Any advice on writing an appeal letter for financial aid?

Question

The last two semester's i did not do good in school, in fact I withdrew from half of my classes. I was told I would have to make up all the hours during the summer or I would be put on suspension. There was no way possible for me to complete 12 hours during the summer plus work full-time, so I just completed 6 hours. Since I did not complete the total of 12 hours I am now on financial aid suspension. I was told I could request for it to be appealed but would have to write an appeal letter. In the last year I went through a pretty bad seperation that took me back and fourth to court several times over custody of my daughter, I was considering putting a copy of the court documents into my appeal letter to show the staff that I had a serious reason as to why I didn't do as well as possible, but I didn't know if that would be acceptable. I really don't want to "air out my dirty laundry" but really need financial aid to complete the next semester. Any advice i will greatly appreciate!

Thank you

Answer 1

It is definitely not appropriate to put legal documents of that nature with an appeal for financial aid. They are not looking to know how bad your personal circumstances are, to feel sorry or take pity on you, or why you did badly in school. They will want to know why you feel you deserve to have your suspension lifted, and why you will succeed from now on. What will you do and who will you be that will make a difference in the world?

Answer 2

It is PERFECTLY appropriate to put a copy of legal paperwork in your appeal.  This is EXACTLY what they want included. Otherwise how else would they know you just aren't making it up?  If you have any other type of situation like hospitalization, domestic violence, death of a spouse, or something similar you can include this (copy of spouse death certificate, police report, etc.) with your paperwork.  

The fin aid office must have overwhelming documentation to override the federal guidelines and with just a few short sentences on a white peace of paper, its hard to convince an auditer the school was justified in bending the rules.