Unusual Enrollment Appeal Form

Per federal regulations, when a student signs the FAFSA, the student is certifying that he or she will use federal and/or state student financial aid only to pay the cost of attending an institution of higher education. If you are a student with an unusual enrollment history, a pattern which in some cases is a result of a student attending an institution long enough to receive title IV credit balance funds, leaving without completing the enrollment period, enrolling at another institution, and repeating the pattern of remaining just long enough to collect another title IV credit balance without having earned any academic credit, you may be deemed ineligible to receive financial aid.

Some students who have an unusual enrollment history have legitimate reasons for their enrollment at multiple institutions. The U.S. Department of Education requires that Gateway Community College review your enrollment history to determine whether you earned academic credit at the institutions you attended over the past four academic years while you were receiving Federal Pell Grant funds and/or Federal Direct Loan funds.

If Gateway Community College reviews the academic transcripts you provided from the institutions in question and cannot confirm that you earned academic credit at all the institutions you attended during all the award years in question, you will be deemed ineligible to receive financial aid.

However, the U.S. Department of Education allows you an opportunity to appeal this decision. To appeal, you must complete the 2022-2023 Unusual Enrollment History Appeal Form (found on the Financial Aid Fillable Forms page), provide a self-completed signed and dated written statement explaining why you failed to earn academic credit at any of the institutions you attended over the past four academic years while you were receiving Federal Pell Grant funds and/or Federal Direct Loan funds, and then submit the completed appeal to Gateway Community College’s Financial Aid Office.