Professional Judgment Policies
NOTE: ALL Professional Judgment (PJ) Appeals will open for the 2024-2025 aid year
on June 28, 2024 due to system and processing delays within the Department of Education.
What is Professional Judgment (PJ)?
The Office of Financial Aid processes three types of Professional Judgment (PJ) Appeals
in order to provide students with accurate aid offers each academic year:
- Student Aid Index (SAI) Appeal
- Unusual Circumstance Appeal (Dependency Override)
- Cost of Attendance (COA) Appeal
Click the boxes below to learn more about each PJ appeal:
Steps to Open a PJ Appeal
All PJ appeals are submitted through the USA Financial Aid Verification Portal and require supporting documentation.
- Log into the Verification Portal using JagNet credentials;
- Confirm the 4 key identifiers from the (first name, last name, date of birth and social security number);
- Click the Manage Requests box in the upper right hand corner of the page and select the blue plus sign for Student Aid Index (SAI) Appeal, Unusual Circumstance Appeal (Dependency Override) or COA Appeal for the appropriate aid year.
- Complete the Web Form and upload documentation to support the circumstances.