If you do not meet any of the criteria to be considered an independent student on the FAFSA, or you are experiencing unusual or extenuating circumstances that prevent you from listing parental information, then you can submit a Unusual Circumstances Appeal through the steps below.

Documentation related to the appeal will be requested once the appeal form is completed. We cannot accept this documentation via email. The Dashboard is the most secure and fastest method to submit documentation to our office.

Appeals are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. If approved, it is important to note that the financial aid offer will likely not be enough funding to cover the cost to attend Temple University. It is very possible that additional funding will be needed to assist with the outstanding balance. You can review current year tuition rates via the Tuition Calculator linked to the Costs & Aid tab of TUPortal or at the Bursar's website.

Initiating an Appeal

You must answer 'yes' to this question on the FAFSA to access this appeal: Do unusual circumstances prevent the student from contacting their parents or would contacting their parents pose a risk to the student? Your FAFSA must be updated with this response to access this appeal. The appeal will auto-close if your FAFSA does not have the correct response.

Log into temple.studentforms.com to access the appeal 3-5 days after updating your FAFSA, as the system will open the appeal and post it to your Dashboard. You will know that we received your FAFSA because TUPortal will indicate that it is incomplete, which is a part of the process.

There is not a deadline for submitting a Unusual Circumstance - Dependency Override Appeal. As long as you are actively enrolled, you may request the appeal during your registered term(s). However, there comes a point when we cannot provide a thorough review before the semester ends. As such, we recommend submitting your appeal no more than two weeks prior to the end of term to ensure our office can review before your enrollment ends for the year. Please see below for those suggested dates. We also strongly recommend providing all requested documentation with your appeal to ensure an efficient and timely review.

Due to condensed time frames, we cannot guarantee a timely review during the summer enrollment terms. Appeals requested during the summer sessions are reviewed on a case-by-case basis to ensure we can review and respond before the end of the term.