PSA Professional Judgement

[ashkir]

I learned too late for my Spring Semester you can ask a school to adjust your Cost in your FAFSA to reflect current values of your income. For example the Pell Grant / FAFSA is based upon on 2 year old data, but in 2020 you were out of work due to COVID, etc, your income is a lot lower... Right? Shoot UMPI Financial Aid an email asking for Professional Judgement and explain your loss of income meets the new requirements, but, because FAFSA is calculated on 2 year old data, you would like to request a Professional Judgement.

This can GET you a real pell grant or a better subsidized loan.

[ashkir]

I just wanted to bump this up as a reminder for people applying. FAFSA deadline is coming up as well. PRofessional Judgements can save you a lot of dough $$$$

[nmnyc11]

I just wanted to bump this up as a reminder for people applying. FAFSA deadline is coming up as well. PRofessional Judgements can save you a lot of dough $$$$

Thanks! I actually did apply for one, but I was wondering if you know/remember how long it takes. I submitted everything they request 2 months ago and still haven't heard back. I followed up twice - the first time, she apologized and said she'd review it soon. I haven't gotten a reply since my second follow-up and that was 2 weeks ago. I don't want to drive her crazy, but I would like an answer either way.

[ashkir]

I just wanted to bump this up as a reminder for people applying. FAFSA deadline is coming up as well. PRofessional Judgements can save you a lot of dough $$$$

Thanks! I actually did apply for one, but I was wondering if you know/remember how long it takes. I submitted everything they request 2 months ago and still haven't heard back. I followed up twice - the first time, she apologized and said she'd review it soon. I haven't gotten a reply since my second follow-up and that was 2 weeks ago. I don't want to drive her crazy, but I would like an answer either way.

Every two weeks is reasonable. The new term stuff is calming down so they may have time to work on it now.

[nmnyc11]

I just wanted to bump this up as a reminder for people applying. FAFSA deadline is coming up as well. PRofessional Judgements can save you a lot of dough $$$$

Thanks! I actually did apply for one, but I was wondering if you know/remember how long it takes. I submitted everything they request 2 months ago and still haven't heard back. I followed up twice - the first time, she apologized and said she'd review it soon. I haven't gotten a reply since my second follow-up and that was 2 weeks ago. I don't want to drive her crazy, but I would like an answer either way.

Every two weeks is reasonable. The new term stuff is calming down so they may have time to work on it now.

Thanks for the input! I'll keep waiting then.

[ashkir]

Please make sure you apply for this if you barely miss your pell grant cut off. You need to do it now! If you wait for the second session of this semester it is too late!

[nmnyc11]

I just wanted to bump this up as a reminder for people applying. FAFSA deadline is coming up as well. PRofessional Judgements can save you a lot of dough $$$$

Thanks! I actually did apply for one, but I was wondering if you know/remember how long it takes. I submitted everything they request 2 months ago and still haven't heard back. I followed up twice - the first time, she apologized and said she'd review it soon. I haven't gotten a reply since my second follow-up and that was 2 weeks ago. I don't want to drive her crazy, but I would like an answer either way.

Every two weeks is reasonable. The new term stuff is calming down so they may have time to work on it now.

Thanks for the input! I'll keep waiting then.

Just an fyi in case it helps anyone else who faces this in the future... I still hadn't gotten any reply after a few more attempts to follow up (so close to 3 months after submitting my request and required documents). I mentioned it to Laurie in Financial Aid and she escalated it for me, so I finally started getting responses from people. It seems that it really isn't supposed to take this long as everyone I've spoken to there was surprised that I hadn't gotten an answer yet. My advice for anyone else who ends up dealing with something of this nature here, is to be very polite since it is a small school with very busy staff... but if you don't get a timely response after requesting a judgment, you can reach out to someone else in Financial Aid and ask for help.

[ashkir]

I just wanted to bump this up as a reminder for people applying. FAFSA deadline is coming up as well. PRofessional Judgements can save you a lot of dough $$$$

Thanks! I actually did apply for one, but I was wondering if you know/remember how long it takes. I submitted everything they request 2 months ago and still haven't heard back. I followed up twice - the first time, she apologized and said she'd review it soon. I haven't gotten a reply since my second follow-up and that was 2 weeks ago. I don't want to drive her crazy, but I would like an answer either way.

Every two weeks is reasonable. The new term stuff is calming down so they may have time to work on it now.

Thanks for the input! I'll keep waiting then.

Just an fyi in case it helps anyone else who faces this in the future... I still hadn't gotten any reply after a few more attempts to follow up (so close to 3 months after submitting my request and required documents). I mentioned it to Laurie in Financial Aid and she escalated it for me, so I finally started getting responses from people. It seems that it really isn't supposed to take this long as everyone I've spoken to there was surprised that I hadn't gotten an answer yet. My advice for anyone else who ends up dealing with something of this nature here, is to be very polite since it is a small school with very busy staff... but if you don't get a timely response after requesting a judgment, you can reach out to someone else in Financial Aid and ask for help.

Please forward and escalate to raymond.rice@maine.edu and tell him that. He's investigating the issue personally as well. He seemed pretty upset these were o nthe backburner.

[nmnyc11]

Thanks! I actually did apply for one, but I was wondering if you know/remember how long it takes. I submitted everything they request 2 months ago and still haven't heard back. I followed up twice - the first time, she apologized and said she'd review it soon. I haven't gotten a reply since my second follow-up and that was 2 weeks ago. I don't want to drive her crazy, but I would like an answer either way.

Every two weeks is reasonable. The new term stuff is calming down so they may have time to work on it now.

Thanks for the input! I'll keep waiting then.

Just an fyi in case it helps anyone else who faces this in the future... I still hadn't gotten any reply after a few more attempts to follow up (so close to 3 months after submitting my request and required documents). I mentioned it to Laurie in Financial Aid and she escalated it for me, so I finally started getting responses from people. It seems that it really isn't supposed to take this long as everyone I've spoken to there was surprised that I hadn't gotten an answer yet. My advice for anyone else who ends up dealing with something of this nature here, is to be very polite since it is a small school with very busy staff... but if you don't get a timely response after requesting a judgment, you can reach out to someone else in Financial Aid and ask for help.

Please forward and escalate to raymond.rice@maine.edu and tell him that. He's investigating the issue personally as well. He seemed pretty upset these were o nthe backburner.

I will! Thanks again, for both the info (that prompted me to look into it in the first place) and the advice. I don't think escalating it further will help me, but I hope they can address it for future students. I've told the Financial Aid people repeatedly that I understand they're busy, but they should at least reply to emails with an update or something. I literally finished the program while I was waiting for a reply. Still love the program though and Laurie in Financial Aid is awesome.

[ashkir]

Every two weeks is reasonable. The new term stuff is calming down so they may have time to work on it now.

Thanks for the input! I'll keep waiting then.

Just an fyi in case it helps anyone else who faces this in the future... I still hadn't gotten any reply after a few more attempts to follow up (so close to 3 months after submitting my request and required documents). I mentioned it to Laurie in Financial Aid and she escalated it for me, so I finally started getting responses from people. It seems that it really isn't supposed to take this long as everyone I've spoken to there was surprised that I hadn't gotten an answer yet. My advice for anyone else who ends up dealing with something of this nature here, is to be very polite since it is a small school with very busy staff... but if you don't get a timely response after requesting a judgment, you can reach out to someone else in Financial Aid and ask for help.

Please forward and escalate to raymond.rice@maine.edu and tell him that. He's investigating the issue personally as well. He seemed pretty upset these were o nthe backburner.

I will! Thanks again, for both the info (that prompted me to look into it in the first place) and the advice. I don't think escalating it further will help me, but I hope they can address it for future students. I've told the Financial Aid people repeatedly that I understand they're busy, but they should at least reply to emails with an update or something. I literally finished the program while I was waiting for a reply. Still love the program though and Laurie in Financial Aid is awesome.

I had the same issue, they took so long to reply, it ended up being too late on their end. Dr. Rice is reviewing the cases and is gathering information so they can get a quicker turnaround policy in place. Letting him know can help future students.