Circumstances as adjustments to your FAFSA would not change your financial aid status. In this case, you are already receiving the maximum possible eligibility for federal need based aid.
Submission of a Special Circumstance Appeal does not exempt your account from the payment due dates, late fees, and hold(s) on your account.
If you currently receive Excelsior Scholarship funding and qualify for Federal Pell Grant funding as a result of your Special Circumstance Appeal, then your Excelsior Scholarship will be reduced by the amount of Pell Grant funding you receive. This is due to the fact that the Excelsior Scholarship only covers the balance of tuition after all free grant funding is applied.
Circumstances that will NOT be considered:
The federal government limits what criteria can be reviewed as special circumstances. As a result, Purchase College will not consider or make adjustments for any of the following:
- Parents will not help pay for college
- Car payments or car insurance
- Consumer debt (credit cards)
- Mortgages and rent
- Tuition paid for other household members in college
- Unusual expenses related to personal living (such as wedding expenses, loan payments, home repairs, or legal expenses)
- Medical insurance premiums (excluding Schedule A if included in your Federal Tax Return)
- Individual medical/dental bills or statements
- One year bonus incomes (such as lottery winnings or gambling winnings)
- Reduction in overtime pay
- All bankruptcy or reductions in income from bankruptcy proceedings
- Home equity, IRA, 403B, and 401K loans
If your reason for special circumstances is not listed above, please complete the Special Circumstances Form along with all required documents based on the appropriate academic year. We will not review your Special Circumstances Appeal until ALL of the below required documents have been submitted.
2024-2025 appeal documents:
-
2024-2025 Special Circumstances Form (PDF) with proof of the special circumstance
- 2024-2025 One-time Income Form (PDF) -if applicable to your situation
- 2024-2025 Standard Dependent (PDF) or Independent (PDF) Verification Worksheet
- 2022 Signed copy of Federal Tax Return (or Tax Return Transcript)*
- 2023 Signed copy of Federal Tax Return (or Tax Return Transcript)*
- 2022 W-2 Form(s)
- 2023 W-2 Form(s)
*Note: For special circumstances, our office cannot accept financial information for the tax year that has been transferred into the FAFSA via the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, as it does not contain all the information necessary to review the appeal. We will need a copy of your Federal Tax Return or Tax Return Transcript as indicated on the Special Circumstances Form.
2025-2026 appeal documents:
-
2025-2026 Special Circumstances Form (PDF) with proof of the special circumstance
- 2025-2026 One-time Income Form (PDF) -if applicable to your situation
- 2025-2026 Standard Dependent (PDF) or Independent (PDF) Verification Workshe
- 2023 Signed copy of Federal Tax Return (or Tax Return Transcript)*
- 2024 Signed copy of Federal Tax Return (or Tax Return Transcript)*
- 2023 W-2 Form(s)
- 2024 W-2 Form(s)
*Note: For special circumstances, our office cannot accept financial information for the tax year that has been transferred into the FAFSA via the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, as it does not contain all the information necessary to review the appeal. We will need a copy of your Federal Tax Return or Tax Return Transcript as indicated on the Special Circumstances Form.