Special Circumstances and Additional Educational Expenses Form

Special Circumstances Form

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) uses students and parents tax returns from two years prior to the FAFSA year. The FAFSA does not provide a place to explain special circumstances that happen after the tax return that are affecting a student or family's ability to pay for higher education. If your (or your family's) financial situation has changed since two years ago, please fill out a Special Circumstances Form. Your financial aid counselor will review your situation and may adjust your financial aid based off of your current financial situation. Examples of a special circumstance may include (but are not limited to):

  • High Medical or Dental Expenses
  • Change/Reduction in Income
  • Child Care Expenses
  • Elementary/High School Tuition Costs
  • Financial Hardship Due To a Natural Disaster
  • High Commuting Costs

UNK Special Circumstances Form

Unusual Circumstances

Unusual circumstances are when a student's dependency status should be changed based on their current situation. Examples of unusual circumstances may include (but are not limited to):

  • Human Trafficking
  • Refugee or Asylum Status
  • Parental Abandonment
  • Parent Incarceration
  • Unable to Contact Parents
  • Contact With Parents Poses Risk

If you believe that you have an unusual circumstance, please contact our office at (308) 865-8520 or finaid1@unk.edu.

Additional Educational Expenses Form

If you have additional expenses for college that you need additional financial aid for, please fill out an Additional Educational Expenses form. Your financial aid counselor will review these expenses and may adjust your cost of attendance. A change in your cost of attendance typically means that you will have more student loan eligibility to help pay for additional educational expenses. Examples of additional educational expenses may include (but are not limited to):

  • Laptop/Computer/iPad/Tablet
  • Additional Supplies Needed For a Class (i.e. art class, science lab)
  • Licensure Fees/Prep Materials

UNK Additional Educational Expenses Form

The Special Circumstances Process

  1. Submit an UNK Special Circumstances Form.
  2. You will receive an email immediately after submitting the form asking for more documentation. Please provide this documentation as soon as possible.
  3. Your financial aid counselor will review your Special Circumstances Form and the supporting documentation you upload within 10 days of submission.
  4. Your financial aid counselor may require additional documents from you (depending on your situation). Please check your email (the email that you listed on the Special Circumstances Form) often to see if more documents are required from you. Failing to turn in documents in a timely manner will delay your financial aid counselor in making a professional judgment about your situation and thus delay the possibility of adjustments to your financial aid.
  5. Once your financial aid counselor has all of the information that they need, they will make a decision about whether or not your financial aid should be adjusted. You will be notified of this decision by email (the email that you listed on the Special Circumstances Form.