Financial Aid Appeals
Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeals (SAP)
Any student who is disqualified from receiving financial aid due to not meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standards and who desire an opportunity to have their financial aid reinstated or extended must go through the appeal process.
There are five types of satisfactory academic progress appeals:
- Reinstatement appeals: Students disqualified due to not meeting the cumulative minimum GPA of 2.0 and/or the cumulative minimum unit completion percentage of 67%. If the appeal is approved, the student will be subject to certain academic progress conditions (GPA and completion rate) that must be met to carry the approval forward to the next semester of enrollment. The terms of these conditions will be announced in the approval notification.
- Extension Appeals: Students disqualified due to exceeding the 150% unit time-frame of their stated academic goal or major. If approved, the student will be under an SAP contract for the classes approved under the extension appeal. The student may review the terms of the approval on the student portal.
Extension appeals may have different components to it:
- Combination Appeals (Extension and Reinstatement): Students disqualified due to not meeting the cumulative minimum GPA of 2.0 and/or the cumulative minimum unit completion percentage of 67% AND due to exceeding the 150% unit time-frame of their stated academic goal or major.
- Course Petition: Students who have an approved financial aid Extension Appeal but need to make revisions or adjustments to the courses that are needed to complete that previously approved goal or major.
- Repeated Coursework Petition: Students who have an approved financial aid Extension Appeal and need to repeat one or more of the courses that are required for the students' major and objective.
All appeals are reviewed by the LACC Appeals Committee. There are two levels of appeals. The result of the first-level appeal will generally be emailed to the student's LACCD email account within 45 calendar days. Students whose first level appeals are denied have a second level appeal within fourteen (14) calendar days of the notification. The second-level appeal is reviewed by the Associate Dean or his designee.
SAP Appeals Deadlines
- Summer 2020: July 31, 2020 (extended)
- Fall 2020: November 27, 2020
- Winter 2021: January 15, 2021
- Spring 2022: May 21, 2021
- Summer 2021: July 30, 2021
Income Reduction and Dependency Override Appeals
Professional Judgment appeals, also known as Income Reductions and Dependency Override appeals, refer to the authority of a school's financial aid administrator to adjust data elements on the FAFSA and to override a student's dependency status. These evaluations are done on case-by-case basis and with adequate documentation.
The decision of the financial aid administrator is final. There is no appeal. By law, neither the school's president nor the US Department of Education can override the financial aid administrator's decision.
The deadline to submit a Professional Judgement Appeal is the last day of the enrollment term for the academic year.
There are 2 types of professional judgment appeals:
- Income Reduction or EFC Adjustment Appeal: The FAFSA uses the prior to prior year as base income to determine student’s eligibility (for example, for the 2020-2021 year, students use 2018 income to complete the FAFSA). If you believe that the current family income is a more accurate measure of the student’s current financial status than the income reported on your FAFSA, you may be eligible to submit a petition for an EFC adjustment.
- Dependency Override or Change of Dependency Status: the FAFSA determines the students’ dependency using 9 different criteria. There are times, though, when an otherwise independent student may not meet the criteria established by these questions. If your FAFSA determined that you are a dependent student, but you have circumstances that merit a special consideration, you may qualify for a change of Dependency Status